Rossi M92 .45 colt things to consider.

S

sharpie443

New member
So I've ran into a lot of people looking to buy a lever gun lately. Mostly do to changes in my states hunting laws concerning straight walled cartilages but also just because people seem to be interested in them. I own a number of lever guns but I thought i would talk about one in particular in this video.

The Rossi is a good gun out of the box and is a less expensive alternative to a Henry or a higher end lever gun. it shoots well out of the box but there are a few things to be aware of. The action is rough from the factory and will take a lot of time or money to smooth out. Even if you do the job yourself it will require a new ejector spring, reduced power main spring and mettle follower for the tube magazine. However the end result is a gun just as good as ones that might have otherwise been outside your price point.

Now in terms of caliber I like the .45 colt. The down side is you have to reload to get the full potential of this cartridge. It's capable of out preforming the .44 mag when loaded with a slow burning powder like H110 with a log barrel and good projectile. This gun is capable of using .45 Colt Ruger only loads that turn the anemic .45 colt into a contender with other straight walled magnums and excellent hunting round.

Overall I highly recommend the gun if you are looking to get into a lever gun without braking the bank. Just keep in mind that it is going to take a bit of work to smooth out the action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDrAzdEJoOs
 
I filled the action on my 44-40 with white lithium grease and worked it for a couple of hours. I didn't change any springs and it came with a metal follower, it's an older pre safety. Now it's slicker than snot on a porcelain doorknob. You can hold it out in front of you with one hand and run cartridges through it with one finger.
 
That was certainly not my experience with it. it was rough out of the box and definitely needed a new ejector spring. It seems like it's a mixed bag. Some people luck out with these. Now I can operate it with just one finger.
 
I also have a pre-safety Rossi 92 in 357mag. Gun works just fine and is one of the 1st guns I pull out of the safe to shoot.

It has the plastic follower which has yet to cause any issues.
 
Congrats on the new rifle. I also have had a few of the Rossi rifles, let a friend talk me out of my 45C pre safety but replaced it with a Marlin 1894 in 45C. BUT my go to Rossi is my pre safety 357 Interarms, my whole family likes to shoot this one and feels like a 22 when shooting 38's through it. Glad you got yours up and running smooth, I know Nate Jones (http://stevesgunz.com/) does a lot of work with these and has some good parts if replacements are needed.
 
Not a fan of hot rodding the 45 Colt. I know that big ol' case is tempting, but it's big because it was originally stuffed with black powder. The 45 Colt does what it was designed to do with normal loads. If a standard 45 Colt cartridge isn't enough get a bigger rifle.
 
Just curious, but is there a reason for choosing those old cartridges for modern hunting when better lever-gun cartridges are available? Plus the .45 Colt doesn't work especially well in rifles because of the tiny rim, the reason it was almost never used in rifles in the old days.

Jim
 
Why not hot rod it? I already load for .45 Colt so no reason not to. I own a few .45-70, a .41 mag, and a .44 mag. I like shooting the .45 Colt the most so that's what i shoot. Also saves time to just load the caliber i shoot the most.

Actually hot roding the .45 colt is how the .44 Mag was devised.

As for not working in a rifle. It works just fine. No issues at all. The brass i use has a recessed rim like an Auto cartridge so that probably helps. Most .45 colt you buy has that now.
 
Last edited:
It works fine, Jim. Modern 45 Colt brass has an extractor groove just forward of the rim. But I have run the old balloon-head cases through my Marlin and they cycled just fine, too. It's true, that most folks would be better served with a 44 Magnum. But for those of us that reload and tinker with guns, there's a substantial number of us that get more out of a 45 Colt. I do think that the rifles and carbines for both cartridges could be improved significantly in terms of bore dimensions, rifling twist, and chamber dimensions. Some 45 Colt long-guns are just dimensionally better than an otherwise identical rifle in 44 Magnum. Potentially, both cartridges are nearly equal if you could optimize the firearm's dimensions.
 
Last edited:
The down side is the more popular the Rossi 92 gets the higher the price goes, a year ago I could get one if you looked for it for around 400.00 to 430.00 new now they are around 500.00 and up. glad I bought mine when they were considered by many as junk guns.
 
Inflation is tool in the hands of those that have the power to wield it. The rest of us will either benefit from it, or be victimized by it. The right or wrong of it is irrelevant when you have nothing you can do about it. If you want or need something but you think it's too expensive now, wait a little while and you may think differently as you kick yourself for not buying it now while you can, while it is available. I have bought some new firearms in the past. I don't think that I can now afford any new ones that I wouldn't be ashamed of.
 
Just curious, but is there a reason for choosing those old cartridges for modern hunting when better lever-gun cartridges are available? Plus the .45 Colt doesn't work especially well in rifles because of the tiny rim, the reason it was almost never used in rifles in the old days.
Click to expand...

Howdy

Can't speak about the desirability for hunting, as I am not a hunter. But I can speak about the evolution of the rim of the 45 Colt cartridge. Here is a photo of a bunch of 45 colt cartridges. The one on the far left is a modern round. All the others are various versions of the 45 Colt cartridge through the years.

Standard rim diameter for the modern version of the 45 Colt round is .512. What appears to be an extractor groove is actually an artifact of how the rims are cut today, but it does leave a bit of a void for an extractor claw to get a bit of a better grip on the rim. You will notice none of the other rounds has such an 'extractor groove'. But the main thing is the diameter. Some of these old rounds have a rim only .504 or .505 in diameter. Since the 45 Colt was originally conceived as a round for the Single Action Army revolver, and since ejection was accomplished by the empty being poked out from the inside, there was no thought to making the rim big enough for an extractor claw to grab. All that was needed was a rim big enough to prevent the round from falling into the chamber, and it did not need to be very big.

Now take a look at that round all the way on the right. That is the 45 Colt round Frankford Arsenal made up for the Colt Model 1909 Army revolver. This was a double action revolver with a swing out cylinder and a conventional extractor star in the center of the cylinder. The standard 45 Colt rim was too small for the extractor to grab reliably, so this version of the cartridge had an extra wide rim. A whopping .439 in diameter on this specimen. This round worked very will in the double action Colts, no way the extractor was going to skip over the rim.

45ColtCartridges.jpg



I know lots of guys who have lever guns chambered for the modern version of the 45 Colt. It works just fine in a lever gun, if it didn't feed and eject well I would be seeing a lot of failures to feed and failures to eject at CAS matches. Seldom see that with the modern version of the 45 Colt round.



While we're on the subject, the two rounds in the center are the old copper cased, folded rim, Benet primed versions of the 45 Colt on the left center and the 45 Schofield on the right center. Next to them are their modern counterparts. No way an extractor would have been able to grab either of those rims.

45%20colt%2045%20colt%2045%20schofield%20benet%20primed%2045%20schofield_zpswiu5xjz3.jpg




Now, just for the heck of it, lets take a look at a round that was designed from the ground up as a rifle cartridge. That old Balloon Head 44-40 on the left in this photo has a rim .523 in diameter. No problem for a rifle extractor to grab that rim, even without an 'extractor groove'.

444045colt45colt.jpg




Or how about the .543 rim on the 44 Henry Rimfire round 2nd from the right in this photo? I have never had the pleasure of shooting an original Henry, but I'll bet those rounds ejected just fine. What Winchester did with the 44-40 next to it was lengthen the Henry case, change it brass, make it centerfire, get rid of the heeled bullet, and add a whole lot more powder. Plus they tapered it a bit so it would feed a little bit better in a lever gun.

45C%2045S%2044R%2044AM%2044H%2044-40%20cropped_zpscine3sdt.jpg



But anyhoo, modern 45s work just fine in lever guns chambered for them today.

Dunno anything about hunting, but I would probably choose a 30-30 if I were a hunter.
 
I have taken my Rossi 92 in 44-40 hunting several times but never had a shot I felt good about taking. There's probably been about as many deer killed with a 44-40 as there has with a 30-30.
 
No way to tell for sure, but among the general hunting population I know, the .30-30 is still fairly common, while the .44-40 and the other older rounds are considered pretty well obsolete in rifles. Of course, some "pistol" rounds are vastly overrated; I have had folks tell me that the .44 Magnum, fired from a rifle, is more powerful than the .30-'06 or .375 Weatherby. Amazing, if true, but of course it isn't.

Jim
 
I have a Rossi in 45 Colt,
I agree with the OP for the most part. I must be one of the exceptions. I used Synthetic gun grease on my Rossi SS and it is really smooth. I can operate mine with one finger also.
I also had a Henry Steel in 45 Colt and decided I need another (Different Gun) Gun so I traded one of the rifles I had two of in a caliber. The Rossi stayed and the Henry was dealt away. I really like my Rossi. I even put a sling on her and just a joy to shoot.

 
Well, consider a 44 magnum or 45 Colt rifle, either one of which might launch a 300 grain bullet at a reasonable 1,500 fps; compare those with, say a 270 Winchester or 30-'06 which can both be loaded with 150 grain bullets to 3,000 fps. Clearly, there is a long range trajectory and power advantage to the 270 and 30-'06. But inside of 100 yards, they all might be virtual equals for power. Half the bullet weight at twice the velocity versus twice the bullet weight at half the velocity; take your pick. There are those that way that the equation for foot-pounds is skewed to favor velocity over bullet weight, and I'm inclined to agree.
 
I have one, with the ridiculous safety, in .357 MAG. I have been thinking about reaming it to .357 MAX. Could really hot rod the round and not have to worry about mixing amo up with my hand gun amo.

Just not sure yet what the action will handle for hot loads.
 
The length of the 357 Max will not work in the 92 action. - Pressure too, most likely though I have not looked it up.
 
No way to tell for sure, but among the general hunting population I know, the .30-30 is still fairly common, while the .44-40 and the other older rounds are considered pretty well obsolete in rifles. Of course, some "pistol" rounds are vastly overrated;
Click to expand...

Of course it is and with good reason. I don't know about overrated. It was the hot dog in it's day and killed a lot of deer and I don't think deer have gotten any tougher. It will still do the job as long as you pick your shots. I'm not saying it's better than a 30-30. I'm just saying dead is dead.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top