Rossi shorting .38sp.. Marlin?

[kym]

I was shooting a Rossi 92 yesterday, it wouldn't feed semi-wadcutter .38 special rounds. Would it do the same if it was a .357 round? Would a Marlin 94 also shorted the round? What about a plain wadcutter?

[1886]

Hi, The only way to know is to load up some dummies and give it a try. Good Luck, 1886.

[kym]

I don't have a Marlin 94 to try it on. Looking to get a 92 or 94 in .357.

[J Miller]

kym,

Leverguns in general are cartridge length and bullet design critical. The 92s were originally designed for bottle necked cartridges with RNFP bullets with a COAL of around 1.60" ± . They work well with those cartridges. When you use the straight walled cartridges like the .357s, 44s and to a lesser extent the .45s you run into all sorts of things that will affect chambering. Cartridge length is the biggest problem. The actions are designed for the longer length, so if you shoot the shorter rounds they sometimes wont function like they should.
Then you stick on a bullet with sharp edges and that just exacerbates the problem.
There is a bullet out there, I don't know what it is or who makes it, that is designed to seat out farther in the 38 cases for use in 38 cases when shooting them out of 357 lever guns.

I wouldn't bother with 38 cases if I had one, I'd just load .357 cases with appropriate bullets to 38 levels. Been there and done that.

Marlin 1894s are also finicky about case length and bullet design just like the Win 92 design. The one I had fed .357s with any jacketed bullet and some SWC bullets just fine. 38s and most SWCs were problematic.

Winchester 94AEs in .357 are a problem child. They either work great out of the box or are lemons to the max. There are several members here who have had nothing but trouble with them. Several others that have examples that work great.

Shoot 357 cases with appropriate bullets and you'll be far better off.

Joe

[kym]

Thanks for the info. What do you think about the Rossi?

[pharmseller]

Thanks for the info. What do you think about the Rossi?

I have an older Rossi 92 that eats everything without hiccup. .38 Sp, .357, I once loaded the tube with 5 or 6 different loads randomly and then fired fairly quickly. No hitch.

P

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

92's and SWC's.
OK, here's the deal with 92's and SWC's. There are so many different brands and shapes and OAL`s of 38`s and 357m SWC's out there that is impossible for one gun to cover them all. The 92 does tends to do a better job of feeding SWC's than a marlin 1894. This is because the 92 kind of rolls them up, then over into the chamber, where the 1894 pretty much feeds them straight in. The problem with the SWC's is the bullets cutter band can hang on the chamber mouth going in. If the 92 chamber mouth is slightly ramped and the carrier comes up enough and the OAL is correct the 92 will feed them every bit as good as the RNFP's. The older InterArms Rossi's were notorious for not having any ramping and the carrier detents inside the frame weren't consistent so they were notorious for stuttering on the SWC's. If your 92 won't feed them before you do anything to the gun the first thing to try is changing OAL. If your SWC's are in 38spec brass you may need to set the bullet out more. Short 38's tend to flatten out before the bullet inters the chamber. If you load them to about 1.5" to 1.6" OAL that will help. Really long 357's will sometimes hit the top inside of the chamber before they break over and go in. Try shortening them some. Also, to get the OAL with a lead bullet you don't have to crimp in the crimp groove. Just crimp right into the side of the bullet where you need it.

In essence pistol cal leverguns are very much like semi-auto pistols, there is some ammo they just won't feed but like the pistols, feeding can be improved.

[pdentrem]

92's and SWC's.
OK, here's the deal with 92's and SWC's. There are so many different brands and shapes and OAL`s of 38`s and 357m SWC's out there that is impossible for one gun to cover them all. The 92 does tends to do a better job of feeding SWC's than a marlin 1894. This is because the 92 kind of rolls them up, then over into the chamber, where the 1894 pretty much feeds them straight in. The problem with the SWC's is the bullets cutter band can hang on the chamber mouth going in. If the 92 chamber mouth is slightly ramped and the carrier comes up enough and the OAL is correct the 92 will feed them every bit as good as the RNFP's. The older InterArms Rossi's were notorious for not having any ramping and the carrier detents inside the frame weren't consistent so they were notorious for stuttering on the SWC's. If your 92 won't feed them before you do anything to the gun the first thing to try is changing OAL. If your SWC's are in 38spec brass you may need to set the bullet out more. Short 38's tend to flatten out before the bullet inters the chamber. If you load them to about 1.5" to 1.6" OAL that will help. Really long 357's will sometimes hit the top inside of the chamber before they break over and go in. Try shortening them some. Also, to get the OAL with a lead bullet you don't have to crimp in the crimp groove. Just crimp right into the side of the bullet where you need it.

In essence pistol cal leverguns are very much like semi-auto pistols, there is some ammo they just won't feed but like the pistols, feeding can be improved.

In ONE post Steve covered it all! He is the man!

[kym]

He sure did.

[adirondakjack]

If a Marlin is timed dead nuts perfect it can be made to feed about anything, including empty cases. Getting em there and keeping em there is another story. For hard use, yer far better off pick a TC or RNFP design and stay with that.

[3leggedturtle]

My Rossi/Puma will not only feed 38 WC's but empty cases as well. SWC's for some need to be really cycled hard/fast to chamber without a bobble every now and then. But the Lee RFN's feed like a Lab puppy on a freshly waxed floor. Or snot on a brass rail Guess i got just got lucky cuz i reall y like WC"s at 800 fps or so. Outta 20" barrel they sound like 22 Subsonic

[willygene]

nothing against the Marlin but i would much rather have the rossi 92 and it is a stronger action than the Marlin just wish they were made in America but i still buyem have five now.