The new EMF Rossi "Hartford" has landed

[Reese-Mo]

Everything looks ok on it. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

20" in 45 Colt, with a large loop, not 3/4. Yes I had to try to spin cock it, and while the first try resulted in the front sight taking a chunk out of my shoulder, the second attempt was worthy of Chuck Connor's stunt double.

Had some trouble cycling 10 rounds through it. Magazine spring is very light. In fact, the follower gets stuck with about 4 rounds left in the tube. Literally get a round half out of the magazine and into the action. Finger finagling get 'em to load, and rounds 3 through empty cycled just fine. I thought maybe there was a dent in the magazine under the forend, and took off the end cap of the magazine tube. And that's when the surprises started....

The tube's cap has a screw attached white nylon looking "plug" of full tube diameter and about 2-1/2 inches long. The end of the plug has a recess to accept the small diameter magazine spring. Similarly the follower is semi captive on the spring on the other end... and the follower's ID is quite small, to match the spring, and holds the spring to itself with a ridge inside it. Maybe its commonplace, but I've never seen a setup like that. There's dried greasy goo in the magazine tube... which is the cause of the feeding issue. I'm thinking I need a slightly stouter, or at least longer spring, as the "extra" when not under pressure is about 2 inches.

Wood could be walnut, dunno. Its very dark, like a Winchester finish. Wood/metal fit is outstanding. Butt plate... I was wrong about, its a carbine plate, but the top has been contoured a bit and rounded over to meet the wood perfectly. There's a tiny bit of rust on the barrel, but the bore is clean as a whistle. Magazine tube has some rust on the right side. Looks like a sweaty hand put it away many years ago. I can clean up the rust and such.

Marked EMF on the top tang and A. Rossi, Brazil on the bottom tang, under the loop. Hartford stamped on the barrel.

A good internal cleaning, a bit of TLC on the outside metal, should be good to go.

[Mad Trapper]

That sounds like a real fine rifle.
It probably just needs a good going over, cleaning,polishing,etc.
If I tried to spin cock, I would end up in the emergency room, needing stitches in my head, or having the front sight surgically removed.

[Reese-Mo]

Mostly gone over today. Cleaned the magazine tube and follower. Runs 45 Colt ammo just fine now, 10 in the tube, 10 flying thru the air.
The tube had a lot of rust, not deep just a lot, under the forearm. I cleaned it up. HINT: If you take a cartridge case, cut off a section to the remaining part is a semi circle with the head still attached, that little item, plus some oil of choice makes a great rust remover for a tube or barrel. With a bit of effort, not much, the case will follow the contour of the barrel, and not scratch the steel, just remove the soft rusty stuff. Waaay back in the day, we used a penny to do the same, but its slower and tedious. Had a hard time getting the barrel band screw back in. What I eventually found out was the slot in the barrel was at about a 15 degree angle offset from horizontal. I found a nice little Grobet file and a Sharpie. Colored the slot, and left a thin strip of sharpie at the bottom as I fixed the angle. Didn't want to make it any deeper.

I was gonna post some pictures... but I don't have a host for 'em. Oh well.

And ShopRossi has magazine tubes, with spring, and follower for under $15.00. Seems like a no brainer to just get that and be done with it.

And (gasp!), I'm not sure if I'll leave it as it is, or give it the "old age" treatment. Gotta think on that. Still haven't really got a clue on the wood, but I'm guessing walnut, not "hardwood". Its very dark, and dark though and though.

[Mad Trapper]

Ive always liked your "old age" treatment.
I bought a new ruger/marlin 1894 44 mag a year back.
Had a hard time with the rear band screw.
Saw a guy on u-tube with the same problem, he snapped the screw in half trying to get it out.
Then he noticed the screw was bent, dont know why, had to be from recoil, they definitely could not have installed it bent.

[Reese-Mo]

Ive always liked your "old age" treatment.
Then he noticed the screw was bent, dont know why, had to be from recoil, they definitely could not have installed it bent.

Thanks for the kind words.

I'm not one to let things alone, and I've been thinking on that screw, its fit, and the new/used rifle. First thing to say is that the "rust" is not typical. I noticed the original factory box was a bit "musty" smelling. Had some mildew sorta stuff on the bottom. Inspecting the rifle, the "rust" is from mildew accumulating on the metal. BTW, the box got put in the fire-pit and burnt. Don't need to mildew startin' here in the swamp, we got enough stuff to give grief already!.

I've been around guns for about 60 years (yup, I'm a greybeard), made some of my living working with, selling, fixin', customizing all sorts of firearms from the mid 80's to the late 90's. Been to lotsa gun-shows, and never have seen anything like that. The "rust" was all little "webs" of mildew. It is rust, but not bad at all. Bronze wool works to rid that sort of thing really well, and is a time saver if you got it. I don't at the moment, so the cartridge case trick did ok. The idea is - brass, bronze, copper are softer than steel, but harder than the "rust", so you can rub the steel, not scratch the bluing, use a bit of oil du jour with it, then clean off the brass/bronze/copper deposits with nothing more than a little solvent and a rag.

Back to the screw.... It was a tight SOB coming out, and refused to go back. I thought the wood was the issue (after all, wood moves with humidity and temperature). No, it turned out to be crosscut on the barrel. First thing I did when finding it at an angle was check the sights.... they're straight, whew. Only thing I can think of is with the action in an assembly vice, whoever assembled the rifle put enough English (or Portugese) on the works, to get the screw to line up. I didn't check for anything out of true before disassembly, but it might have been detectable. And this rifle is apparently unfired. There was no soot in it at all, anywhere, just dried grease from storage. After what you said, I'm thinkin' that if I fired the rifle some, anything that was untrue would have tried to straighten out, and my own screw would be bent as well.

One thing I've learned about spin cocking.... the sound is not the same as movies or TV. Obviously, they dubbed in the sound, just like a real punch doesn't make that Hollywood sound either. I don't know why I would have ever thought otherwise...

[Mad Trapper]

sounds like the rifle was in storage for a while.
I dont have a 45 colt rifle, yet.
I went to a gunshow a while back, these people had all kinds of vintage rifles, original winchester 73, good lookin rifles.
Local LGS had an old rifle, been in a local family for over 80 years, he wanted $ 600.00
It was an original Springfield trapdoor carbine 45-70, made in the early 1880s.
I held it, man was it heavy, very good condition, shop owner was outside shooting it,

[Reese-Mo]

Shootin' 45Colt in an 1892 is an experience. Regular power rounds are so easy to control, but you can load 'em up to very high levels with the right brass (Starline). Darn near .44 mag levels

[GasGuzzler]

There is a proper blued 20" regular loop .45 Colt for sale locally. If I had not sold my Evil Roy and all my .45 Colt stuff, I'd have bought it. Probably about to sell all my .357 stuff too.

[Mad Trapper]

If you have an action that can handle it, 45 colt can do what the 44 mag does, but at a lower pressure.
I also considered getting rid of all my 357 mag guns, but just decided to keep them.
Ive got rossi 92s all over the place, so have been looking for something different.
Placed an order with Buds on the 1st, Cimarron 1873 Long Range .45LC - 30" Barrel

I know max pressure for the 73 action is 14,000, but I wanted something different, and always wanted a Winchester 73.
Rewarding myself after being found cancer free from a prostate MRI exam after the V/A found some scary test results, and always wanted one before I pass on.
I plan on installing an MVA tang sight and a rear 1860 Henry style ladder sight.
Then make a nice butt cuff with cartridge loops.
This is a sagebrush longshot video on the exact rifle setup.

[Reese-Mo]

Now how cool is THAT!!!! YESSSSS!