Rossi Rifleman

Has anyone had a miss fire useing a hammer ext. on a single shot ? My gunsmith tole me that the hammer ext. would make the strike harder ?

I'm having intermittent light hammer strikes on my R762MB, CCI primers on reloads are the problem and not the factory PPU ammo I'm hunting with. The rifle has always had a hammer extension on it so I don't think that is the issue. I spent some time researching it today, I read a lot of speculation by fellows that don't even own them, but I believe I have come up with the simple answer and will deal with it after hunting in the morning.

I'm really tired and want to get to bed, my camera is out in the truck, so I will detail it tomorrow and let you know if it works. I took the rifle apart in its three basic pieces; forearm stock, barrel, and receiver/butt stock. Then I cocked the hammer and with a screw driver reached in and fully extended the firing pin forward by pushing the tip of the driver against the transfer bar. With the pin fully forward, I then measured how far it extended outside the receiver (.042").

Now on first glace at the hammer it would be normal to assume that the hammer nose, the upper forward portion contacts the transfer bar to deliver the punch but it doesn't. There are actually two steps recessed into the forward face of the hammer, it is the first step down that mates with the transfer bar to deliver the punch.

With the previous paragraph in mind, I had the hammer make full contact with the transfer bar and then measure how much the firing pin protrudes. You must keep a pulled pressure on the trigger to expose the hammer outside of the receiver. It came up shy at .032".

What the hammer nose dictates is the limit of travel of the hammer up against the transfer bar by making contact with the frame. I'm simply going to file the flat surface of the nose, thus reducing the amount the hammer stands off the transfer bar, until it consistently ignites the troubled primers. Just one flat stoke of the file across the flat hammer nose at a time until it fires the primers. I suspect that it will only take a couple of strokes at most as it appears to me that the indention in the primers is just about good enough. Once I get ignition, I will make note of how far the firing pin protrudes for a comparison with the measurements above.

I will let you know how it works out.

Sherman, flat filing the hammer nose worked like a champ. I went ahead and filed it down so that full travel was available and the firing pin now protrudes .042" with the trigger pulled and the hammer held forward. This is identical to simply pushing the transfer bar against it's limit. I did the filing on the gun without it being disassembled.

It shot my reloads without issue. I went ahead and checked it with some factory ammo as well; PPU 123-grain round nose soft points, Wolf, and Soviet battle ammo. No pierced primers or soft primer strikes.

Thank you for the good info. I'll try this next week Thank you.

Thanks RD. I won't know if I have a problem until it goes out to the range, but no big deal. I'll take a file along.you know you are saving Rossi a lot of money and improving customer relations. I'm sure they knew about the problem but elected to ship and pray.

I'm out with the R762MB on it's first hunt. Sitting in a box blind looking down into a creek bed that runs through a cactus, mesquite, & live oak flat. I keep the rifle up in the window as stuff happens real quick here!


I have it loaded with the PPU RNSP

I'm out with the R762MB on it's first hunt. Sitting in a box blind looking down into a creek bed that runs through a cactus, mesquite, & live oak flat. I keep the rifle up in the window as stuff happens real quick here!

I have it loaded with the PPU RNSP.

Ranch Dog wrote:I'm having intermittent light hammer strikes on my R762MB, CCI primers on reloads are the problem and not the factory PPU ammo I'm hunting with.

I don't believe it.........RD hunting with factory ammo.
That's like catching the Pope with a bottle of beer in his hand.

pricedo wrote:

Ranch Dog wrote:I'm having intermittent light hammer strikes on my R762MB, CCI primers on reloads are the problem and not the factory PPU ammo I'm hunting with.

I don't believe it.........RD hunting with factory ammo.
That's like catching the Pope with a bottle of beer in his hand.

Yeap, this little cartridge is going to need it's own bullet and not one of my other 30 caliber bullets. It goes along with my thoughts on cast bullets in general; they need to be unique to the cartridge and chamber cut.

I bought 200 rounds of the PPU because I like the huge exposed lead core and it is cheaper than new brass. This is what I shot the hog with using the Savage 10 FCM. In both rifles, it is extremely accurate. The accuracy beats the Federal, Remington, & Winchester PSP premium ammo that I shot and is a third of the price.

I'm just finishing up four group buys that took 9 months, so the best I can hope for is September for a TLC313-135-RF.

Supposedly this PPU bullet is sold as a component in Europe but I have not been able to find them.

Zippidydoodah wrote:Thanks RD. I won't know if I have a problem until it goes out to the range, but no big deal. I'll take a file along.you know you are saving Rossi a lot of money and improving customer relations. I'm sure they knew about the problem but elected to ship and pray.

That's about the size of it........Rossi does the shipping & the new owner on the other end does the praying.
A "Hail Mary" or two before opening the box might help.

When you cock the hammer energy is stored in a spring. When the trigger is pulled the energy stored in the spring is turned into the kinetic energy of the moving hammer which is delivered down the firing pin linkage to the primer. Light primer strike problems usually occur in newer firearms with lawyer parts, specifically the multi-segment firing pin linkages which soak up the energy delivered by the hammer before it reaches the primer. Some brands of primers (CCI) are "harder" than others and need more energy to compress & ignite them.