Several years ago I commissioned a purported lever action custom gunsmith to render my Rossi 92 stainless steel 454 Casull carbine into a half pistol grip 45 Colt rifle ― a Winchester 92 rifle with shotgun butt. It was, and is, intended to be the other half of my Freedom Arms 97 45 Colt set. The gunsmith was way beyond an unfortunate choice. After filing a complaint with Postal Inspection Service, I repossessed the botched rifle.
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Okay, to the query. My current gunsmith is booked for several months until my rifle is to be finished. In the meantime he returned it for me to use until he'll get to it. The rifle's receiver and many of action's internal parts have had a black cerakote (spelling??) or similar coating done. Breech bolt and locking lugs are uncoated. I do not know if it's spray-on air dry or bake-on finish. The action is snug-to-tight. I don't know whether shooting ― that is, cycling the action during magazine loading ― will damage tolerances, harming the action.

- Kris Bonner (Accu-Arms, Missoula, MT) intends to strip the coating as part of his job. Can the action be used as-is without excessive wear on action tolerances? If yes, what lubrication will mitigate any excessive wear likelihood?

- If excessive wear would be likely, can I "deal with" this coating while awaiting Kris? I have hand tools, no power equipment or blasting apparatus.

While we wait for the experts to chime in - - - Food for thought - ---Coating over-applied? Cerakote should be very thin (low .000") and also has a high lubricity factor.
Never owned a Rossi 92. Are tolerances usually tight?
One more. If you trust Chris, then use it. I doubt that he would have given it to you if using it would be detrimental to its parts.
Good luck. UOTE]Originally posted by Naphtali:
Rossi 92 stainless steel 454 Casull carbine into a half pistol grip 45 Colt rifle ― a Winchester 92 rifle with shotgun butt.

The action is snug-to-tight. I don't know whether shooting ― that is, cycling the action during magazine loading ― will damage tolerances, harming the action.

- Kris Bonner (Accu-Arms, Missoula, MT) intends to strip the coating as part of his job. Can the action be used as-is without excessive wear on action tolerances? If yes, what lubrication will mitigate any excessive wear likelihood?

- If excessive wear would be likely, can I "deal with" this coating while awaiting Kris? I have hand tools, no power equipment or blasting apparatus.[/QUOTE]

Yes, you can run it without creating excessive wear or any wear at all. All of the coatings that are commonly used are designed to be on wear surfaces that are not critical dimensions (like locking lugs). They either wear off, or take the wear themselves eventually wearing off.

I would use a dry lube and not an oil or grease. The coating is going to wear and you want the dust to leave, not be held there as oily sludge. Remember these are hardened parts that are intended to work against each other with no or minimal lubrication.

Use it normally, and clean the action a bit more often to get the dust out of it as the coating wears.

Jeremy