gun shop find w/pic

[O.S.O.K.]

Stopped by the local shop to say "hi" and ended up leaving with this:

It's a M92 SRC Rossi 20" carbine - .357 Magnum. It's an older model so doesn't have the stupid wing safety on top of bolt. I hate those.

This set me back a whole $220.

I've been looking at these on gunbroker and none were offered under $399.95 - and I didn't see any older models without the safety. I figure I'd get a premium for this if I decided to sell - for that reason. Regardless, I like it

I knew the bore was decent as we swabbed it quick at the shop but there was a nasty looking spot just ahead of the chamber. I figured I knew what this was and confirmed it when I got back to my shop and started cleaning it up. The spot was a build up of leading from shooting 38 Specials in the .357 Mag chamber - typical. The bore cleaned up to "excellent" and I figure that it may never have even seen a jacketed bullet.

The handguard was a little lighter than the buttstock, so I refinshed both to match and topped it with some BLO and then tung oil finish. Looks good now.

I've had it to the range and it shot some 158 grain hard cast .357 loads very well - I was getting 3 to 4" groups at 100 yards easily. Standing, off hand, I was getting them all in 8" shooting pretty quickly. I am sure I can do better with some loads that it really likes.

Every once in a while I'll come accross a decent buy.

 

[Shawnee]

Nice rifle !!!! Great deal !!! Congrats !!

 

[Hoppy590]

lucky! thats a great price

 

[d20111a]

Nice find. The wood looks pretty good.

 

[O.S.O.K.]

thanks

and the wood was kinda two-tone when I got it -the buttstock was darker and the handguard was a little lighter - so I stained them to match and finished with some BLO and tung oil finish.

 

[Float Pilot]

I picked up another one last summer while leaving a pawn shop. I caught a guy bringing inside for a trade. I gave him $140 on the steps and put it in my truck... older with No safety, but the wood is pretty odd..real dark with bad grain...
I had one just like yours a few years ago, but my dad bought it from me (in his late 70s) and won't sell it back....

 

[Onmilo]

You know these rifles are actually pretty decent.
I have had the opportunity to fire examples in .357, .44 magnum and .44/40
The .44/40 was hands down the most accurate rifle I have ever fired in that caliber and had a super smooth action to boot.

 

[Winger Ed.]

Its too dangerous for you.......
You'll put your eye out.

Next time you come through Dallas, you can safely drop it off here.

.

 

[O.S.O.K.]

looks just like mine

Float Pilot - that's a twin to mine- except is the barrel 18"? Looks a tad shorter than mine which is 20". That the one your Dad has or the one you just bought?

Regardless, looks good to me

 

[Float Pilot]

The shorty I just bought. The one with the 20 inch barrel I originally bought in 1983 at the Alaska Commercial Store in Fort Yukon Alaska. For $115 since it was not selling....
A few years later I was short on money for something so my dad bought it for $200. For the last 15 years I have been trying to buy it back.....

I have also had 2 Rossi carbines in 44 mag and one Rossi m-92 rifle in 45 Colt.

I was able to load the 44 mags to 1675fps using 300 grain hard cast Keith style bullets.

You can get a 357 Mag to really haul out of the longer barrels. The 125 grain Federal hollow points will go faster than 2,000 fps with no problem...

There are a couple replacement rear sights that make them a little more classic looking and more fun to shoot...

 

[theNoid]

Sweet rifle, even sweeter price, congrats!!

Noidster

 

[SASS#23149]

Nice find!
I have one in 45colt that puts 'em where I point it without fail.Yours will too.

 

[ZeSpectre]

Very nice, one of my favorite leverguns.

If you ever feel the need to tune it up there is a TON of reference material here
http://marauder.homestead.com/Rifles.html

Some of the specific tips I've posted...

Rossi 92 "Puma" - Lessons learned
by J.P. Withers, SASS 68019

Hopefully I'm not re-inventing the wheel here but I thought I'd pass along some experience gained from working on the like-new Rossi “Puma”copy of the WInchester 92 SRC I picked up a while back. This carbine is chambered for .38 special/.357 magnum.

First, Marauder's webpage is a great resource.Marauder's Rifle Page But you probably already found that.

Make sure you pin the hammer spring before attempting to remove the hammer screw. If you don't do this you can still get the screw out but you will bung-up the threads (embarrassed shrug).

As others have said, the magic word for this rifle is "SPRINGS"! I would never have believed how great the impact of the ejector spring is to the overall functioning of this rifle. I thought the hammer spring would have a big impact but was very surprised about the ejector spring.

The original (heavy) ejector spring made the rifle pull, chamber, and eject everything I fed it (including some step nosed LSWC rounds) but made the lever action so heavy I had to put a leather wrap on the lever to keep from bruising the back of my index finger. Looking at the rifle you'd think the resistance was coming from the locking bolts... it doesn't, it's totally the ejector spring inside the bolt.

(Safety tip, DO NOT MESS WITH THE LOCKING BOLTS they set the headspace for the rifle)

A weak (just slightly too weak for my gun, actually) aftermarket ejector spring made the rifle cycle as slickly as you can imagine, BUT it also caused my particular rifle to have trouble cycling the longer .357 rounds and also have random trouble ejecting any type of rounds.

I don't personally recommend this, but if you intend to try the "cut and expand" method on your springs (see Bull Schmitt's instructions about 1/2 way down the page here...) Bull Schmitt's Instructionsthen have extra ejector springs handy -BEFORE- you start experimenting or you'll sit idle for a while - while you get new ones. WEAR SAFETY GLASSES when working with springs!

The original hammer spring is too damn heavy. Don't bother messing with it, just buy a replacement at Brownells.

If you feel the need to remove the cartridge guides, inspect the left one (with the swivel on it) carefully before re-installing. If the swivel pin drops down even a tiny bit the part will NOT seat back in correctly (even though it looks like it's in place it acts like it is shimmed out) and NOTHING will feed. I spent about an hour of frustration before I figured that one out.

Check the retaining pin for the firing pin. If somebody has been dry-firing the rifle a lot (especially with that overpowered factory spring) it's likely that this pin is BENT. Replace it before it bends too far and/or breaks and you will save yourself a lot of trouble later on.

Morgan Astorbilt made a very good suggestion about thinning the extractor just a bit to reduce the resistance it creates just before the bolt finishes closing. In my particular case I like that last solid "click" as it slams home so I didn't modify that at all on my gun.

Guess that's about it for now.

JP

EDIT: more to the adventure. Let me tell you about the wonder of White Lithium Grease! Most of this rifle works fine with your favorite oil but if you take some white lithium grease and put a thin film all over the locking bolts (especially the front where they "lock" the bolt forward), the sides of the bolt, and the swivel pin for the hammer, you will suddenly have the slickest 92 you ever imagined. My 92 now cycles as smoothly as it did with the "too light" ejector spring.

Final Edit 7/3/2006 - Post shooting range testing. Took the 92 to the range and the final verdict is 5 stars and two thumbs up! I ran 20 cowboy .38 special RNFP and 20 cowboy .357 RNFP through it as fast as I could with nary a hiccup. Then I put 20 full power .357 mag JSP then followed with 20 full power .357 JHP. I had one JHP round catch slightly on the edge of the chamber but a gentle shake and it dropped right into place and we were off and running again. Cycles smooth as a baby's bottom and kicks those shells right out of the way when it's done with 'em.

 

[O.S.O.K.]

thank you

Good info. Fortunately for me, this particular rifle is good to go.