Rebarreling a rossi 92 to 38 special.

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mickbr
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Rebarreling a rossi 92 to 38 special.

Post by mickbr »

Fellas so I piicked up a 357 for a steal with 20" barrel which is beaten up and I was looking to rebarrel it. I prefer 24" anyway and I thought I can get a tighter twist while I am at it, as I'd like to play around with some slower cast bullets. The rossi's orginal 1:30 twist is not the best for weights over 158grains. Then a beer or two later I thought, hey could I get this chambered specifically for 38 special just for sheer novelty factor? Always wanted a 38 special chambered gun just to say I have one but 66 yellowboys and such are out of my price range. Then a beer(or two) after that I thought I better ask the guys at paco's whether this is doable for a decent gunsmith or I am missing something important?
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COSteve
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Done

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Done
Last edited by COSteve on Sat Jan 16, 2021 7:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Rebarreling a rossi 92 to 38 special.

Post by earlmck »

My particular Rossi 357 doesn't feed regular length 38's real well. It does fine with regular length 357's and 38's when I seat the bullet a little long. So you might want to check how yours feeds 38's to make sure you'll like it when done. And I am with you on getting a faster twist -- one of the stoopider things I can think of is our gun makers building revolvers to handle heavy bullets but rifles that won't, purely because of poor choice of twist. Go for it!
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mickbr
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Re: Rebarreling a rossi 92 to 38 special.

Post by mickbr »

thanks fellas it feeds a couple types of factory 38 special I have here so that is good. Yes never understood the twist rate for some levers, also the bore variations. Ask on castboolits.com about a particular lever calibre and what their bores slug at and you get a dozen different answers. I guess they make levers to push jacketed bullets fast so it matters less.
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Re: Rebarreling a rossi 92 to 38 special.

Post by gamekeeper »

I thought that some early Rossi 92s, the ones with the Puma medallion in the stock, were chambered in .38special.
My SS .357 Rossi worked well with Winchester factory .38 special.
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Re: Rebarreling a rossi 92 to 38 special.

Post by AJMD429 »

I'd be real tempted to get it with a fast enough twist rate to stabilize subsonics as heavy as you could get them to feed, and the mechanism to feed 357-Mag-length cartridges would likely do just that. Then I'd do the SBR paperwork and thread it at about 12-14" barrel length, for a suppressor.

I have the Marlin 1894 CST and it shoots regular 38 Specials as quiet as 22 LR Standard Velocity in my 20" bolt action...
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Re: Rebarreling a rossi 92 to 38 special.

Post by crs »

My m92 .357 Mag rifle is a conversion and was not made to shoot 38 Special.
The only factory 38 that would stabilize was the hot 110 and 125 loads . Anything heavier was too slow to stabilize and some even hit the target sideways. This was due to the twist in the Douglas custom 20 inch barrel.
The Douglas barrel shoots smaller groups with the faster .357 ammo too.

Have you tried cleaning the .357 barrel and shooting it? Sometimes a barrel will look rough inside , but still shoot fine.
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Booger Bill
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Re: Rebarreling a rossi 92 to 38 special.

Post by Booger Bill »

In the early 1970`s I had a shot out 32-20 1873 in just fair shape rechambered and and the barrel bored out for .38 special. I didnt really work it out much before I sold it. Then I also had a shot out 92 in 25-20 rechambered to 357. Today I own a Rossi in .357 and a Browning 92 in .44 mag. What I really would like is a 92 or copy in .256 win mag. I had a Martini action built up in .256 years ago and really love that cartridge. I once owned a Ruger Hawkeye in it plus I own a T/C in it.
https://i.postimg.cc/wvwZ3j3y/35744mag.jpg
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Re: Rebarreling a rossi 92 to 38 special.

Post by gundownunder »

My brother has a Rossi with the 24" oct. barrel.
It is a 357 but will easily feed 38 spl, but it is really clunky with the 125gr tc bullet, and the twist rate makes for very poor accuracy with my 180gr rnfp
With a 158gr rnfp cast from the Accurate 36-158-B it is really slick and is accurate too.
I load ammo for both our guns with 5gr of AP70, which is equivalent to Universal, or Unique.
If you rechamber your Rossi to 38 spl you can still use it to shoot high velocity loads, as the action will still be capable of taking 357 mag pressures.
The old Keith 38-44 load was a 172gr bullet with about 12gr of the old Herc 2400 powder. I'm sure if you started at about 9gr - 10gr of Alliant 2400 you could work up to quite a decent load.
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mickbr
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Re: Rebarreling a rossi 92 to 38 special.

Post by mickbr »

Thanks for the replies fellas.At this stage Christmas is eating into my pastimes so it will have to wait until the new year
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Re: Rebarreling a rossi 92 to 38 special.

Post by Jay Bird »

I understand you feelings of "novelty" by using a 38 Spl. My thing in old guns has been going after calibers no one ever heard of and making them work to perfection. But.......there's nothing but novelty to gain by using a 38 Spl with more to lose. It's a hit or miss with feeding with the 38. The ballistics between the two are nearly identical in a strong rifle with standard weight bullets...a bit more room in the 357 for heavyweaights......if your handloading. You will have a larger selection of bullet weights / lengths by staying with the 357 as short 110/125's may have an overall length too short to feed in the action.

Sure..rebarrel with a tight twist and give those 200 grain bullets a workout....it's what I use in a snubby 38. You will bypass a lot of aggravation by staying with the 357 and open up a whole lot of experimentation for fun in the future.----6
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Re: Rebarreling a rossi 92 to 38 special.

Post by mickbr »

Thanks for the input sixgun, I was considering the same thing and had cooled off on going to 38. Staying with 357 and being able to choose twist and precise bore might be the best option.
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Re: Rebarreling a rossi 92 to 38 special.

Post by Jay Bird »

Your welcome bro.....that's why us old heads are around...we have been there and done that....just passing on a bit of wisdom.

Two things that has kept me away from most 44 magnum carbines.....the nasty slow twist and the fat groove diameters which all seem to be. My most accurate lever/pump pistol calibered rifles are from the last century....the late 1800's. It's a hit or miss with them also but when you get a tight one, you keep it...like a 1894 Marlin 44-40 with a .425 groove diameter...shots as good as a scope sighted bolt gun.---6
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Re: Rebarreling a rossi 92 to 38 special.

Post by hfcable »

Booger Bill wrote: Sat Nov 30, 2019 11:35 pm In the early 1970`s I had a shot out 32-20 1873 in just fair shape rechambered and and the barrel bored out for .38 special. I didnt really work it out much before I sold it. Then I also had a shot out 92 in 25-20 rechambered to 357. Today I own a Rossi in .357 and a Browning 92 in .44 mag. What I really would like is a 92 or copy in .256 win mag. I had a Martini action built up in .256 years ago and really love that cartridge. I once owned a Ruger Hawkeye in it plus I own a T/C in it.
https://i.postimg.cc/wvwZ3j3y/35744mag.jpg
I think Paco did one in 256...probably some where in the articles, I may have it in my stuff somewhere

I do have the marlin 62 in 256 myself, and I have a ruger Blackhawk converted to 25/20 that is getting a 256 cylinder right now

now, you have me thinking about this again....
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Re: Rebarreling a rossi 92 to 38 special.

Post by Booger Bill »

I have seen a 92 re chambered to .256. The guy, a gun store owner at the time had his gunsmith a friend of mine do it. He took it along to Africa on a safari to shoot smaller stuff and bragged on it. I had a Martini action built up in 256 and liked it but traded it off. I once also owned a Ruger Hawkeye and do own a T/C contender with a barrel and scope in 256 for it.
I have dyes, cases and ammo but havent shot much lately. I still dream of a 92 in one.
The 256 barrel and scope plus the 45 colt, 410 barrel on it. This is a first or second year T/C. It came with a large factory wood presentation case.
https://i.postimg.cc/ZnZwQXxF/TC-13413.jpg
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