Rossi Rifleman

I have a mod. 92 in .45lc. After firing 3 shots, It stopped firing. I thought it might be the safety or somehow dirt in the bolt. I found in this forum someone said to see if it will fire pointing strait up. I pulled a round from the brass and tried firing the primer. Pointing level, it won't fire. It only leaves a small scratch type mark in the primer. If I point it strait up, it fires and impacts the primer perfectly. I tried pointing it up, then bringing it down to level and it fires perfect. If I point it down and bring it up to level, just the scratch impact in the primet, no fire. I stripped the bolt down and removed the firing pin. I looks fine. No nicks or cracks. I cleaned everything, still no fire if pointed downward. Any suggestions other than sending it to Rossi? Should I try swapping the firing pin with my .357? I am at a loss.

Tim

Almost sounds like the firing pin is too short. Can you compare it with the other one?

In that you cleaned the bolt assembly, swapping the firing pins might provide an answer. At least, happing two pins would allow for a physical comparison.

First off, I have never had a problem with my Puma 44 firing any round I put in her. But as a lifelong machinist/mechanic's logic I would say your firing pin may be too short or the hammer spring too light. If you point the gun up, the firing pin will fall back, and the ensuing hammer strike will be more forceful with the firing pin closer to the hammer. The pin will act as a "ram" and travel far and fast enough to ignite the primer. If the gun is pointed down, the firing pin will be farther away from the hammer and the hammer will not be able to propel the pin forceful enough to hit the primer with enough force to ignite it.

Jes an old guy's thinkin'...

It sounds like too short of a firing pin, and/or you could have a headspace problem. The two conditions together could cause what you are experiencing, or either by themselves could be the problem If the gun fires pointed up it may indicate that the cartridge is sliding back against the bolt face or ejector just far enough so that the too short of a pin will fire the cartridge; but when pointed down the cartridge slides or is pushed by the ejector forward far enough into the chamber or against the barrel, so that the firing pin does not impact it hard enough or at all. The ejector and extractor play into this also, so it can be complicated, but my guess is it is not either.

First try to determine if the pin is the right length, then obviously you could have a good gunsmith with headspace gauges measure this. If you do not know a good gun smith that is framililar with the 92, you can try the various sudo headspace methods like placing tape on the back of the cartridge or seating a primer out of the case slightly if you are a reloader. Another method you could try (I have not) is to fire the rifle with a live round without the extractor attached to the bolt (the extractor not the ejector). After firing this way, upon opening the bolt/lever you should be able to measure the distance between the cartridge rim and barrel face. You should be able to compare this distance to the distance that the firing pin sticks out of the bolt when pushed into the firing position.

The fireing pin will not protrude from the bolt much when its pushed all the way forward by the hammer. It would not take much cartridge movement to be too short to fire.

You can probably order a new fireing pin from Brownells and it will be at your door in a few days.

Regardless, I would not recommend sending it back to Braztec, it is likely it will come back worse than it is now.

Good Luck.

if you bought it used the previous owner may have cut the hammer spring to make it cycle smother causing light strikes.