Problems with Rossi 92s

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Jonno
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Problems with Rossi 92s

Post by Jonno »

I have three Rossi Pumas: a ~40-year-old .38/.357, a 16-inch .45 Colt that I've owned for maybe 20 years, and a .454 Casull I've had almost that long but have done little with. All three have the same problem: the firing pins are too short. I expect that this was a "safety" measure by Rossi: 92s are dangerous, with a long-enough firing pin; If you slip up and let the hammer down against the frame, it's resting on the firing pin which is resting on the primer. And it's way too easy to force or break the safety notch, and the rifle will fire if the hammer falls just that far. But Rossi's solution nearly got me killed, horribly, years ago when I was working on a ranch.

I was hunting a pair of feral Dobermans who, it turned out, were hunting me. When they caught up with me, they were 20 yards away on the other side of some brush. I cocked the rifle, and drew down on the lead dog; he moved, so I had to move to find another opening through the brush, and without thinking I lowered the hammer. When I re-cocked it and pulled the trigger on that dog as he came around the end of the brush, the rifle said Clink! Not Bang. I knew instantly what I'd done; the fastest way to correct the problem was to lever that round out of the chamber--it's still there, on the forest floor--and a fresh one in, leaving hammer and firing pin cocked. When I finally got a round into that dog he was 20 feet away and coming fast. A 158-grain Speer soft point at 1860 f/s broke his right shoulder, left a wound channel the diameter of a quarter through lungs ands guts, and exited the front of the left hip; he yipped, looked surprised, and went down. Long story short, I got his brother, too. But one more second and I'd have been dog chow.

'92 firing pins are not spring loaded to the rear, or there'd be no problem. Simple grunge, roughness, holds the pin on the .357 to the rear until I lower the hammer; the .45 Colt's pin will fall in and out of the bolt as I raise and lower the muzzle. This turns weapons I'd like to be able to trust into unreliable toys, and that's unacceptable.

SO. Does anyone know where I can find extra long firing pins for Rossi 92s? And perhaps a gunsmith to install them who will not insist upon doing an unneeded race-gun tune to my hunting rifles, to turn a $20? $40? job into a $150 job?

The .45 Colt has a second problem. I had a gunsmith set the shoulder at the rear of the lifter (parts catalogs call it the carrier assembly?) back enough to feed cartridges 1.712 inches long (a 335-grain LBT LFN over enough 296 to produce 38,000 CUP and 1600 f/s.) He took a little too much off, and that shoulder has sheared, or worn enough that the rifle won't feed. I think the solution to this is a .454 Casull lifter. Does anyone know, and does anyone know where I can get one? The parts companies that advertise Rossi Puma parts don't seem to have any.

Thanx for the help, guyz.

Jonno
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Re: Problems with Rossi 92s

Post by gamekeeper »

Our own https://store.stevesgunz.com/index.php? ... contact_us would be my first port of call. Welcome to the fire.... :D
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Re: Problems with Rossi 92s

Post by AJMD429 »

Welcome to the forum. I've not had any issues with my Rossi 92's, but I've never been in a life-and-death situation with any of them, thankfully. Interesting to learn more about the mechanics as you describe them.

I have a 338 Lapua that had a very-slightly-too-long firing pin, and I thought I could shorten it 'just enough'......now it is too short.... :oops: I could re-enact the scene in 'Shooter' where the guy is in front of the committee and points his gun at his detective friend and pulls the trigger to reveal it won't actually fire. So......I sort of know how it feels to have a not-right-sized firing pin...!

Nate Kiowa Jones (Steve's Gunz) is also who I would defer to. He's an expert. He'll probably come along here in a bit.
Last edited by AJMD429 on Tue Oct 20, 2020 7:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Problems with Rossi 92s

Post by Griff »

Imageand Welcome to THE Forum.
gamekeeper wrote: Tue Oct 20, 2020 4:12 pmOur own https://store.stevesgunz.com/index.php? ... contact_us would be my first port of call. Welcome to the fire.... :D
+1.
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Ray
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Re: Problems with Rossi 92s

Post by Ray »

Deleted.
Last edited by Ray on Sat Apr 30, 2022 7:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Jonno
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Re: Problems with Rossi 92s

Post by Jonno »

Why, thank you, Ray. I write Sci fi, so I hope I'm getting good at dramatic suspense. Unfortunately it bleeds over into my non-fiction, too...
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Re: Problems with Rossi 92s

Post by Jonno »

AJMD429 wrote: Tue Oct 20, 2020 7:26 pm Welcome to the forum. I've not had any issues with my Rossi 92's, but I've never been in a life-and-death situation with any of them, thankfully. Interesting to learn more about the mechanics as you describe them.

I have a 338 Lapua that had a very-slightly-too-long firing pin, and I thought I could shorten it 'just enough'......now it is too short.... :oops: I could re-enact the scene in 'Shooter' where the guy is in front of the committee and points his gun at his detective friend and pulls the trigger to reveal it won't actually fire. So......I sort of know how it feels to have a not-right-sized firing pin...!

Nate Kiowa Jones (Steve's Gunz) is also who I would defer to. He's an expert. He'll probably come along here in a bit.
--------------------------------

I've shortened the firing pins on a couple of Star BMs. They were Spanish police trade-ins, and must've been unsafe the whole time they were in use: the pins protruded fully from the breech face anytime the hammer was against the slide. I bought a couple of replacement pins first, in case I messed up; then carefully filed enough off the rear of the firing pins that they were the same length as the slide, flush with the breechface with the hammer down. The pin that holds the firing pin in the slide is held captive under the rear sight; half the firing pin is cut away to make a slot to ride back and forth on the retention pin. You have to file that slot forward, too, far enough that the back of the firing pin protrudes from the rear of the slide enough for the hammer to strike it, maybe 1/16 inch.

I'll bet that these little firing pins have just enough mass to fire the primer inertially, but they do; this mod seems completely reliable.
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Re: Problems with Rossi 92s

Post by Nate Kiowa Jones »

Thanks for the inquiry. I do have firing pins.
Rossi 92 Firing Pin
https://store.stevesgunz.com/index.php? ... ogd0bhtq6
They are not Rossi made parts. We have these made up because getting the parts from Rossi has been difficult. Rossi has been making these guns since the 60’s, so there will always be some slight dimensional variances. Because of that I have these made slightly large in a few areas to cover all these guns. So, it will fit all the Rossi’s but may require some fitting.
About your issues,
Before you change any parts two things should be known, firing pin protrusion and headspace. Do you have the means to check this? If not, look for some obvious issues.
With the gun pointed up the 357m Firing Pin should freely drop out of the bolt about an 1/8” to 3/16”. If it doesn’t then something is binding. The first place to look is the retaining pin area. Dry firing can batter the FP enough to bind it up. Next, check to see if the FP is broke in the middle where the lever staddles it. If it is you will get intermittent mis-fires.
BTW, you probably know this but these are pistol cal guns and they don’t work well with rifle primers. Some folk assume because they are rifles you should use rifle primers. Rifle primers are harder than pistol primers.
Next, your other two guns. You say they are about 20 years old. Early 20000’s Rossi tried an FP rebound spring setup using short inertia type firing pins. It didn’t work all that well. So they did away with the spring and went back to full length FP’s.
If your two guns have that inertia FP they can be converted to full length.

About my action work, it is tailored to the shooter that understands the difference between production guns, smooth and dependable guns and full race comp guns. I consider my work as smooth and dependable but race ready, not full race. Sort of like the car you race on the weekends but drive to work during the week. It’s ready to race but still smooth and dependable, too.
Steve Young aka Nate Kiowa Jones Sass# 6765

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205 Antler lane
Lampasas, Texas 76550


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Jonno
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Re: Problems with Rossi 92s

Post by Jonno »

Thanks, Steve. I'll get back to you via private email.
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