Rossi 357 lever action with reloads

[TennJed]

Anybody have any issues using reloads in a Rossi 357 lever action. I am looking to pick up one. It is a 24" with an octagon barrel. I reload 357 with lead cast RN, SWC, & wad cutters. I assume the wad cutters and semi wad cutters may give me feeding issues.

Also it says 12 rd capacity. Will it hold more 38sp since they are shorter?

 

[rehorne]

I have one. Your reloads must be as long as a factory 357 to feed. Short 357's and 38's have feeding problems. It can be done just have to watch your over all length

 

[Buckeye]

My Rossi 92 feeds 38's just as well as .357's . No hiccups at all.

 

[RAINS]

My 16' barrel Rossi m92 would shoot my 158g .38 lead round nose flat point rounds fine. It also fed any other 357 and 38 rounds I had laying around. Make up some dummy rounds and take them to the shop and make sure they feel before you buy. My m92 was rough as hell inside but ran fine. Some m92's are picky about ammo though. Good luck and have fun!

 

[az_imuth]

I have one just like the PO described and it fires 38 and 357 without any problems at all. Shooting 38 with that thing is as gentle as as shooting a 22.

 

[TennJed]

Thanks guys. I will be meeting the guy in a couple of days to look it over. It is stainless (high polish) but it has had the barrel bead blasted. He had a gun smith do it to keep the glare down. Sounds like a good idea, but the pics he sent me were crappy cell phone pics. Has anyone seen one done that way? I am afraid the high polished body may not look right with the bead blasted barrels.

 

[35 Whelen]

I bought my wife a '92 Rossi for CAS. Slicked it up real nice inside and she shot a few matches with it using .38's. After a few hundred rounds it began flipping loaded .38's out when the lever was thrown. I had that thing apart and back together God only knows how many times and finally gave up and started seating her .38's out to near 357 length. End of problem. Oddly enough, I can load it with 357's loaded with the 170+ gr. long Keith SWC and it feeds them no problem.

35W

 

[Deer_Freak]

Most lever actions feed round nosed bullets best. That is why all factory 30/30 bullets are round nose. You might find another bullet that works in your Rossi. But you will have to experiment to find that bullet. No one here can say what is going to work other than a round nose bullet. You might want to consider at least breaking it in with factory copper jacketed bullets. I would try american eagle JSP ammo. It won't break the bank and it is consistent. The local hardware store has american eagle 158 gr JSP for $25 for 50 rounds.

 

[Crunchy Frog]

If you want to learn how to make a '92 as good as it can be, Google "Nate Kiowa Jones". He's the go-to guy for '92s.

 

[ball3006]

Mine shoots semi wad cutters and rnfp all day long. I have never shot 357 in mine....chris3

 

[BCRider]

I found with mine that at cowboy action speeds that the .357 cases work best. But the loading lever only needs to be slowed down from a super fast flick by a little to work well and smoothly with .38Spl length loads. So for general plinking it'll work just fine. Even the problematic SWC bullets that jammed regularly at CAS speeds load fine when the lever cycle is slowed down just a hair.

 

[TennJed]

Thanks for all the responses. I have a question about scopes on the Rossi 92. After reading a bit it seems like you can remove the rear sight and put in a scope mount. I like the option of being able to add a scope without having to alter the gun (drill tap). But I read somewhere that the scope mount is only for the round barrels.

The one I am looking at is a octagon barrel. Is it correct that I cannot add the scope mount to the octagon barrel? If so is there any option for a scope without having a gunsmith drill holes in it?

 

[BCRider]

A dovetail mount is a dovetail mount be it octagonal or round. And in fact I'd expect a mount which uses the rear sight dovetail to be even MORE secure on an octagonal barrel since there is the "meat" of the corners of the top flat.

The other option is some form of clamp on mount that pinches around the round or octagonal shape. It may not look all that slick and neat but it would do the job.

And of course with a mount out on the barrel you're looking at a scope with the eye relief of a "scout scope".

 

[TennJed]

I don't think the scope mount you put on is dovetail. My understanding is you remove the rear sight and underneath where it was is screw holes. The new scope mount is added there. But the octagon barrel does not have the screw holes. Here is a link to the mount I am talking about

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0035M1FAY/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1378080723&sr=8-2&pi=SL75

 

[BCRider]

Ah, that's different then. I was thinking it was a mount that slides a screw plate or some other bit into the rear sight dovetail.