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I’m working on Winchester 1894 (1910 model) in 38-55. I fired it four times. It fed ok. I then disassembled it and installed a barrel liner. Upon reassembly found a feeding problem. The cartridge is lifted well by the carrier but will not feed into the chamber unless I pause and allow the rear of the cartridge to rise into place. The bevel on the chamber seems adequate. Anyone know the answer to this one ? All the components look fine to me…
I’m in the UK so trying to diagnose a problem unsighted and 3000 odd miles away is a bit hit and miss.
Here’s my take on it.
The carrier pivots on two stub screws that have a plain section that fits into the holes in the carrier. The screws are fitted from the outside of the receiver.
The carriers has two “prongs”, for want of a better word, into which the plain portion of those screws fits.
When assembling it’s absolutely mandatory that the holes in the receiver line up 100% with the holes in the carrier prongs, any pressure that you exert to enter the screws is guaranteed to deform the set of those prongs and make them “pinch” the finger lever arm causing friction that the 1910 carrier spring has to overcome. If the finger lever has fresh blue removal ie shiny metal this is a giveaway this is happening.
A hack to check this is to open the action and looking down on the carrier WHILST IT IS INSTALLED insert a large enough screwdriver or similar tool and rotate this to try and spread the prongs. You will be able to tell right away if this works, it did for me and job done.
Good luck with it. Homestead manufacture a new carrier that actually has a bridge between the prongs to stop this from happening.
If it don’t work then the spring is suspect and homestead can sort you with a new one. These parts are over a century old now and will have both worn and maybe de-tempered.
Just my 0.02$ worth.
Are you shooting reloads? If so maybe the bullet is not seated properly–Bill
Bill, he bought it, fired it and it worked ok, tore it down and reassembled it and she no go.
Classic winchester finger issues.
Best advice if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
If the cartridge guides and carrier are installed correctly, and the carrier snaps into place when the lever is extended, and the cartridge passes through the guides correctly, but the nose of the bullet is bearing against the chamber not allowing it to enter unless the cartridge lays horizontally, would have to agree with 426crown there may be an issue with the OACL of the cartridges or some variance between the ones that are being fed (too long). The OACL for what I load is 2.505″. Some could be loaded with a little longer OACL but that depends on the bullet shape and seating.
If the barrel was removed, was it indexed properly when reinstalled?
Chris
1892takedown @sbcglobal.net ......NRA Endowment Life Member.....WACA Member
"God is great.....beer is good.....and people are crazy"... Billy Currington
john gibbs-. It’s not the carrier. It snaps up smartly just the way it was designed. Thanks though.
426crown- it’s not the reloads. The chamber reamer is matched to the cartridge profile. Ammo checks out…thanks though.
1892takedown- the barrel is indexed properly. Cartridges are 2.500. the 250 grain bullets are seated very deep. Thanks though
I appreciate the responses. The issue must be something very insignificant. Hear is what I’m thinking…… because the soft alloy of the bullets, I saw a slight smear inside the upper chamber. There seems to be nothing left to do but tear it all down again and remove the barrel. The alloy barrel liner is tough stuff. It was difficult to cut. I’m going to put it back on the lathe and use a more aggressive polishing compound on a felt pad and increase the radius on the chamber mouth.
Thanks….wish me luck
Well, I have it all back together. I would really rather not disassemble one of these old guns a second time. It wears the old patina on mating surfaces but in this case it was a must. I increased the radius on the chamber mouth and polished the chamber and radius to a mirror finish. I should have been more aware of the alloy used in the barrel liner. So…it’s on me.
Thanks everyone
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