Rossi 16" Model 92 .357

[Old Savage]

What experience with loads and results?

[Griff]

My .357 Rossis are 20", and have only been fed .38 Specials and the occasional .357 with BP a long time ago. They feed .357s just fine, but reside too far back in the safe to see any use, (like the 4th row back)! My 45Colt guns, both the Rossi and Uberti toggle links get far more use... so they sit in front of the .357 guns...

Maybe I need to dig them out and exercise them a little... develop some mag loads and see what they'll do... nah, too much work!

[Tycer]

Both mine are set up for 357. Ranch Dog 180 grain mold. Had to shave the carrier a couple of thou on one and the other was good to go from the seller. One will run all ammo and the other will occasionally flip 38 specials. Don't remember which one as I just run 357 length ammo of varying weight and charge in both.

[Pete44ru]

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After I swapped another board member my new Rossi .357's Big Loop for his standard loop a few years ago, I shortened the magazine tube to button mag length, D/T'd receiver sidewalls to add a Williams 5D-94AE receiver sight, I took it out deer hunting with some high-performance commercial 158gr JSP's.






I took a couple of medium-sized (150lb, field dressed) whitetails that were DRT (dropping at the shot).

Eventually I sold it, to stop the buyer from salivating all over me, very time he saw the .357 - he's been using it for Florida'a small deer & a few good-sized hogs that seem to run rampant, near his winter home down there.


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[Nate Kiowa Jones]

Probably a good place to post this; It's something I send to my customers when they are having feeding issues with there Rossi 92.

OK, The first thing to keep in mind, all leveraction, pump action and semi-auto guns (long guns or handguns) are ammo length and bullet shape sensitive. Some more than other. For example, you don't think about it much if you are dealing with a rifle cal. like 3006, 308 or 223 and even 30-30. Those are bottleneck calibers. Bottlenecks always feed better than straightwall ammo, whether it is a rifle cal or a pistol cal. That's because you have a small diameter bullet going into a really big hole by comparison, the bottleneck chamber being much like a funnel.
The original Winchester 92's were designed to work with bottleneck ammo in the 1.5" to 1.6" OAL with round nose flat point bullets. Ammo like 44-40, 38-40, 32-20 and 25-20.
But, these modern straight wall ammo 92’s are a lot like semi-auto handguns. There’s just some ammo they aren’t going to work well with.
What that means is they may not work well with really long 357’s. (They tend to hit the top inside of the chamber before they make the turn into the chamber) or really short 38’s.
The most common problem with the shorter 38's is the gun will throw out, flip or stovepipe live rounds with the empty's. This is because the shorter 38 coming on to the carrier from the tube can bounce forward enough that the rim is too close to the rim slots in the guides and when you lever it fast the carrier just catapults them up or out with the empty. (One of the things Rossi did years ago was redesign the cart guides by changing the angle of the rim slots so the back end comes up sooner. So they tend to be less ammo sensitive than other pistol cal 92 leverguns)
Also, bullet shapes can make a difference. Bullets other than the round nosed flat point profile they were designed for can cause issues.
For 38’s, this is what I have found to work best. A 158gr elongated round nose flat point seated above the crimp groove and just crimped into the side of the bullet just above the lube groove.



For years there were commercial reloaders that offered CAS ammo, offered 1 1/5" long loaded Cowboy leveraction 38's.
I directed my rifle customer to "T" ammo for his 1.5" cowboy 38's. But, Roy retired so I was recommending Ammo Direct.
Well, they are out of business at least temporarily. (had a fire I believe)
Here is the new source.

Contact
CUSTOM AMMO & RELOADING SERVICES,LLC
817-326-3855
Email; landjb7@charter.net

Larry Benningfield
3110 Marble Court
Granbury, Tx 76049.

they sell this 1.5" 38 spec ammo and will also reload your brass.

As for 357mag, the best feeding I’ve found is the Hornady 357 Mag 140 gr FTX® LEVERevolution

[Old Savage]

Thanks for your replies fellows. Have to get out and give this one a try.