Rossi 92 safety removal.

[1886]

I have a shot at a Rossi 92 trapper .357/.38. Rifle is super clean and the price is right. I plan on removing that safety widget on top of the bolt and replacing it with Steve's unit. That still leaves the little red F and green S. How to deal with that? Please advise. Thanks and God Bless, 1886.

[Buck Elliott]

black paint

[Morgan]

The F am S are stamped in the bolt. Dip a tooth pick in some Mineral spirits and scratch the
red and green colors off. That easy!

[1886]

Sounds good. Thanks.

[Bill_Rights]

Another noob question: What's wrong with the stamped "F" and "S"? What do they stand for, anyway?

[COSteve]

Another noob question: What's wrong with the stamped "F" and "S"? What do they stand for, anyway?

Dugh!!! How about 'fire' and 'safe'?

[Sarge]

Another noob question: What's wrong with the stamped "F" and "S"? What do they stand for, anyway?

That's for "Fling" or "Sling" as it applies to your options in launching the freshly-removed idiot switch into the nearest brushpile, dungheap or landfill; depending of course on your surroundings.

[2571]

Another noob question: What's wrong with the stamped "F" and "S"? What do they stand for, anyway?

Not a "noob" question on a furrin -made rifle. Letters are counter-intuitive in the English language. I've seen 'C' on both faucet handles on the same sink in Canada, "chaude" (hot) & cold, and the water lines were reversed to dispense scalding water from the right.

[Bill_Rights]

Thanks for the defense, 2571. But Fire/Safe should have at least occurred to me...

The other part of my question was, what is so objectionable about the factory engraving? (Other than that it's meaningless once you take that safety off). A lot of people (not me, however) prize factory-original condition when they go to buy a used gun. So, if you save the old safety pieces and leave the engraving intact, you've got that covered. Yes, I know, most people on this forum prize similarity to the old Western lever rifles even more than they think other people prize factory-originalness. That's perfectly fine. It boils down to values and money as a measure of them. You pays yo' money and you makes yo' choice....

[Ysabel Kid]

Bill_Rights -

That was a good question - don't worry about it. The problem most have here is that the original 1892 Winchesters did not have a "lawyer special" safety, so a lot of us hate the ugly thing!

[Bill_Rights]

Ysabel,

Uhhuh, I got that people on this forum don't like the lawyer-special safety both because it often gets bumped to the"safe" position unknowingly and because it wasn't on the older 1892s.

But sooner or later, maybe already, the Rossi (copy that it is) will become its own "legend" and be prized by collectors more if it has all its factory-original parts intact. There is a sense among some, inexplicable to me, that factory-original has some value, even if it is not the best. At least everybody knows what it is. I am NOT saying I agree with those collectors (I am not a collector) and I AM saying that I agree with everyday users of rifles that want to mod it to be the best it can be. I do not necessarily agree with those who would mod a rifle to make it more like a 1890s, 1900s, 1920s, pre-1964 or any other old style levergun, UNLESS it also made the rifle demonstrably better in its function. But that's just me.

[piller]

I found the safety on my Puma switched itself to "Safe" and I had a problem with it at the range. I finally used some Loctite to make it stay in one place while leaving it where it will still work----if you want to get a brass punch and a small hammer. A safety which switches itself for no known reason worries me. What would happen if I happened to be using that rifle on something dangerous, say a Water Buffalo, and the safety came on when I was trying to shoot? Safeties are mechanical and made by humans, therefore thay can and will fail. I would rather have the half-cock position on the hammer and use a little caution.

[AJMD429]

I found the safety on my Puma switched itself to "Safe" and I had a problem with it at the range. I finally used some Loctite to make it stay in one place while leaving it where it will still work----if you want to get a brass punch and a small hammer. A safety which switches itself for no known reason worries me.

I really liked the ones on all my Rossi rifles, but one day I was putting away a bottle of LocTite on the top shelf, and must have spilled a couple drops on each gun. . . darn the luck. . .

[exdetsgt]

Maybe I better do something about mine. The day I bought the rifle I switched it from safe to fire. When I did so, I noticed that it was difficult, took pressure, and there was a noticeable "click" when it finally moved to fire. I haven't touched it since, and it shows no signs of moving. It seems to me that if you were to remove it, and insert the plug that someone makes, and if you were to save the original, you could always switch them back in case you wanted to sell the carbine to a collector type.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

I had a feller contact me recenly to order one of my plugs. He had ordered my DVD and other parts before but was going to stay with the safety. The reason he decided to go ahead and plug it was the safety got stuck in the safe postion and he missed a shot on a pig. When he took it apart he found some crud in with the detent ball and spring. He said the only thing he could remember that would have crudded it up was moving through some thick under growth with vines. He said he remembered pushing the vines out of the way so it appeared one of the vines got drug across the safety peeling off some bark into the safety causing it to stick.
It's in a bad place if you want an extra safety but it's also easy to eliminate if you want it gone.

BTW,
If you use loctite on it go sparingly or you will glue the firing pin in. About once a year someone will bring in rifle for me to get it apart for them. They end up loctiting the bolt in their bolt-action or semi-auto receiver mounting scope bases with too much locktite.

[exdetsgt]

Thank you, sir, for this information. If I decide to order the plug from you, can I install it myself, or do I have to send it to you?

[COSteve]

Its simple to install yourself. All you have to do is open the action a bit and you'll see a small pin going through the top of the bolt below the safety. Just drive the pin out (left to right) and the safety, a small spring, and a little tiny ball detent can be removed. Then all you do is insert the button from Steve (making sure to align the cutout for the pin), insert the pin (right to left), and you're done.

[exdetsgt]

Thank you, Steve. Sounds like I might even be able to follow the directions, mechanically challenged and all. But I'm getting better from having learned how to field-strip Glocks, a Kimber Ultra Carry II (even with a paper clip), a Ruger LCP, and a Keltec P3AT. You may wonder why this is so difficult, but I was a revolver guy in my previous life. Still have two, my beloved S&W Model 36 no dash Chiefs Special, and my venerable Combat Masterpiece.
They just don't make 'em like that no more.