Dern it my 454 has problems

[Arktikos]

This is really spooky to me. I have not seen the dimple in my spent brass but haven't tried anything too close to maximum pressure. The warmest I have fired has been 25.5gr Lil'Gun with a 355gr Beartooth which chronographed in the mid 1700's fps without any brass issues. The main thing I did notice other than the pain in my shoulder was the forearm working loose afterwards. Still I think I am going to disassemble mine and look for signs similar to these in the photos. Thanks Don for the heads up!

[Xshot]

Don,

Sorry to hear about the problems your having with your new .454 Casull. I greatly appreciate the time and effort you've spent documenting your findings.

Rossi still hasn't replaced my mag ring and screw, nor can they tell me when the parts will come into the U.S.

Later today I'll send you a PM with the serial number of my .454 and I'll take a close look at my bolt and lugs. It will be interesting and informative to compare SN#'s and components.

[donhuff]

Xshot, and others.

Hold on for a little, probably after Christmas, I'm still looking this thing over. I think that I may have fixed what's going on with the lugs not going all the way up. Like I said earlier, the lever for the 454 is different from the others. It has a big cut in it to clear the tit on the carrier that stops the cartridge from sliding off the back. And the tip of it that goes up into the bolt is cut slightly diff. Neither of those would make any difference in the way it lifts the lugs but when laying one on top of the other, I noticed that the slot for the lugs "pin", was a little diff. The 454 one was not slotted as far forward (toward the muzzle) as the other one was. There was maybe 5-10 .000" diff. Dufus me did not think to measure it. I put it back together and left the right side lug out so I could see what went where at lock-up. Sure nuff, the pin goes to the front of the slot, just as things get tight and the lever friction stud snaps into place. HUMMM! 5 minutes with a 1/4" chainsaw file. and my lugs were almost where they should be. Two more tries later, and now my lugs are all the way to the top of the bolt, making full engagement. Then, I had to bend the finger loop, as it was hitting the bottom tang on the second fitting. It was bent at a funny angle but you could only tell it when you lay the two levers on top of each other. It fit the bottom tang well, before I did the filing, making me wonder if it had been bent up, (at the factory?) to fit, because the pin stopped it before it should. Also, it bent down into place very easy like it was suppose to be there.

[donhuff]

RD and arktikos, I don't think I would be too worried about your guns, since you both have had them for a while now. And I am sure you have shot them a good many time more than I have shot this one. I resized my brass yesterday, and I shot 96 times before I called it quits. And 70 of those were the 14.0g unique load that should be less around 45,000 cup. And I saw that mark on the very first shot.

[donhuff]

See now how my lug are going all the way to the top of the bolt. It was a real simple fix once I figured out how to fix it. But yet one more thing that you would thing that Rossi would "fix" at the factory.

[Ranch Dog]

Don you are a great "Rossi Fixer"! Thanks for documenting this work. I still have yet to edit the inspection but things should settle down around here soon and I will be able to get it done.

[pricedo]

I have one complaint with my Amadeo Rossi M92/454 carbine..........it is monotonously humdrum & boring !
It just works & works & works & works... consistently and continually like the Chinese torture.
All I need do is supply the armstrong and the ammo.
It's sweetheart load......a heavy charge of H110 behind a 335 grain hardcast bullet will punch out a 1 1/2" ragged hole in a bullseye 50 yards away with me seated & my elbows resting on a bench.
**Glad I grabbed the bull by the horns a few years ago, thoroughly inspected the gun before I bought it, and then got right into the stripping down and tune-up as soon as I got it home.
Not as much as a single rough cycle, jam or misfeed since.
Life is good.

[Ranch Dog]

Thought I would post a picture of my brass from my last bit of shooting. This is from 30.5-grains of Lil'Gun that is producing 57.0K PSI. This should be considered a max load as a .1-grain increase would probably not be contained in the 65.0K PSI limit for the cartridge.

In the following photo you can see the light marks that I mentioned. The outside cases look like the primers are pierced but they are not. Just a lighting issue with the picture taking. Same with the surface of the primers. They still have nice rounded corners when looked from a side profile.

brass_01.jpg

Rim profile view.

brass_02.jpg

[donhuff]

Yep, that's the same mark for sure. I measured my ejector and it is .018 thinner than the one out of my 45C. Making it recess "in the hole" that much deeper. And the 45C one wasn't all the way up to the bolt face either.

Your primers are much flatter looking than mine were. Mine looked as rounded as new ones do. I also had a couple of primers that looked black, like they were pierced, but they were not.

[Xshot]

Don,

I appreciate the emails we've been exchanging. I pretty much understand the mod/fix you performed to get the locking lugs to fully engage the receiver. I'm wondering if you plan on posting pics of the area(s) you made adjustments?