Getting a 92 and have a few concerns

[laszlo]

Howdy. New in town. Strongly considering ordering a 92. Pretty much decided on 20" octagonal in .357. This will be my first project lever gun. Wanted to get a few opinions on presently manufactured 92's. From what I've researched quality control is better than it used to be but can still be spotty at times. I guess it depends on whether the rifle was made on a monday or a friday. First on the list is disassembly, cleaning, StevesGunz mods, removing that goofy safety and replacing sights with something I can see.

What kind of stocks are they putting on these rifles? Not a big fan of unknown mystery wood. Does anyone sell replacement walnut stocks specifically for the 92?

Whats the present opinion on blued vs stainless? Rather stick with blued but concerned about the quality of the finish from the factory. If its just "OK" then I will probably go stainless.

Ammo - I don't reload so I'm limited to off the shelf. Just how picky is it? Will it cycle almost anything I feed it?

Round vs. octagonal - This is personal preference but octagonal appeals to me for the asthetics. Any serious drawback on octagonal besides adding a few ounces?

If this rifle works out OK then I'll probably be ordering a larger caliber for game hunting at the ranch.

I know some of these may have been answered before but I'm really looking for the most up to date info.

Thanks.

[Ranch Dog]

S

Howdy. New in town. Strongly considering ordering a 92. Pretty much decided on 20" octagonal in .357. This will be my first project lever gun. Wanted to get a few opinions on presently manufactured 92's. From what I've researched quality control is better than it used to be but can still be spotty at times. I guess it depends on whether the rifle was made on a monday or a friday. First on the list is disassembly, cleaning, StevesGunz mods, removing that goofy safety and replacing sights with something I can see.

Welcome to the forum! Your final statement pretty much covers the work you need to consider. My four rifles, two Braztech's and two LSI Pumas by Braztech, have been good rifles out of the box. I feel they are actually wearing in real nice and have not received the SG work despite owning the DVD. I decided to give them a test drive first. What I have found poor on all three is the forearm fit, something that is not covered in the SG DVD. All three of my rifles have needed the barrel relieved a bit more so that the forearm band screw can pass without placing pressure on the barrel. I just started shooting my 357 and it might need a little trigger work but I'm going to get at least a 100 rounds through it before I tear back into it. Loading gates, feed, ejection, etc. have been very nice on my BT rifles.

What kind of stocks are they putting on these rifles? Not a big fan of unknown mystery wood. Does anyone sell replacement walnut stocks specifically for the 92?

The "Brazilian hardwood" seems almost like birch with a shoe polish finish. From the experience relayed through the forum it seems the stocks respond quite well to TrueOil or any other quality finish. That is a winter project for me.

Whats the present opinion on blued vs stainless? Rather stick with blued but concerned about the quality of the finish from the factory. If its just "OK" then I will probably go stainless.

The blued finish on my rifles are quite deep, deeper than my Marlins.

Ammo - I don't reload so I'm limited to off the shelf. Just how picky is it? Will it cycle almost anything I feed it?

Cannot comment on this as I reload but can say I have walked straight into my R92s with cartridges that have been developed for my Marlin 1894s. No load work up, nothing. They swallowed them and delivered performance similar to the 1894 (great).

[44-40 Willy]

I used quite a bit of factory ammo in my 357 when I started out with it. It fed everything 357 very well although it is picky with 38s.

As I bought mine new in 1999 (my idea on a gun just in case there was something to that Y2K stuff), I can't comment on current production. But mine is a blued 24" octagon. It is a bit front heavy but you get used to that pretty quickly. The 20" should be a bit better balanced. One thing to keep in mind on the octagons in 357 is that they use the same barrel blank for every caliber. So in a 357, you end up with a thick heavy barrel. But I just figure that to be like a heavy target barrel. Mine sure is accurate enough for that.

[Raymer]

I just picked up a Rossi 92 with the 20" octagon barrel last week. I chose the blued with case color reciver. I like the look of the octagon barrel and the crescent butt plate. The wood isn't what I would expect from a Uberti or a Henry but neither is the price.

When I first tried to cycle rounds through it, it would take .38 spl rounds with no problem. But it wouldn't chamber any of the .357 ammo I have. I prefer 140 grain hornady XTP hand loads in my Ruger GP100 and was hoping to use them in the Rossi. I already had the Steve's Gunz video. I stripped, cleaned, and reassembled the action twice and still no luck with .357 Hornady dummy rounds. I bought a box of Remington .357 and no luck with them either.

I bought the gun through Davidsons. I didn't want to rework any of the parts for fear of voiding their warranty. I told my local FFL about the problem I was having. He told me that with Davidsons there would be no problem getting it fixed or replaced. I went home and stripped the reciver one more time just see if I had missed anything. Couldn't see where the problem was. The rounds just seemed to be trying to enter the chamber at too steep an angle. I reassembled the gun and snugged all the screws down for preparation to return it to Davidsons.

Just for the heck of it, I made up some dummy rounds with shortened cases, about .040". Surprise, they cycled fine. Then I tried the full length Hornady dummy rounds. They also cycled fine. It seems that first couple of times that I reassembled the reciever, I had not tightened the screws enough. I still won't cycle the Remington rounds but I think it probably will after I strip it again and break the sharp edges around the chamber.

I took it out for the first time today and it shot very well. It cycled my Hornady rounds without a problem. It is more accurate than I thought it would be. I'm sure that once I get it tuned up it will be a great gun. It's a lot of fun to shoot.

[pricedo]

What I have found poor on all three is the forearm fit, something that is not covered in the SG DVD. All three of my rifles have needed the barrel relieved a bit more so that the forearm band screw can pass without placing pressure on the barrel.

I wonder how the forearm fit was handled by Winchester Repeating Arms in the legacy 92s?
Was the wood and metal forced together and held by the band screw under tension like the Rossis or was there evidence of superior fitting & finishing so the marriage was stress free?

I would of course expect a superior stress free w/m fit in the new super-expensive Miroku built 92s.

I was thinking that perhaps routing out the magazine channel a bit and then glass bedding the magazine tube would result in a permanent, durable, repeatable, stress free w/m fit.

By repeatable I mean that if the wood and metal in the for-end are just forced together there would be a different stress relationship among the parts every time the rifle was stripped and reassembled resulting in a point of impact shift. If the fore-end was glass bedded the parts would just snap back together stress free and there would be very little point of impact shift with each strip and reassembly.

[pricedo]

Maybe a for-end glass bedding to relieve internal stress should be part of the new 92 tune-up regimen?
If you ever glass bedded an action &/or barrel you will know that it is an easy operation with the inexpensive Brownell's kit.
That's what glass bedding does is create a repeatable (for stripping and reassembly for cleaning or whatever purpose), stress free stock/action/barrel fit which is necessary for accuracy.

[laszlo]

DANG IT ALL!! I went to CTD to order a 20" blue octagonal and they are out of stock and cannot be backordered.

I don't know whether to wait and see if they become available or just get a round barrel.

[outfishing13]

I just picked up a Rossi 92 with the 20" octagon barrel last week. I chose the blued with case color reciver. I like the look of the octagon barrel and the crescent butt plate. The wood isn't what I would expect from a Uberti or a Henry but neither is the price.

When I first tried to cycle rounds through it, it would take .38 spl rounds with no problem. But it wouldn't chamber any of the .357 ammo I have. I prefer 140 grain hornady XTP hand loads in my Ruger GP100 and was hoping to use them in the Rossi. I already had the Steve's Gunz video. I stripped, cleaned, and reassembled the action twice and still no luck with .357 Hornady dummy rounds. I bought a box of Remington .357 and no luck with them either.

Ray,

I have the same problem with my Rossi 92, that I picked up about 3 weeks ago. It likes rounds that are around 1.570 or shorter instead of 1.590. I even have some that are 1.490 and they cycle through really nice. What I don't know is how much accuracy I am loosing if the bullet is not seating into the rifling when the cartridge is chambered. I bought a Lee 125 gr RF mold and made some 357 rounds that are 1.575 and the gun gobbles those up just fine. There are some solutions to the problem though. I posted a similar problem on another forum and a fellow told me that he ground a little bit of of the bottom of the chamber where the chartidge enters. He said that solved most of his problems. I haven't been brave enough to do that yet though. For now I am pretty happy reloading and shooting what works.

Other than that, I sure love this Rossi 92. 357 blued 24 inch barrel. It has a longer pull which I really like.

[Raymer]

Mine came with a chamfer at 6:00 oclock that ran out at about 4:00 and 8:00. I don't know why, but after stripping and reassembling the action a few times it will cycle the 1.590 Hornady loads OK now. It seems that the faster I cycle the lever, the better it works.

[pricedo]

Mine came with a chamfer at 6:00 oclock that ran out at about 4:00 and 8:00. I don't know why, but after stripping and reassembling the action a few times it will cycle the 1.590 Hornady loads OK now. It seems that the faster I cycle the lever, the better it works.

My factory load for the 92/454 (260 grain Federal SP) is the same.
If I cycle the action deliberately slowly I'll feel a slight bump as the meplat rubs the throat of the chamber.
If I cycle at my normal speed (fast) I feel nothing.........no bump.