Any suggestions appreciated

[xdsd]

I have the 16" 92 in .38/.357 and until today it's been very reliable. Thought I'd get in a quick trip to the range this afternoon, and after about 40 rounds it jammed up. I had just put 5 rounds of .38 into the magazine, and when I went to cock it the lever wouldn't go all the way down. I don't know if the last round I put in could have gotten into a position to block the normal functioning of the lever, but I tried several times - the bolt extends back about an inch or less and that's it. I know there's no round in the chamber, because I tried several times (while still at the range) cocking the hammer and pulling the trigger - that seems to function normally, but no bang.

My dilemma now is that I have the gun sitting in my living room with 5 rounds of live ammo in it. I thought the logical thing to do would be to take off the magazine cap, release the spring and pour out the rounds in the tube. If they all come out I'm home free, and I can take it apart and see what's up.

The last thing I want is to end up as a story on the news, and even though I think it's unlikely it would go off, I don't want to take any chances. Maybe wait a couple days until I can get back to the range and take it apart there? Dump the whole thing on a gunsmith? What would you do in a situation like this? I value the collective wisdom of the Rossi Brain Trust, and I'm not going to charge into anything.

I got the gun in October, and it's got about 1400 rounds through it. Before shooting the first time I did the tear down, clean & lube routine, and did it again after 1000 rounds. If I had screwed something up putting it back together it wouldn't have worked so well so consistently.

I'd appreciate any thoughts on this. If I lived on a ranch I could take it to the back 40 and mess with it, but I'm in a condo, and I'd hate to become the latest poster boy for the gun grabbers.

[akuser47]

Make sure all ammo is accounted for then strip and search for the problem.keep us posted

[Ranch Dog]

Make sure all ammo is accounted for then strip and search for the problem.keep us posted

Yeah, I would pull the tube cap and spring, and dump the ammo out of it. If the round count is wrong I would pull the tube off so I could see into the receiver. Just be careful and keep the muzzle in mind.

[Quinc]

For whatever reason these guns don't seem to like 38's... I have to manually load the first round before the rest will load with the lever... For more info on taking apart the 92 check out this thread.
http://www.rossi-rifleman.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=543

[Ranch Dog]

For whatever reason these guns don't seem to like 38's... I have to manually load the first round before the rest will load with the lever... For more info on taking apart the 92 check out this thread.
http://www.rossi-rifleman.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=543

It sounds like xdsd is past this.

I got the gun in October, and it's got about 1400 rounds through it. Before shooting the first time I did the tear down, clean & lube routine, and did it again after 1000 rounds. If I had screwed something up putting it back together it wouldn't have worked so well so consistently.

Definitely an uneducated guess on my part would be the magazine follower if the original yellow plastic one has been in use.

[xdsd]

Thanks for the ideas, guys. RD, I do have the metal mag follower.

The ammo was Blazer .38 LRN aluminum. I'm wondering if the aluminum casing might be more prone to getting stuck than the brass casings. In any case I've shot several boxes of this stuff without issue.

I'm going to put this on the back burner, as I've got other stuff to do today. Right now I'm leaning toward taking it back to the range on Thurs or Fri and dumping the rounds out there. I realize the chance of anything going off when there's no round in the chamber is remote, but I've read dozens of stories where supposedly experienced gun owners have accidental discharges when cleaning their guns or showing them to friends. I'm certainly not immune from such mishaps, so that's why I'm going kind of overboard in taking extreme precautions with this. (Plus, one of my neighbors is a retired attorney who would love to have one more case to crown off his career.) Don't want to win the IGOTD award!

[pricedo]

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.

Thought I'd get in a quick trip to the range this afternoon, and after about 40 rounds it jammed up.

I got the gun in October, and it's got about 1400 rounds through it.

When I look at my Rossi 92s in comparison with the big robust frames & actions of my Guide Guns, my 1886, 86/71 & my bolt actions I realize that the smaller scale Rossi 92 action is quite delicate in comparison.
I don't think these guns were built to take the pounding of 100s of heavily loaded rounds on a daily basis.
The light loads used by the cowboy action shooters would be considerably more forgiving of gun and shooter.
Back in the day when the 92s were first sold how often would a typical cow buster, trapper or farmer discharge his gun?.........maybe 2 or 3 times a week as game/pests/varmints/rustlers/bandits presented themselves as targets.
Most of them had only expensive store bought ammo available & probably shot their guns only when they needed to.
And the black powder ammo of yesteryear operated at lower pressures & stressed the guns a lot less than the modern smokeless powders most of us load our rounds with today.
Cases in point are the original 92s that were converted to fire smokeless 357 Mag & 45 LC loads which loosened up & literally fell apart after a short while.
I don't think these guns were meant to be shot hard each & every day with stout smokeless powder loads like a lot of us are doing even in consideration of the stronger modern steels they are made of.
I just read posts on this board discussing where 454 Casull loads in the range of 57K psi were being fired........that kind of pounding has got to be taking its toll on the relatively small 92 frame & receiver in the form of stress & metal fatigue.
Most of us drive our passenger cars in a sensible manner only when we need to to get to work, grocery shopping ,etc., because of the high cost of gas and maintenance.
In contrast racing car drivers drive their cars right up to the peak (and often beyond) of their capabilities and they have a team of mechanics around them steady.
By the same token if you shoot you 92s hard and alot expect to be stripping and repairing them alot.
As the android "Data" from Star Trekk might say we are pushing our Rossi 92s "beyond their design parameters".

[Trailboss]

I don't think these guns were built to take the pounding of 100s of heavily loaded rounds on a daily basis.

If we're speaking of the 38/357 then I disagree. The modern 92 as we know it uses alloys that were unknown in 1892 but which are much stronger than the original. When speaking of the 454, I agree as too many shooters are experiencing problems related to heavy recoil. The 44 mag, 45 Colt and 480 could go either way depending on whether shooting factory level loads or heavier reloads.

Personally I doubt that any significant number of shooters go through hundreds of heavily loaded rounds daily in any platform.

[pricedo]

Personally I doubt that any significant number of shooters go through hundreds of heavily loaded rounds daily in any platform.

True.........that was an exaggeration to make a point........but the ones that are shooting alot with heavy loads are very likely the ones that are having problems.

It stands to reason that the more intense the shooting and the heavier the loads the more likelihood of problems.

I shoot about 200 - 500 moderately to heavily charged rounds a year with each of my 92s and they are as tight as the day I bought them. I shoot moderate rounds a lot more than the heavily loaded rounds.

I doubt if an 1895 vintage rancher would be shooting his vintage 92 anywhere near that often.

[xdsd]

Pricedo,

Assuming your explanation applies here (metal fatigue due to shooting too much), what components would you expect to fail? Given my situation where I can't cycle the action, can you think of a scenario where overstressed parts could cause this? I really haven't been shooting hot loads - basically standard target-shooting ammo. Of the 1400 rounds a little more than 1200 were .38, the rest were .357.