Just wanted everyone's opinion on this. I have a real nice Puma Model 92 45 Colt rifle with a 24 inch octagon barrel with a Brass reciever. I know that the Puma Model 92's are very strong, but how strong are the Model 92's with the Brass reciever's. It looks great and shoots great to, but I have only loaded and fired standard low pressure 45 Colt loads in this rifle, as I don't want to take a chance on the Brass reciver effecting it's strength. Thanks for any info.

brian,

I have a steel Rossi Puma and feel confident that it will long and happy with loads up to and equal to what a Ruger Blackhawk will take.

I have never had a brass framed rifle, and don't know what kind of pressures they will take. I do know that the steel locking lugs will probably pound the crap out of the brass reciever if you use heavy loads.

If it were mine I'd do two things.
A: I'd keep my loads to SAAMI specs. That is no more than 14,000 PSI loads.

B: I'd Call Mike at:

M&M Gunsmithing
204 South Union ST.
Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: (703) 739-2150
E-mail: mandmgunsmithing@netzero.com

He is the factory warrenty gunsmith for LSI and Rossi lever guns. He will probably know more about these guns than most of us put together.

Joe

brian,

I have a steel Rossi Puma and feel confident that it will long and happy with loads up to and equal to what a Ruger Blackhawk will take.

I have never had a brass framed rifle, and don't know what kind of pressures they will take. I do know that the steel locking lugs will probably pound the crap out of the brass reciever if you use heavy loads.

If it were mine I'd do two things.
A: I'd keep my loads to SAAMI specs. That is no more than 14,000 PSI loads.

B: I'd Call Mike at:

M&M Gunsmithing
204 South Union ST.
Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: (703) 739-2150
E-mail: mandmgunsmithing@netzero.com

He is the factory warrenty gunsmith for LSI and Rossi lever guns. He will probably know more about these guns than most of us put together.

Joe

Joe, thanks for the quick response. That is pretty much what I was thinking. I will give Mike a call. I guess if I want to hunt with a 45 colt, I should buy another rifle.

Brian,

Don't retire it yet. There are a bunch of different powders that can be used to increase the performance out of a long barrel without running into excessive pressures.
A bit of exploration in loading manuals could be very enlightening.
Also the .45 Colt from a revolver with standard pressure loads and a Keith SWC, has brought down a lot of game. So it's got lots of potential.

Joe

Brass receiver? Haven't seen those.... I wouldn't push it. Are you sure it isn't just brass plated?

Anyway, you can hit 1,000fps with a 255gr. SWC, in a handgun, at SAAMI pressures.... so a rifle will improve on that, yet.

I wont retire it, I still love to take it to the range and punch holes in paper with it, but it would be nice to feel like it has real worth like if it could be used for hunting. I need to look at some LBT's I guess, I'm sure that with a little help from this board, I could find some loads that would make more than 1100 fps out of my 24" barrel and be safely with in pressure limits. Any suggestions would be greatly appricated.
MikeG, If you can tell me how you guy's attach pictures I can post one so you can see the brass reciver. It is a very nice looking rifle. LSI said that it was 100% brass reciver, and I think I belive them since they only offer the brass reciver in 357 mag and 45 Colt, and not in the 44 mag rifle.

As you can see I figured out how to attach the picture.

If they don't offer it in .44 Mag, then I wouldn't push the .45 Colt loads much, either.

See the Speer manual - I believe that they have a pretty good SAAMI-spec .45 Colt load, with Blue Dot, and a 255gr. SWC. If they can get 1,000fps in a handgun, you ought to get 1200 or maybe 1300fps in a rifle, and I doubt you find too many volunteers who'll stand down range and catch them, bare-handed.....

Know Davidson's has a lot of limited editions made for them and I'm not familiar with the one at discussion here....but if they got Rossi to make a special run of brass recievers, I'd not heard of it. It could be, but re-tooling for solid brass would make that limited edition pretty expensive.

If it's plated (one test is simple..brass isn't maganetic, but sttel plated with brass would be), then the basic gun is as strong as any other of that type.

Ok, just tried to stick a magnet to it and the receiver is definitely solid brass as the magnet didn't have anything to do with it. So I guess that's that.

ribbonstone, this Brass Receiver 45 Colt rifle is not a special edition by Davison, LSI list it right on their web sight, they even have a really nice Brass Receiver rifle with a Stainless Steel barrel. All these rifles with the 24 inch octagon barrels are very nice!

So Mike, would a Hard Cast 45 Colt Bullet traveling at 1200 to 1300 feet per second be a decent Deer or Hog rifle? And if so, at what maximum range? Thanks for all the info.

Ok, just tried to stick a magnet to it and the receiver is definitely solid brass as the magnet didn't have anything to do with it. So I guess that's that.

ribbonstone, this Brass Receiver 45 Colt rifle is not a special edition by Davison, LSI list it right on their web sight, they even have a really nice Brass Receiver rifle with a Stainless Steel barrel. All these rifles with the 24 inch octagon barrels are very nice!

So Mike, would a Hard Cast 45 Colt Bullet traveling at 1200 to 1300 feet per second be a decent Deer or Hog rifle? And if so, at what maximum range? Thanks for all the info.

OK by me...some brass alloy can be strong enough to do the job ...just surprised me. Usually brass just doesn't machine like steel, need to reset and re-tool to get the clean cuts. Must have found an alloy that machines closer to steel than the ones I've tried.

Know you can get just at 1100fps from a 22" rifle barrel using FFFg black powder..so with the right smokless load, something in the 1100-1200fps area would be possible at the standard factroy load pressure.

One way to look at it is that that 250gr. slug at 1200fps would pretty well duplicate Elmer Kieth's favorite .44mag. load in a 4" revolver.

One way to look at it is that that 250gr. slug at 1200fps would pretty well duplicate Elmer Kieth's favorite .44mag. load in a 4" revolver.

Exactly.... I wouldn't hesitate to shoot the small deer we have here with that load out to a hundred yards or so with a rifle, personally. Hogs, perhaps a bit closer, at least till you knew how well it worked.

Whatever you do DON'T shoot it again!!!!!!

Send it to me and go buy another one. :D

If it were mine I would consult the owners manual and the maker- and then I would probably use black powder or black powder equivalent (pressure) loads. I would not subject it to high pressure loads at any time. If the maker wants to agree to it's use for high pressure loads then you might have a come back if it batters loose.

briankmagby
Yep I'd make that a strickly BP gun if I was you!! Load 40 gr FFF or equivilant Pyordex and shoot away!!
But no heavy "Ruger Type loads". Should be a great 100yd deer/pig gun!

briankmagby
Yep I'd make that a strickly BP gun if I was you!! Load 40 gr FFF or equivilant Pyordex and shoot away!!
But no heavy "Ruger Type loads". Should be a great 100yd deer/pig gun!

Thanks guy's, I am only going to shoot low pressure loads out of it.