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When my Dad was in his late 60's he all of a sudden wanted a Winchester M62A .22 LR "gallery" rifle. Being sort of frugal and because the rifle was no longer being produced by Winchester, he was not willing to pony up the cash to buy a good used Winchester 62A because of the prices. I offered to buy him a used Winchester for his Birthday or Christmas, but he would not hear of it. So..... he found out that Rossi was making a faithful reproduction of the 62A and bought one.
When I fist saw it, I had to admit it looked OK and had a descent fit, finish and bluing job, but the wooden walnut stock was relatively plain looking - certainly no Winchester! He brought it down to the range and I'd say he could only shoot 2 rounds without the rifle jamming and failing to feed a new round when cycled. Frustrated about his new rifle, he wrote a letter and sent it back to Rossi. About a week or two later a brand new rifle shows up because they reportedly could not fix it. The following week he brought it down to the range once again and it was only marginally better than the first one. He sends it off again with another letter and they send it back with letter of apology and said it had been fixed. NOPE - it was still malfunctioning and was no better than the last time. No matter how much lubrication was used and even though it has been thoroughly cleaned, it would constantly jam up on every second or third round. Ammunition type made no difference either.
At this point he challenged himself to fix it properly, come hell or high water! If anyone could fix this rifle it was him as he was incredibly talented - mechanically speaking. Every week he'd bring it down to the range and shoot it, make some notes and most weeks it would improve slightly - although sometimes going a bit backwards. This went on for a few years and I always teased him by saying PLEASE do NOT leave this one to me! It got to the point that when he uncased this rifle and shot it I pretty much ignored the whole deal because I just thought the rifle was unfixable and was too frustrating to watch. The regulars down at the range who knew him always had a good chuckle when he pulled it out of the case he hand made to fit the rifle that takes down with only a turn of a thumb screw.
My Dad died when he was 84 and since my brother is not into guns at all, he left his entire collection to me. After his death, I would take one of his guns to the range every week, shoot it, sight it in for me and make sure everything was in perfect working order. Most were, (I had to fix a few myself) but then the last gun for me to shoot was this Rossi model 62A - the devil of his collection - lol. I went to the outdoor range that week and set up a few targets at 75 feet. To my utter surprise...... the rifle functioned flawlessly! I had shot well over 100 rounds and could not believe my eyes. The following week I brought it again and shot 200 + rounds - again flawless! I could not believe he had actually fixed it and made it function perfectly smooth and without a hitch. He never said anything to me about fixing it and I was very curious as to what he did to fix it.
That night when I field stripped the rifle to clean it I inspected it closely and noticed he had taken a piece of 1/8" flat steel, perfectly thinned and shaped it, then braised it to the carrier or elevator (whatever the proper name of the part that lifts up the new cartridge to feed it into the chamber is). I could see only the faintest brass coloring where he braised the part and he did a professional job. Apparently the height to which the new cartridge was being lifted was too low - a design flaw that I guess Rossi never picked up on - shame on them!
From time to time I'd take the rifle out to shoot and over the last 17 years it has never jammed - not even once! It will feed any ammo and while not exactly a tack driver, it is still fairly accurate. Today I took it to the range as I had not shot it in at least 4 years now and it was time. Today's session was with 100 rounds of CCI Mini-mag's at 75 feet - outdoors with a heavy wind. The wind was heavy enough that our target carriers were being blown over frequently and we had to weight them down at the base. That said, these are my best two targets of the day at 75 feet, off-hand with the original inexpensively made iron sights. Certainly not great, but respectable for this rifle considering its life's history. While driving out to the range today I told everyone in the car (3 fellow shooter's) the story and let them shoot a magazine full - they all liked it.
I wish it were a real Winchester but then I would probably not have taken the time or felt the need to ever post this story - lol. I was going to take a picture of it but of course we had some people over for diner and I wanted to put it to bed in the safe quickly and I forgot to do so. Next time I shoot it I shall, but the Rossi 62A is basically a Plain Jane copy of the famous Winchester 62A without the gorgeous Winchester bluing, wood and finish. While this rifle is certainly not a beauty contest winner or tack driver, it does have a pretty interesting past and I wanted to post the story here. Hopefully, Rossi has improved their QC as well - if they still produce it. Thanks for reading!
ADDED: SEE POST #4 BELOW FOR PICTURE OF A 62A.
When I fist saw it, I had to admit it looked OK and had a descent fit, finish and bluing job, but the wooden walnut stock was relatively plain looking - certainly no Winchester! He brought it down to the range and I'd say he could only shoot 2 rounds without the rifle jamming and failing to feed a new round when cycled. Frustrated about his new rifle, he wrote a letter and sent it back to Rossi. About a week or two later a brand new rifle shows up because they reportedly could not fix it. The following week he brought it down to the range once again and it was only marginally better than the first one. He sends it off again with another letter and they send it back with letter of apology and said it had been fixed. NOPE - it was still malfunctioning and was no better than the last time. No matter how much lubrication was used and even though it has been thoroughly cleaned, it would constantly jam up on every second or third round. Ammunition type made no difference either.
At this point he challenged himself to fix it properly, come hell or high water! If anyone could fix this rifle it was him as he was incredibly talented - mechanically speaking. Every week he'd bring it down to the range and shoot it, make some notes and most weeks it would improve slightly - although sometimes going a bit backwards. This went on for a few years and I always teased him by saying PLEASE do NOT leave this one to me! It got to the point that when he uncased this rifle and shot it I pretty much ignored the whole deal because I just thought the rifle was unfixable and was too frustrating to watch. The regulars down at the range who knew him always had a good chuckle when he pulled it out of the case he hand made to fit the rifle that takes down with only a turn of a thumb screw.
My Dad died when he was 84 and since my brother is not into guns at all, he left his entire collection to me. After his death, I would take one of his guns to the range every week, shoot it, sight it in for me and make sure everything was in perfect working order. Most were, (I had to fix a few myself) but then the last gun for me to shoot was this Rossi model 62A - the devil of his collection - lol. I went to the outdoor range that week and set up a few targets at 75 feet. To my utter surprise...... the rifle functioned flawlessly! I had shot well over 100 rounds and could not believe my eyes. The following week I brought it again and shot 200 + rounds - again flawless! I could not believe he had actually fixed it and made it function perfectly smooth and without a hitch. He never said anything to me about fixing it and I was very curious as to what he did to fix it.
That night when I field stripped the rifle to clean it I inspected it closely and noticed he had taken a piece of 1/8" flat steel, perfectly thinned and shaped it, then braised it to the carrier or elevator (whatever the proper name of the part that lifts up the new cartridge to feed it into the chamber is). I could see only the faintest brass coloring where he braised the part and he did a professional job. Apparently the height to which the new cartridge was being lifted was too low - a design flaw that I guess Rossi never picked up on - shame on them!
From time to time I'd take the rifle out to shoot and over the last 17 years it has never jammed - not even once! It will feed any ammo and while not exactly a tack driver, it is still fairly accurate. Today I took it to the range as I had not shot it in at least 4 years now and it was time. Today's session was with 100 rounds of CCI Mini-mag's at 75 feet - outdoors with a heavy wind. The wind was heavy enough that our target carriers were being blown over frequently and we had to weight them down at the base. That said, these are my best two targets of the day at 75 feet, off-hand with the original inexpensively made iron sights. Certainly not great, but respectable for this rifle considering its life's history. While driving out to the range today I told everyone in the car (3 fellow shooter's) the story and let them shoot a magazine full - they all liked it.
I wish it were a real Winchester but then I would probably not have taken the time or felt the need to ever post this story - lol. I was going to take a picture of it but of course we had some people over for diner and I wanted to put it to bed in the safe quickly and I forgot to do so. Next time I shoot it I shall, but the Rossi 62A is basically a Plain Jane copy of the famous Winchester 62A without the gorgeous Winchester bluing, wood and finish. While this rifle is certainly not a beauty contest winner or tack driver, it does have a pretty interesting past and I wanted to post the story here. Hopefully, Rossi has improved their QC as well - if they still produce it. Thanks for reading!
ADDED: SEE POST #4 BELOW FOR PICTURE OF A 62A.
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