Rossi Rifleman

I finally gave up on the tactical QD swivel for the front end, and found an old-school swivel mount. The magazine tube on my 44 measures .635-.640. This is a Grovtec GTSW44 (.630-.675 barrel diameter). I'm showing the stud only. The part number is a set that comes with the 1-1/4 loops and the wood screw stud for the buttstock. GTSW43 is the same stud with the 1 inch loops.

It's a very clever rig, with the attachment screw acting as a pivot, and a hollow set screw that sets the grip on the tube. I fiddled with set screw adjustment until a fully seated attachment screw gave me the right grip. I'm sure it's possible to crush the tube if you're not careful.

Grovtec makes a full range of overlapping sizes, so I'm sure there's one for the 357. Uncle Mike's offerings are too big or too small for the 44, but I think the small one is sized for a 357 mag tube. Allen makes one, but darned if I could find the diameter range.

I wonder if this will stay in place for you. I have another brand of the same design, thought it was Uncle Mike's, that fit very well, but when carried in the field it moves side to side and walks up the tube a small amount. Still functional, just slightly irritating and it is marring the finish. The screw can't be tightened any further because of the tiny Allen head. I would love to replace it if another brand will stay solid.

I would try putting a layer of electrical tape between the Uncle Mikes and the magazine tube to help keep it in place.

I just rebuilt the sling for the new front swivel mount, so I'll give it a stress test and let you know. I doubt that I'll have a problem with the mount sliding up, because the sling is set up for African carry. But the sling is also set up as a classic Jack O'Conner M1 Garand loop sling, so it will put a fair bit of side load on the mount.

Yup, it rotated just a bit to the left, but it seems solid there. I'm leaving mine as-is. I'd bet that a layer of electrical tape, or a drop of silicone or super glue would lock it from any movement. With any of those options, you'd still be able to disassemble it.

I had tried remounting with a little blue locktite between the band and the tube, that didn't help.

That's frustrating. Are you playing with the adjustment of the two screws at all? I started by snugging the hex drive screw, then snugged the thru-hole screw. Then loosened the hex drive, tightened the thru-hole by a quarter turn, then re-tightened the hex drive. I repeated this a couple of times until I felt like the mount was clamping well on the mag tube just as the hex drive brought the two halves into contact under the screw. I really did feel like I could keep going until I crushed the mag tube.

I fiddled for quite a while on a couple different occasions, I feel I can not tighten the screws anymore without stripping the heads and it's no where near crushing the tube. It feels pretty tight, but when carried for a day in the field there definitely visible migration. I may try the black tape, though I'm not fond of that solution, or I may try the band you have. I see MidwayUSA has them for $10-11.