So, although I had thought to buy a Henry, the gun shop talked me into a Rossi for my plinking rifle. Okay, I hear good things about the brand, a coworker is a semi-retired gunsmith and likes them, etc. It shoots enough like the shop rental Henry that, for my purposes, it should be a fine little gun.
Except:
Today was my third time on the range with it. The first time, I fired about fifty rounds through it. Second time, probably the same number of rounds. Today, I loaded the tube, fired the fifteen rounds, loaded the tube again, fired the fifteen rounds, loaded the tube a third time, started to put the inner tube into place, and it didn't want to slide in. Okay, it sometimes doesn't just slide in all the way, I'm assuming that a round's rim is in the way briefly, and gently nudging it takes care of things. The gentle nudge didn't work, so I removed the inner tube, wondering whether I had miscounted and tried to put too many rounds in the magazine tube. As I pulled the inner tube out, I noticed that the bright red follower was missing.
I looked all around in my shooting stall, with a flashlight, and could not find the thing. The RSO looked. He looked in the next stall. No luck. Checked all my pockets, even the ones with flaps over them, checked my range bag, my rifle bag--nothing.
When I got home, I ran a cleaning rod down the barrel, wondering if the thing had gotten in there somehow. No luck. Dropped a snap cap in the tube, and, pointing the rifle skyward, cycled the lever action, and the snap cap came up and went into the chamber. No sign of the follower.
Called Rossi, and they don't have a magazine inner tube as a replacement part to just send me one, so they are paying the shipping for me to send it to them for a warranty inspection. Disappointing with a practically new piece, but the nice person on the phone seems well-trained and was certainly courteous and efficient.
Weird.
Rossi Rio Bravo 22LR lever-action follower
1Eventually I'll figure out this signature thing and decide what I want to put here.