Rossi '92 and cast bullets

[milton]

Feller's I got a problem that I hope you can help me with.I finally got out my Rossi '92 today and tried some cast loads.The load was R-P 357 brass,Win Sm pistol primer,14.5 gr/2400 and a 158 cast SWC sized .358.I got heavy leading and flattened primers,so I checked the bore.Most of the bore mic'd 0.3552/ 0.3497 but just in front of the chamber the bore mic'd 0.3495 / 0.3489.Just a little tight!
My question is ,what can I do to fix this? Please consider before you answer that I am without a job and money is VERY tight !! What can I do to this bore ? I bought this carbine about five years ago and am just now getting around to trying it out.

[Old Ironsights]

Only thing I can think of short of sending it out is to Lap it... but I don't know how spendy that is.

[Tycer]

I'd be sending it back to Rossi I think. Maybe take some soft lead and do a throat/leade cast. Take a case and fill it almost full of lead and then drive enough lead through the bore and thud it until you get a good piece of lead in the shape of your throat/leade. If the restriction is not very long and right up against the throat, hand and fire lapping might do it, but that there is an awful lot of metal to remove. It'd take a hundred or more firelaps with a coarse grit to get started.

14.5 grains of 2400 under a 158 will flatten primers normally.

[Griff]

Un pregunta, por favor: What is yer groove diameter?

IMO, that's a bit stout for lead bullets, especially as a starting load. That's only 4/10ths of a grain below max innAllaint's latest reloading guide. Depending on just what Bhn # yuour bullets are, you may be just drivin' them too fast.

[milton]

Thanks for the help ! The load in question is very mild in my '94 Winchester,in fact I load 15.5 grains with the same bullet in the '94 and get good results.
The mic'd numbers noted are groove to groove /land to land .
The carbine shoots jacketed just fine although I must watch load development as pressure climbs fast.
I was actually thinking about trying 9mm bullets just to see what happens.

[Old Ironsights]

Thanks for the help ! The load in question is very mild in my '94 Winchester,in fact I load 15.5 grains with the same bullet in the '94 and get good results.
The mic'd numbers noted are groove to groove /land to land .
The carbine shoots jacketed just fine although I must watch load development as pressure climbs fast.
I was actually thinking about trying 9mm bullets just to see what happens.

That seems reasonable... and cheaper ta boot. After 5+ years I'm not sure you could send it back to Rossi... nor would I want to lest they add some Lawyer Safety to it.

If 9mm bullets work, I say...

You've got a 9mm Levergun.

[Lefty Dude]

Buy a Lee luber/sizer in .356 and run your bullets thru the die. The Lee is not that much money. This may just solve your problem.

My Son has a Marlin 95/45-70 that has a tight bore .4555". He bought the Lee and re-sizes his that way.

[Tycer]

If there's a constriction in the bore that sizes a cast bullet smaller than the rest of the bore, nothing will stop leading except fixing it or jacketed bullets.

If Rossi won't fix it, lap it.

That's not even close to SAAMI spec, and there's pretty much nothing a user can to to a gun to reduce bore diameter. I can't imagine Rossi not fixing it.

Call Steve.

www.stevesgunz.com

[gundownunder]

Before you go doing anything drastic have you given the bore a really good scrub out with copper solvent to make sure its not full of copper fouling which will cause bad leading, because being harder than lead it will strip large amounts of lead off the bullet as it passes.

[milton]

I'll clean it with J-B one more time and re-slug the barrel just in case.
Thanks !!

[Old Ironsights]

Buy a Lee luber/sizer in .356 and run your bullets thru the die. The Lee is not that much money. This may just solve your problem.

My Son has a Marlin 95/45-70 that has a tight bore .4555". He bought the Lee and re-sizes his that way.

Good answer! I forgot about that... and I just had a custom one made myself for my 9.3mm

If you can't clean it to spec, and you can't get a warantee barrel, a Lee Push-through sizer will be a really simple and cheap solution.

http://leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/bro ... OMLUBESIZE

[J Miller]

You might discuss it with our own Nate Kiowa Jones. He's a bit of an expert on these Rossis.

Just a thought.

Joe

[Tycer]

, a Lee Push-through sizer will be a really simple and cheap solution.

Not if there is a constriction in the breech end of the barrel. Hot gasses ripping past the bullet after it passes the constriction will deposit lead the entire length of the barrel and accuracy will not be optimum.

He HAS to remove the constriction if he wants to use cast bullets accurately and leading free.

[Lefty Dude]

, a Lee Push-through sizer will be a really simple and cheap solution.

Not if there is a constriction in the breech end of the barrel. Hot gasses ripping past the bullet after it passes the constriction will deposit lead the entire length of the barrel and accuracy will not be optimum.

He HAS to remove the constriction if he wants to use cast bullets accurately and leading free.

My assumption was he preped the bore before sluging the bore.
That bore has to be totally free of all jacketing fouling and squeeky clean before one can shoot lead or slug a bore. Sounds like he has alot of work to do. It took me two weeks off & on of soaking & patching to get a 92 Rossi 44-40 ready to slug & shoot lead, about 10 years of crud in the bore. The Party I bought it from told me he always kept his guns clean and it was ready to shoot lead. The first patch thru the piece came out green/blue and from there it got worse. Good news was it came clean, it slugged .429" and is a very accurate shooter now.

[Tycer]

You are correct, if the bore is full of copper fouling, slugging will not give an accurate measurement.