Rossi 92 project

[mickbr]

About a year ago I had the zany idea of putting a 24" round barrel with tight 1:16 twist on a rossi 92. At the time I was thinking very heavy subsonic bullets. I put a $50 deposit in with a barrel maker, had been so long with everything going on in the world I had assumed he never got around to it. Got a call this week,ready for fitting, 1 x profiled 24" 1:16 twist .357" barrel. I have a couple Rossi 92 in 357. I have to pay for the barrel anyway, might as well take the plunge and volunteer one of the 357 for the cause.

[.45colt]

Should be pretty interesting to see how it works out. .

[Old Savage]

I don't think a 357 is best served by a 24" barrel. Check ballistics by the inch. But don't know your goal.

[AJMD429]

With the prospect of shooting heavy for caliber bullet stabilized at a reasonably fast twist and a nice long barrel to assure complete powder combustion, I’d be highly tempted to have it threaded so I could add a suppressor sometimes.

However wouldn’t a 1:12 or even 1:10 twist be considered ‘tight’ versus the 1:16...? I thought 1:16 or 1:18 were fairly normal 357 Mag twists.

[mickbr]

Old savage, agree 357 does not need 24" of barrel. For the record with the right heavy charges of slowburners particularly in strong 92 action 357 can keep seeing a few gains to 24". BBTI only tests factory loaded charges meant for pistol barrels.
Doc you are correct 1:16 is not that tight, just tight compared to Rossis 1:30...
24" is for balance, aesthetics and bit less noise when I dont have time for earplugs. I never took to short rifles, neither do my dogs ears. I even prefer 24" 22LR, though my 96/22 breaks that ruiles. The only 24" options are rossis railroad heavy octagonal and usually 1873 which are heavier and weaker. Win/miroku might do a 24" barrel 1892 but too rare to track down.

Well at least these were all my reasons last year during a covid lockdown when I was looking for a new project. . Now I'm stuck with the barrel so I might as well follow through.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Sounds like fun. I look forward to your progress reports.

On the noise side, I understand completely. I like short barrels on my leverguns, but I also tend to shoot moderate loads in them. Partially becasue I just don't need that much power for my purposes and partially because a standard .38 Special is reasonably quiet in a 16 to 20 inch barrel.

[AJMD429]

Yep with ‘38 Special’ subsonic loads and a 24” barrel you would barely need a suppressor anyway. Likely those loads will be accurate, too, and plenty powerful for most stuff.

If you want a flatter trajectory and more reliable whitetail-killing power just put some 170 or 180 grain 357 Mag ‘+P’ loads in it, as the Rossi is plenty strong.

[earlmck]

My favorite Rossi is a .357 with the 24" octagonal barrel; it sure holds nice for off-hand shooting. I hadn't realized it was "railroad heavy" though. Being a young fellow yet I thought the octagon barrel was just about perfect, but maybe when I get to be an old guy I'll come appreciate the significance of 4 oz less weight. But It would be a better rifle for my purposes if it had that 16" twist you will have: the absolutely wonderful 180 grain LBT that shoots so nice in my gp100 doesn't shoot for poop in the slow twist Rossi.

[AJMD429]

Are all the Rossi 357’s slow-twist...???

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

Are all the Rossi 357’s slow-twist...???

Yes, 1 in 30" is all I've ever seen. Amazingly it has worked out well if you stick to common bullet weights for the cal. partly because the added velocity from the rifle length barels makes up for the slow twist in RPM's. For 357m if you stay with the 125's and 158's it does a good job with vels over 1500 and up.
When you start dropping Vel. or trying to use heavier bullets the 1 in 30" doesn't stabilize all the well.

good example;

This one is mine. It's in 357m with a 1 in 30 twist. I had planned to do the 180 and 200's but it won't stabilize at subsonic.
All it see's is 158 at about 1000 FPS

[mickbr]

My favorite Rossi is a .357 with the 24" octagonal barrel; it sure holds nice for off-hand shooting. I hadn't realized it was "railroad heavy" though. Being a young fellow yet I thought the octagon barrel was just about perfect, but maybe when I get to be an old guy I'll come appreciate the significance of 4 oz less weight. But It would be a better rifle for my purposes if it had that 16" twist you will have: the absolutely wonderful 180 grain LBT that shoots so nice in my gp100 doesn't shoot for poop in the slow twist Rossi.

I found it okay for range shooting, not great for long walks and pulling off ATVs or boats. I normally like 24" barrels and choose them but found the Rossi even less manouverable than heavier 1873 actions as the barrel has so little taper.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

My favorite Rossi is a .357 with the 24" octagonal barrel; it sure holds nice for off-hand shooting. I hadn't realized it was "railroad heavy" though. Being a young fellow yet I thought the octagon barrel was just about perfect, but maybe when I get to be an old guy I'll come appreciate the significance of 4 oz less weight. But It would be a better rifle for my purposes if it had that 16" twist you will have: the absolutely wonderful 180 grain LBT that shoots so nice in my gp100 doesn't shoot for poop in the slow twist Rossi.

I found it okay for range shooting, not great for long walks and pulling off ATVs or boats. I normally like 24" barrels and choose them but found the Rossi even less manouverable than heavier 1873 actions as the barrel has so little taper.

Rossi uses a straight octagon where the original wins used tapered octagons. Rossi's 44 and 45 cals don't feel all that front heavy. but, I agree, the 357 does feel really front heavy.
I wish they would make the 20" octagons again. Those felt much like the original tapered 24's