Repairing A Rossi .22

[The Avatar of Time]

Hello All,

I have a Rossi .22 pump action rifle that I'm trying to fix. The problem is there's a little... pin I suppose you would call it, that is hooked into the slide on the pump and serves to pump the bolt to load the rifle.

Here's a picture of the part in question, with the bolt out of the rifle so you can see how it should work, and the hole in the slide that the pin goes in circled as well: http://theavataroftime.com/Pictures/RossiPart01.jpg

I assume it's fairly obvious how the pin goes in the slide and everything. There's a little plate that comes off the reciever too, which I don't have off in that picture. If it's not clear how things should go together there I'll upload some more pics.

Anyway one day I pumped the rifle and that piece came lose. I assumed at first it was sheared off because of the angled cut, but it later occurred to me that since the end I thought was sheared had bluing on it still it couldn't very well of been broken.

I can put the piece back in the slide with no problem, but it falls back out the first time I pump the rifle. I think it was originally spot welded real lightly. So I'm searching for the best way to reattach it. I don't have a wire welder so I can't spot it. I'm not sure how solder would hold up. There's also very little clearence between the outside of the slide and the receiver, so I don't 'think' that there would be room to put a small screw on washer in that way to hold the piece from falling out. Personally I find this to be a very, very poor design, but that's just my opinion.

My thought is to try JB Weld on it. However I've never been very impressed by the stuff and was wondering if anyone thought it would do the job in this situation?

My other thought would be to tap the slide and thread the piece (though I'd likely have to make a new, slightly bigger around, piece for it in order to do that). I think this would be the best method, assuming the slide is thick enough to tap properly. The downside is I can't find anywhere to get parts for the rifle and if I mess it up I'm kinda SOL.

I'm open to any other suggestions as well. I would like to know first off if the JB Weld has a chance of working since I have that on hand right now.

Thanks.

Also, that's spray paint on my finger nails in the picture, I don't paint them. Just didn't want anyone getting the wrong idea.

 

[crowderdog]

While I'm not a fan of epoxies as a replacement for proper welding/soldering I think in this situation acra-glass might suffice. The good thing about JB or another epoxy is that they can be removed if the bond fails by using a torch. You could also create a press fit by drilling the piece and pressing in a tapered pin, then file off the protruding excess, if welding/soldering is not an alternative to the epoxy.

 

[rcmodel]

The John Browning designed Winchester 1890/06/62/62A that rifle is a copy of had the slide & stud forged as a one-piece part. Never seen one break off ever.

I can't tell from the picture if yours was threaded into the slide or just pressed in?

In any case, I would pull the slide off the rifle so you can work on it.

Then, whether it is treaded or pressed, I would put it back in using RED Lock-Tight, after throughly de-greasing everything.

Then, I would peen the crap out of the back side to rivet it in.
I would even use a screw countersink bit or die grinder and open the outside of the hole slightly to give room to peen it in place like a rivet head.

After the Lock-Tight cures over-night, it will fill any slack in the hole to keep it from moving, and the peening will keep it on till hell freezes over.

rc

 

[Pweller]

In your photo, the hole looks like it is elongated or out of round. Is that the case? That might make it difficult to put the original part back in securely.

If the hole is out of round, maybe you could drill it out very slightly to make it round, and then make a new, slightly larger stud with a conical cutout in the backside. The conical cutout would make it easier to peen like rcmodel suggests.

I don't know if this could be silver soldered on either. I do a bit of metalwork, but not on guns. Silver solder is generally pretty hard, but you've got to get the steel pretty hot, which can ruin the temper. I know silver solder is used to attach sights on guns, but I'm not sure about anything else.

It looks like that part gets too much stress for epoxy to work.

 

[The Avatar of Time]

Thanks for the replies.

The hole isn't perfectly round, but fairly close. I've had the slide off and I can put the piece back in just fine, with a few tabs from a hammer, but it pops back out after the first time I pump the rifle.

Yes, mine was just pushed in, not threaded, and then spotted it looks like. I think threading it would be a very nice fix, if I could get everything the correct size.

The idea of driving a pin in there might work pretty well.

The reason I wanted to try JB Weld or something of that nature first is that I can't find anyplace to buy the piece, so if I were to mess this one up I would have to try making one myself. I have a segment from a cattle panel here that is about the same size aroud as the head of that pin/stud, so I think I could tool one from that fairly easily, but I'm not sure if the metal that panels are made out of would be strong enough or if it's too soft.

*Oh, also according to the manual for my rifle it seems that the slide and pin/stud are sold as a one piece part. I've seen just the stud on sites too, but in both cases the parts are always out of stock.

*Also, yes my rifle is a Model 62SA, I somehow left that out in the original post.

 

[kirbythegunsmith]

Details

If that came in my shop, I would probably silver braze that lug in place or TIG weld a couple of back-tacks to minimize distortion to the working end of the pin.
Either method should be strong and permanent enough for a .22 pump.

Main point would be that any connection not add unwanted material to cause any interference of bolt engagement.

[email protected]

 

[Jim K]

As rcmodel says, the original design had that stud as part of the action slide, but it looks like that one was riveted in as a less costly approach. It is pretty hard, so I doubt any thing but good steel will hold up.

Silver solder might work, but it looks like that hole is expanded too much for the original part to work right. I think if I had that gun to repair, I would make a new stud out of tool steel, leaving a step in it oversize and long enough to rivet. Then I would insert it, heat it and rivet it. After fitting the internal part as needed, I would temper and draw the inside of the stud. I would use heat paste on the slide to try and preserve the bluing, but if necessary I would polish and reblue the slide.

Jim