Gentlemen,
I have a new EMF 357 that I've put 200 - 300 rounds through. I really like this little rifle, except for one thing. When I load, I push the first round in about half way, then use the next round to push the first round into the magazine, leaving the second round partially into the loading gate. I continue this until I get to the last round, when I have to push it in with my finger. It is very difficult to push the last one in, even using my little finger. Sometimes even this doesn't work right, and the partially inserted round pops out.

The obvious thing to do would be to file / grind off a little of the front of the loading gate. Will this cause other problems? What about filing a notch in the front of the loading gate like on the Marlins? I don't have this problem with my Marlin 1894 44mag.

LT

This seems to be inherent with the '92 design as I also have this problem. I push the last round in with my thumb nail and it seems to work although sometimes the gate snaps shut on my nail. I guess you could use a cartridge to load the last round ie. 10 for CAS events and replace that cartridge in your belt loop. There is a slightly curved cutout at the front of the gate which I have deburred and polished as well as the port in the receiver. Other than that I would hesitate to go further.

you may also after breaking the sharp edges around the loading gate, file the sides of the spring which is between the actual gate and the screw mounting base. this action will releave the excess tension. GO SLOWLY removing small amounts of metal from the spring, keeping it cool to the touch as to not remove the temper of the spring. doing this will make it easier to load and keep from cutting your fingers. also you may cut a few coils from the magazine spring. the spring tension for the magazine tube only needs to feed the last cartrige from the magazine, as you add more cartriges the tension increases, so as long as you are feeding the last one you have adequate pressure on the cartriges. i have removed about 3.5 inches from my spring and it works fine,

Do you have this problem with 38 Special ammo? Might remove a little bit of the magazine spring to lessen the tension. I heard that this is done by the cowboy shooters.

You can shorten the loading tube spring to lessen the tension, change out the plastic "plug" for an aluminum (or brass) one,and remove the loading gate itself and file the sides of the spring side down to lessen the tension of the gate itself..these are just a few of the "fixes" you'll find from Steve Young (Steve's Gunz) website. Buy his DVD on slicking up the 'Rossi, well worth the time and money....

FWIW, the loading gate should have a slight bevel on the inside of it's leading edge, which acts in two ways - One to cam the last cartridge loaded into the magazine inline with the lifter, the other so the gate doesn't catch on the rim of the shell exiting the magazine.

If, for some reason, the loading gate on your rifle doesn't have the bevel, a few (fine) file strokes should TCB.



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