Winchester '94 Help

[Mark Terry]

A while back I ran across a Winchester 94 in .30-30 in what appeared to be decent shooter sort of shape for a reasonable price so it came home with me. It was the early stage of lever action sickness and seemed like a good place to start.

About a month or so later, I finally got around to shooting it or at least trying to shoot it.

I loaded three factory rounds and pushed the lever forward and a round was released from the magazine. The cartridge was lifted by the carrier and when I started the lever back, the nose of the bullet entered the chamber however the rim of the shell wouldn't release (the cartridge base didn't ride up on top of the carrier. The angle of the shell is too steep so it jams. "Vigorous" didn't help.

I studied and read and read. I didn't find good descriptions of similar problems. I sat and stared for several hours, looked at a similar rifle I have that functions perfectly.

I finally concluded that the carrier spring needed replacing and finally found one at Midwest Gun Works.

It arrived today and I installed it confident that it would resolve the problem.

It didn't.

The serial number of this rifle is 502326. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas?



Thanks

[petep]

Why don't you try the guys over at www.levergunscommunity.com/
and see if they can help?

[Mark Terry]

I did and got a lot of sound advice (after I remembered my username and password). The issue seems to be related (IMHO) to a timing issue with the carrier. Those guys may straighten me out in short order.

[bradshaw]

Tried to stay out of this topic, but the 94 in photos looks suspiciously of manufacture after 1963, which desolation lasted for some years...

When Winchester embarked on their disgraceful cheapness campaign, metals and techniques were introduced which short-circuited attention to detail. The lifter, or cartridge carrier, became a flat piece of metal devoid of the milled detail of John Browning's M1894 design. So too, it was with other parts. Receivers repelled bluing, and so forth.

If this carbine is from that trough, you may be playing the losing side of a zero-sum game. I would check its era first.
David Bradshaw

[nolongcolt]

With a serial number that low, would it not be a pre-64?

[Mark Terry]

The guys on the leveractions forum pointed out that if that was the correct serial number, it would have been something like 1909, which is certainly not. I managed to write the number down wrong and posted it in both places. It's date of manufacture is more like 1979. Sorry for the confusion.

I can now disassemble and reassemble a 94 in about 5 minutes without losing any screws or springs. I replaced the carrier spring with a new one and it did not resolve the problem. It seemed very close to working correctly and I learned that it is easy to watch the interaction of the lifter and the spring will all the other parts removed. I was about to order a replacement carrier when it occurred to me to swap the carriers in the two rifles I had on hand ( similar vintage).

Keep in mind that the second rifle functioned perfectly.

So, the carrier from the non-jamming rifle was installed in the jamming rifle. Worked perfectly!

Somewhat sheepishly, I installed the carrier from the jamming rifle in the (formerly) perfectly functioning rifle. It worked perfectly, too!

There is obviously some wear or other minor difference in the lifters. I am happy to remain blissfully ignorant of the details. I'll shoot them this weekend and report back but I don't intend to do anything else to either rifle unless something malfunctions.

I do appreciate the advice and suggestions.