A couple of questions about my "new to me" Rossi 92

[Sturmcrow]

I have a couple of questions about a used Rossi 92 in 454 Casull that I just picked up.  It feeds 454 just fine, but will not feed 45LC at all.  The cartridge gets stuck with the nose inside the top of the chamber and the rim just does not want to kick up.  I have read about a lot of folks with 357's that have the same problem with 38SPL.  I do have more than 0.016" clearance between the cartridge guide and the loaded cartridge, and will try shimming the right one out tonight to see if that helps.

My real question is, do the cartridge guides normally look like they were filed on by a drunken ape from the factory?  Everything else in the action looked untouched, but the cartridge guides have clearly been filed on, not very skillfully, and with no attempt to smooth it after.  I am pretty sure this is why the 45LC will not feed.  I can see the rim catch on the guide ramp, but then it jumps forward 0.1" or so instead of being lifted up and jammed into the bore.  Cycling speed does not matter, this thing will not feed the Remington 250gr RN cast cartridges that I picked up.

Also, has anyone put a tang sight on a 92 chambered for 454?  I am a bit worried that I might "put my eye out" from the recoil or at least have it embedded in my forehead.  I have not had a chance to shoot the gun yet, but have at least found ammo locally.

[yukondog]

Welcome Sturmcrow, my cart. guides looked the same as yours but I had the opposite problems it would not feed 454's but it would 45 LC just fine. I smoothed both guides and had to watch the OAL when reloading the 454. I dont have a tang sight but did put a peep sight on it still getting used to it, dont seem to be abel to get on the sight fast enough compaired to the stock sight.

[Sturmcrow]

Thanks Yukondog.  Is it safe to say then that the cartridge guides are hand-fit at the factory?  I wonder how much it would cost to get a set of new ones.  If the price is pretty high, then based on the way that the 45LC jams, I am hoping that using a bullet with a much larger meplat will help.

Shimming it out with some beer can strips last night did not help, unfortunately.

I have not read about anyone else doing this, but I wonder if I could shim out both guides 0.015" or so, but then file off a bit on the foremost part of the guide, essentially deepening the ramp that is supposed to lift the rim up into position.  I currently have 0.052" of clearance between the ramp part of the guides and the OD of the cartridge rim.  The shim I used last night on the right guide was 0.018" and I did not see any binding of the bolt moving forward.  I realize now too that I was improperly measuring the clearance at the bullet part of the cartridge, which is only 0.009".

[yukondog]

The way mine looked I'm not even sure it was fitted it was pretty rough.Do you reload and if so have you tried loading the 45LC longer or shorter to see if they would chamber? There is a guy that works on these guns I called him about the same problem I was haveing he helped out alot over the phone he is STEVE'S GUNZ [ Steve Young 409-984-5473 he is a Rossi specialist be forwarned he likes to talk, I'll bet a call to him would get you on the right track.

[yukondog]

Not sure if winchester 92 parts are the same but Numrich shows them but are out of stock.

[Sturmcrow]

However, they do have them in stock for the "japanese made" 92's.  That is good to know, in case I mess things up.  I'm thinking  that shimming both sides and thinning out the part in front should help the ramp part grab on to the rim.  Of course, talking to Steve might be a good idea before I ruin $60 worth of parts.  I did email him the other day about a trigger spring screw that I managed to destroy, but have yet to hear back.

With it feeding 454's pretty well, I hate to break it.  I do reload, though I do not have the components for these calibers yet.  Would probably be much better off downloading some 454's rather than making it so that it feeds 45LC, but stops feeding 454.

[yukondog]

That's what I did with mine now that it shoots 454's, I running 250 gr.xtp's around 1650 fps. it's a good comfortable load.