Rossi Rifleman

Hi everyone

I thought I'd just say a bit about my Rossi as every one seems to be a bit different.

A new (to me) stainless, pre-safety, 20" .357 which had seen little use so I'm told.
Light, accurate, easy to shoot, loads of fun and I'm loving it

It's had some problems but I'm one of those people who think tinkering with guns is half the fun.
Initial problems were cartridges hard to load, cartridges jamming the loading gate, a couple of jams like the one in the picture (only when I was racking it fast) and empty cases flying all over the range.

I've read quite a bit and watched some YouTube videos about slicking and stripping so out came the files, emery cloth and polishing stones and I set to following this guide from 'Eight Bits Of Leather'
http://marauder.homestead.com/files/Rossitune.htm

Cleaned everything up inside, covered the moving parts in moly grease and put it back together along with a lighter ejector spring off eBay. Result is easier loading, no loading gate issues and empty cases now land at my feet (or on my hand - possibly the new ejector spring is too light) and a slicker action which I can now rack even faster.

That's the good news. The bad news is that now that I can rack it faster I'm getting more of the jams like the one in the picture and it has also started occasionally chucking a live round out with the empty. If I go slow everything works perfectly.

I've read that shimming the right hand cartridge guide can help this. My cartridge diameter is 0.377 and the gap between the guides is 0.397 which from what I've read sounds too big.

However I read a post on the SASS Wire forum by Nate Kiowa Jones who puts the blame squarely on cartridge OAL. Currently I'm using 38 special cases with a 158gn TC bullet loaded to 1.470 OAL. Nate suggested 1.500 to 1.600 as the ideal length so I'll try some longer rounds first before I start messing with shims. I'm also going to try some magnum cases with 125gn bullets and see what's best.

I think I may have to be a bit more aggressive with filing the lower lifter detent too so that the lifter doesn't move with such a jump.

If anybody has found a foolproof solution to this problem I'll be very happy to hear about it as some of the competitions I shoot require some fairly rapid lever work.

Rob.

I agree 1.47" is pretty short. Try some .357s. I don't know how long will load in my old one but it's longer than will chamber in my Blackhawk (1.615" IIRC). Mine loads short .38s too but I wouldn't fret loading light 125 .357s.

Yeah, I agree that it is probably OAL and I would suggest saving the cartridge guide adjustments for last.

This may and may not help. I had a Henry in 357 once that shot great. It would cycle everything except I had some 110 grain .38 loads (cowboy loads) that would not cycle. I called Henry and they told my that the least weight bullet was 125 grain to cycle properly. So OAL probably is the culprit. I sold the Henry, it was nice but my Marlin 1894 CB cycles everything including the 110 grain.

Definatly it's the OAL. Also you must us .357 brass and find your sweet length. Also you mention that the rifle works when you operate it slowly. It's finding how fast you can operate it slowly. Short stroking the lever will always result in a malfunction. It's a learning curve but enjoy.

Just thought I'd update this thread.

Seating the heads to just in front of the lube groove gave me magnum length rounds which cycle flawlessly at least as fast as I can rack the action

All I need to do now is get rid of the 38 special carbon ring in the chamber and I'll have a go using magnum cases.