They found my gun, after 10 years! Recomd a WA state gunsmith?

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I agree with sending it to Rossi. One thing that worries me a little is the hand notches in the cylinder. If they've rusted out to the point of enlargement you may have timing/locking problems.

You mentioned the bore being bright, but you said you had to drive out the cartridges from the cylinder without describing the status of the chambers. If the chambers have rusted, you may have extraction problems since the cases will tend to expand into the pitting, if any. (It's surprising how a little roughness or a burr or even dirt can affect extraction when you're trying to jack out six cases at once.)

If you want to tinker with it yourself, get a copy of Nonte's gunsmithing book or something equivalent. Numrich arms may have suitable parts, but with the other potential problems, you may not be able to ever fire it again.

Contact Rossi with the pix and bounce it off them.

Great story with a happy and teasingly mysterious ending.
 
Story of this gun is great. I think you should send the pics and the story behind the gun to Rossi, and ask them if they can help you. If I was them, I would fix it for free.
 
I would most definitely want the entire cylinder assembly replaced. I'm taking it to a local smith that wanted to take a look at it.
 
Incredible. Amazing how the soggy NW barely put a "dent" in it. It cleaned up a lot nicer than I'd have expected.
 
A very little understood fact is that items deteriorate much more slowly when buried that when left above ground. There is far less oxygen to perpetuate the oxidation process. Burying the thing was much more protective than if the had simply dropped it into some brush and you located it 10 years later. That would destroy it for certain.

I recall when I was about 5 years old, many of the farmers used to bury the fruit crops that they could not store. They would dig a deep pit, line it with straw, place the fruits in baskets, cover with a sheet of wood to keep from crushing the fruits, then cover with dirt and straw.

After the spring thaw, they would dig them up...still fresh, juicy and tasty.

Doc2005
 
A very little understood fact is that items deteriorate much more slowly when buried that when left above ground. There is far less oxygen to perpetuate the oxidation process. Burying the thing was much more protective than if the had simply dropped it into some brush and you located it 10 years later. That would destroy it for certain.
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Hm! Good point! Thank you, Doc2005!

Maybe Delta53 can throw his guns in a hole ;) with a couple of clumps of degreased steel wool to consume the localized oxygen, leaving the guns oxygen-free --that is, in an almost pure nitrogen atmosphere.

Anyone ever do something like this, with the valuable steel items in a sealed container so the oxygen attacks the steel wool first and gets "used up" before it gets to the valued items?

I wonder if this might be a method worthy of recommendation for long-term storage.

?
 
DJ's loan in bothell. I haven't had any work done there, just
discussed some work, but the guys there are friendly and seem to
really know their stuff. Don't be scared by their name, they're a gun
shop posing as a pawn shop, not the other way around. Seriously, 95%
of the store is a gun store, and the have a little rack with a stereo
and a chainsaw or two, so I guess that's why they call themselves a
pawn shop. They do gunsmithing and they came highly recommended from
Sam's Guns in Lynnwood, when I asked about smithing for my SA
revolver.

Good luck! It's got to be better than Christmas to have your late
father's revolver returned to you. What better way to celebrate your
father's memory than to restore his handgun. I'm sure he's smiling at
you from the after life. Good luck in your endeavor!
 
Congrats on getting it back!!
I'm impressed on how well the frame held up under the conditions. Even with the crud on it, there's hardly a mark. I'm interested in why the wheel was so much worse than the frame. Different quality(out-source) metalurgy, maybe? You should have gotten a lot of picts of it on a solid color background before cleaning it. Should Rossi decide to hook you up for promo picts, that would have helped them a lot. Even then, they should be proud of the way that product held up.
 
Wow,

At first, I thought that you had a second gun to show what the first was supposed to look like.

It's good to see that it came back to you.
 
Wow! That cleaned up very well.

Congrats on getting your gun back. That's an awesome story for sure. Good luck getting it fixed. I hope it stays with you this time.
 
I'm a total gun geek and it was meticulously cleaned and lubed wether it'd been shot or sitting, and I've always used BreakFree CLP.

BTW, yes, in fact that is where I am taking the gun this afternoon. To DJ's. I frequent there often and they do have a great selection. I told him about the gun's story and he was very interested in checking it out himself.
 
Story of this gun is great. I think you should send the pics and the story behind the gun to Rossi, and ask them if they can help you. If I was them, I would fix it for free.
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I absolutely agree. What better for their reputation than to A) show how durable their guns are that they can go through what yours did and get it to function again with just a little effort and B) show themselves to be a friend of gun owners and will go the extra mile to help people that purchase their product.

Heck, if they did fix it for you, epscially free, I would be tempted to pick up one of their guns.
 
I wonder if they declared the gun damaged beyond serviceability so you wouldn't have to go through a background check to get it back... or did you?

This really is a fascinating story.
 
i am impressed! and especially happy for you knowing it belonged to your father, and it's back in the family where it belongs now :)
 
Nope, I still had to go through the usual background check regardless. Cleared in an hour and got to drive 45 minutes back to pick it up.
 
pics of the bullets, and some more pics of the guts. I found the culprit, and now all I need is a hammer spring and I'm in business. I think I may keep the cylinder as is, sorta gives her character, and after some more TLC, she's as smooth as I remember her. She's headed to the range this weekend.

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wow, thanks gang. I just checked out Numrich and ordered the cylinder for alot less then having it replated, and I also ordered the spring I needed too! Pops will be proud of me, he was always a do it yourselfer type, real handy, and I've always been lazy or scared to do it myself. thanks again all!
 
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