New Rio Grande 45-70 comming

[akerlin]

I have wanted to buy a lever gun in 45-70 for a while now. I have always loved lever action guns and have owned a few Winchesters and Marlins in different calibers. I went and looked at a couple of Marlins recently and I can tell you that stuff coming out of the factory now, doesn't compare to the guns I owned a couple of decades ago. I know that the Freedom Group has owned Marlin since 2008 and that is the reason the quality has gone down. They are also the reason Remington has discontinued a lot of good rifles they used to make. Well enough of my ranting about the F.G.. I looked at a Rossi Rio Grande 45-70 at one my LGS yesterday and had to have one.

I just ordered a new Rio Grande in 45-70 from Buds yesterday. I have been reading about some of the experiences with them on the forum. I am sure I will have a few questions when I get it. I can't wait for it to get here. I am an avid black powder hunter, so I am interested if anyone shoots black powder loads out of their RG? Any suggestions on initial inspection, action tuning, modifications and accessorizing would be great.

Thanks in Advance
Andrew

[Ranch Dog]

Welcome to the forum Andrew. My primary advice is not to get to wrapped up in looking for trouble. Clean the packing grease out of the gun, it can be considerable, oil it up appropriately, cycle some snap caps through it, and see what you have. I have three Rio Grandes' the RG4570B and two RG3030Bs. Only the 45-70 needed work, a bit of a fluff and buff plus some work on the bolt/hammer fit. Again, wait to see what you need to do and enjoy the rifle. If something isn't up to your liking there are enough of us here now that have been shooting them for quite awhile that I think any issue can be figured out.

I believe joec is a blackpowder shooter and another new member as well.

[pricedo]

My RG 30-30 was packed with an viscous amalgam of packing grease, rust flakes, metal grindings and dirt.
I think the Rossi factory workers took all the gunk accumulated on the assembly line that day and packed it into my gun.
After I shoveled the gunk put of the receiver and mag tube I oiled 'er up and levered a few dummy rounds through.....oooppps ..........rough and bumpy, jams & scratched brass.
Pulled 'er apart again and with the magnifying glass assisting my old eyes spotted burrs on the lifter, throat of the chamber and the bottleneck where the magazine joins the receiver.
Removed the burrs and rough spots, reassembled and tried again.........at first I thought there was no action in the gun.........in fact the action was so smooth I could cycle with only my baby finger on the finger lever.
Rounds of all makes and configurations cycled through that RG effortlessly like _ _ _ _ through a seagull.
All in all about 3 hours work inclusive of coffee breaks.
I had the background experience of having owned a JM Marlin 336C in 35 Remington which I gave to my nephew a coupla years ago.
The mechanism of the RG & the 336C are identical so stripping the RG was second nature to me.
The RG will cut sub MOA groups in paper @ 100 yards all day long with the 160 grain LEVERevolution FTX factory 30-30 ammo.

[akerlin]

Thanks for the responses guys.