R92 Forearm vs. Band Fit

[Johnz]

Just finished reassembling my new blued .357 92 last week, after the initial cleaning, & to my surprise I was able to get the lever/bolt pin in on the 1st try.

Being very satisfied with the toughest part of the reassembly (I thought) I relaxed a bit thinking I'd finish up the small stuff over the next day or so.

As most of you already know (& I didn't) was that when I went to tackle the forearm tip & tip screw reassembly I didn't realize what a major project it would be.

I screwed around with that part, off & on, for a week & was starting to get downright depressed about it. I was finally able to get the screw to catch a thread this morning but this was after cleaning up the slot on the barrel & the holes on the wood.

Makes you wonder what criteria this arms manufacturer uses to hire their assemblers. Looks like all you need is a pulse to make the cut. If they're paid more that minimum wage they're overpaid.

[Ranch Dog]

That is one thing that I wish Mr. Kressner would personally do; pull the forearm screw out and TRY to put it back in on a new rifle. Absolutely the poorest fit I've seen in my lifetime.

[pricedo]

That is one thing that I wish Mr. Kressner would personally do; pull the forearm screw out and TRY to put it back in on a new rifle. Absolutely the poorest fit I've seen in my lifetime.

I'm sure when Kressner reads this he'll add that to his growing TO DO list.

[calan]

I'm actually a bit worried about the notch they hacked into my barrel. For one thing, it isn't even round; it looks like it was cut with a hacksaw blade first, and then someone said "oops...it needs to be round"...at which point they then whittled on the sides of it a little with a chisel and rock. So, about two thirds of it's depth is totally useless, and the notch itself does virtually nothing to relieve the force on the screw.

By my best guess with calipers that won't quite reach the bottom of the cut, it looks to be about .065" deep, which only leaves about .09 something of barrel in that small area. I had to clean up their mess a little (with a round file; go figure) to relieve the screw, but didn't get anywhere near as deep as their first cut.

If I end up with a bottom-ported barrel and burned forearm I'm gonna be a not-so-happy camper.

[Ranch Dog]

If I end up with a bottom-ported barrel and burned forearm I'm gonna be a not-so-happy camper.

I hear you! Like I said in another reply:

I have no idea how they contort the front half of a R92 to get the screw in. I challenge the Boss Man himself, to take a 92, remove the forearm, and put it back on. If he experienced this one time, it would be changed.

I love this from the Rossi 2013 catalog (page 2). They must have told Mr. Kressner to take off his jacket, grab an apron and a 92 so they could get a picture for the catalog. As a statement on how familiar he is with the 92, notice he grabbed a Taurus PT92 and is pounding away on the slide


Hey Mark, they meant Rossi 92, you know, the one with the lever thingy! If he had grabbed the R92, that hammer would be a file and he would be stroking across the barrel to provide more relief for the forearm screw to pass!

[Fullthrottle]

Thanks RD and all who posted such valuable info in this thread!

My 92 .357 had been hammerfisted from Rossi as well. I finally got around to removing the forearm to do some deep cleaning and make sure there is no rust under it. Man, the screw was buggered up, they even filed the head a great deal to make it, (force it) to fit.

So after seeing this thread I used a combination of things to get the screw to not require a gorilla to install. I relieved the notch in the barrel ever so slightly, sanded the channel on the forearm a bit (220 grit and a socket as a guide, opened the hole for the screw in the forearm to 5/32". And done!

Now, was thinking of refinishing the wood....but the wood on the rifle that I got looks pretty decent, not mismatched or blotchy. Hmmm....perhaps I will let it go until it is worn and dented from use to treat the wood to some new life!

Thanks again guys!


PS, that is some soft wood for sure!

[Ranch Dog]

Thanks RD and all who posted such valuable info in this thread!

You're welcome, I'm glad the info helps!

[mach37]

I had posted this as part of a topic on my Rossi R92 chambered in 357 Mag...
...
I had not relieved the forearm of it's middle material at this point but soon found that I still could not seat the band screw. Everything was lined up. I could see the screw at the hole but the stock needed to be compressed to seat it. Not good in my opinion as that is just going to apply an unknown pressure to the barrel.
You might also try 357cyrus' Quick Fix offered later in this topic to see if it works on your rifle.

It's a year later (Dec 2013), glad I found this thread. I just bought a new 92R 454 Casull, and thinking of spray degreasing it, I decided to loosen the forearm and remove the stock so as to avoid messing them up while spraying carb cleaner or brake cleaner into the receiver. The forearm fit was so tight I couldn't loosen it without removing the magazine tube, so I decided to wait until daylight, and tried putting the forearm barrel band back together. That's when I ran into the problem you reported here. Thanks for the detailed help.

Incidentally, I wonder if the Mystery Wood might be mahogany, or related? The grain on my Rossi is very open and looks almost like mahogany to me. While fooling with black walnut and mahogany some years ago I thought the two samples I had were very similar, grain-wise. The factory finish is very flat satin, almost a matt finish, and not too bad a color, although I would like a bit more red in it. I see lots of ideas on refinishing it on this blog. Thanks, guys.

[Ranch Dog]

Your welcome Mach... the R92 requires a lot of tuning but this is the #1 issue for me. The rest is just polish but this requires a used to dress the barrel and Rossi should admit there is an issue and do something about it before it reaches the user.

I have a lot of shooters and hunters admire my R92s but I simply don't recommend them as I don't want to be responsible for helping them fix the issues. Those on this forum are different, the warnings are all here in these pages so the buyer can beware.

[pricedo]

Your welcome Mach... the R92 requires a lot of tuning but this is the #1 issue for me. The rest is just polish but this requires a used to dress the barrel and Rossi should admit there is an issue and do something about it before it reaches the user.

I have a lot of shooters and hunters admire my R92s but I simply don't recommend them as I don't want to be responsible for helping them fix the issues. Those on this forum are different, the warnings are all here in these pages so the buyer can beware.

The hard fact is that the vast majority of Rossi 92 buyers will use the rifle as it is out of the box regardless of mismatched wood, forearm relief or whatever.
If the gun goes bang when the trigger is pulled and is capable of knocking a tin can off a fence post at 20 yards BrazTech will never hear about it.
There are many on this board who will NEVER strip down their 92s to basic parts and do the rudimentary clean/deburr/polish/lube operation required to transform the guns from decent guns to great guns.
My Rossis were pretty dirty when I first got them. It stands to reason that the FIRST thing you have to do with a new Rossi 92 is take it apart to get the dirt & crud out of it.
The dirt I found in the Rossi 92/357 (the first of my current Rossi 92 trifecta) pretty well set the action template for subsequent Rossi 92 purchases.
The dividends from my small initial investment in time and effort are now well manifest in my 3 x Rossi 92 rifles.
Look at the video of Larry Potterfield of MidwayUSA effortlessy cycling the properly tuned Winchester 1886 .......that's how my Rossi 92s cycle.