Making A .357 Rossi 92 Mag Follower - Shade Tree

[Pete44ru]

I discovered that my new Rossi .357 Model 92 was issued with a yellow plastic magazine follower - and my thoughts were to either buy a steel one to replace it or make one from brass.

Since my scrounge box had an old slide-adjustable measure for blackpowder, I decided to try my hand





First, I marked out the job



Then I cut the inner half of the measure to length, going by the depth of the INSIDE of the plastic follower, and it's OAL



Into the drill chuck with it, and turn the brass measure's body down to match the OD of the plastic



So far, so good - now it needs to be cut so the OAL matches the plastic



We have separation again !



Time to bevel/round the leading edge of the brass copy, and polish out the rough turning marks







Now to pop it back into the Rossi, to be sure it actually works.

.

[cshold]

Awsome job.

[salvo]

Very nice!

[TedH]

Ain't it amazing what a guy can do with some simple tools and a little ingenuity?

[mescalero1]

Very clever, this is the second time I have seen you use your drill press as a lathe.

[gon2shoot]

Thats pretty neat, but you have more ambition than I have.

I simply take a piece of 40S&W brass, run it in a 44 die to expand the neck, and stick it on the spring. Use the plastic follower to determine how far to expand for starting point.

[Pete44ru]

Thank you all, for the kind words - I appreciate your comments.

I like to illustrate that a gun owner needn't be a machinist, nor pay either one or a gunsmith, to make many simple changes that make any particular firearm better for them - with only some thought about shapes, parts and tool function, and methodology.

I'm trying to get owners to at least attempt something, and not be discouraged should it not turn out perfect at first try.
NO ONE would want to see my results from the 1960's, believe me !

BTW - While I used a cheapo Chinese ($40/new) drill press for this project, and a variable-speed hand drill for the safety project, and they work "OK" as an occasional substitute for a lathe - I wouldn't recommend either for more than casual use, since AFAIK drill bearings aren't designed to tolerate a whole lot of side thrust/pressure, and will soon develop a wobble.

And there's practical limitations, as to the size of the virgin stock used to initiate the project - due to the smaller chuck size(s) available.

.

[AJMD429]

Do you think a brass cartridge case could be made into a follower, or is that shoulder a 'stop' that prevents the magazine follower from 'following' all the way into the action? In that case, I can see it would be tricky and you'd need to start with thicker-walled stock.

[rjohns94]

very nice work. I would go the route of gon2shoot, and use a cartridge case as a basis.

[Pete44ru]

I suppose one COULD be made from a brass cartridge case of the correct diameter, if a ring/shoulder were soldered onto the open end.....(maybe cut/drill out a belted magnum case and use the belt as the shoulder on the other case being used/converted)......... because Doc AJ's correct - the shoulder abuts the receiver face when the magazine is empty, to limit the follower's travel into the receiver.

The smaller diameter follower body is more the size of the cartridge rim, and extends through the magazine throat/hole in the action face to push the last cartridge all the way onto the carrier/lifter - and if it's too short/long, I would think that action cycling probs would result.
Ergo, care must be taken to observe correct OAL when making a copy of the issue follower.

The last thing desired in a levergun would be ED.

.

[gon2shoot]

Not trying to steal your thunder Pete, you do pretty work. I was just telling what I've done as another option.

40S&W brass is the proper dia. for a 357 follower. By usin the 44/45 expander to create the sholder you can increase or lessen the amount of shoulder as needed for proper length.
It took me 3 pieces of brass and about 30 min. to make the first one.

I now paint the bottom black so it doesnt appear to be another rd. waiting in the tube.
It's called poorboyin it where I'm from.

[AJMD429]

40S&W brass is the proper dia. for a 357 follower. By usin the 44/45 expander to create the sholder you can increase or lessen the amount of shoulder as needed for proper length.
It took me 3 pieces of brass and about 30 min. to make the first one.

Oooh, oooh, I want pictures...!

[Pete44ru]

[Not trying to steal your thunder Pete]

NP, Here - The more, the merrier !

[40S&W brass is the proper dia. for a 357 follower. By usin the 44/45 expander to create the sholder you can increase or lessen the amount of shoulder as needed for proper length.]

Lay some pics on me, poorboy ! !

Whaddya hold the 40S&W case in, for support, while expanding the neck ?

.

[Sixgun]

Pete,
Your a survivor. The art of making things from other things has been taken away from the younger generation by too much money and too little smarts.

It gives one a great satisfaction knowing he has the ingenuity to "make do" if the need arises--not to mention saving a trip to the hardware store or sending a check off to someone----more money to spend on leverguns!

I have no idea how anyone gets by without a drill press. Just today I used mine the way you used yours.---made a 1/16" brass punch out of 1/4" brass rod. With the proper bits, a drill press can also be used as a milling machine. (light jobs of course!)

[gon2shoot]

Sorry no pics, me and photo bucket aint on speaking terms.

Pete, I do it on my press.
stick the 40 in its proper shell holder, screw the die in and pull the handle.
If it wasn't easy I'd have never done it.

[Leverdude]

I suppose one COULD be made from a brass cartridge case of the correct diameter, if a ring/shoulder were soldered onto the open end.....(maybe cut/drill out a belted magnum case and use the belt as the shoulder on the other case being used/converted)......... because Doc AJ's correct - the shoulder abuts the receiver face when the magazine is empty, to limit the follower's travel into the receiver.

The smaller diameter follower body is more the size of the cartridge rim, and extends through the magazine throat/hole in the action face to push the last cartridge all the way onto the carrier/lifter - and if it's too short/long, I would think that action cycling probs would result.
Ergo, care must be taken to observe correct OAL when making a copy of the issue follower.

The last thing desired in a levergun would be ED.

.

I made one for my 25/20 out of two cases. A 25/20 case soldered to something else, I think it mighta been a 40S&W & it worked. I swapped out for a real one as soon as I found one though. Mostly because the gun looked like it had one more left when the action was opened.

[pullnshoot25]

Anyone ever do the brass casing thing for a .44mag Puma 92?

[Pete44ru]

Thanks to you, gon2shoot - this evening I found out that the empty case from a .35 Remington will work, with a little shortening before expanding, for the .357 - since I didn't have any .40 cal to try.

There's a passel, more, of .35 Rem cases laying around various levergunners garages than .40 cal, I would presume.

BTW - The .30-06 & .308 family of cases (heads) are the right diameter (direct comparison of case heads, primer-to-primer) to shorten for use as followers for the .44 Mag & .45 Colt, with a rear expansion at the shortened mouth, up to the size of the mag tube's I.D.

.

[gon2shoot]

You intentionaly ruined a piece of 35 brass ?!!!!

[Ben_Rumson]

Great thread guys.. Sixgun touched on it some...These types of small mods and other do it yourself gun related projects are what many of us came up on or saw our fathers doing and did as part of what we were as a shooters.. satisfaction was taken in the these accomplishments (as I'm sure Pete is)..and wouldn't have been called "Shade Tree" at all... The old magazines were full of do it your self projects and modifications to firearms and related items... But thanks to fear of lawsuits and a built up psychology against home made, these do it yourself articles are pretty much gone by the way.. Yeah, you can on occasion find a do it your self article.. but they usually seem to be linked to where you can BUY a tool you HAVE to have.

[Pete44ru]

.

BTT...

.

[hayabusa]

Thanks for the bump Pete44ru, I had missed this thread.

hayabusa

[Les Staley]

Thanks for the seven year bump. I made mine out of a 40 soldered inside a 44 mag case. Easy Peasy.

[Pete44ru]

.

Yer welcome, fellas !

I bumped this thread and the one regarding Rossi M092 bolt peep sights because I was seeing that some folks were asking questions that had already been answered by some here, years ago. (the "search" function CAN be your friend, folks )


.

[AJMD429]

It's nice to see the new members influxing. They will no doubt have some good ideas and projects we geezers can learn from too...