centennial 66 follower issue ?|Restoration, Repair and Maintenance|Forum|Winchester Collector

Others here know more than I do regarding this problem.  I’ll take a crack at it.

By that stage in the process, it appears the rim of the case is catching on the loading gate.  Is the loading gate properly centered/positioned horizontally and vertically?  Is the fin/rib on the inside of the loading gate–is this protuberance broken?  The fin should be smoothly angled in order to guide the rear of the cartridge onto the carrier.

Ken,

If the problem is on the inside of the loading gate, it’s likely you won’t be able to see it without removing the gate.  Hmmmm.  Unless a small mirror would….  (With a good light and a dentists’ mirror, I just looked into one of my rifles.  Not a good method for a careful inspection.) 

While looking for a good photo of the “spring cover”–that’s the correct name for the loading gate.  (See, I’m still learning too.)  While looking for a good photo for you, I followed a trail to this thread on another forum regarding the problem you are having.–

https://www.levergunscommunity.org/viewtopic.php?t=52554  The thread includes photos.  If you need more of them, let us know.

The ideas these people have for the malfunction–

Spring Cover is not screwed on tightly.  Cover is sprung, not closing tightly against the loading port.  Cover has a burr on the inside.  Rib inside is bent.  Cover could be slightly twisted.

–For these, try tightening the screw.  The screw is directly toward the butt of the rifle, just behind the loading port.

–If the problem is on the inside, remove the Spring Cover screw and inspect the Cover. If the backside of the Cover has dings or rough areas that might be catching the base of the cartridge, lightly polish these areas.    (Getting the cover back in is tricky, if you are new to it.  Folks here can help guide you.  Not a big deal.)

The other part that might cause this problem is the Carrier.  (The carrier is the “elevator” for moving the cartridges from the magazine upward toward the chamber.)  Carrier has burrs and/or rough areas.  Carrier is slightly twisted from improper reassembly.

–Disassemble.  Inspect the Carrier.  Polish as needed.  If twisted, bending can lead to breaking the part.  (Since your rifle is in such good condition, one would suppose the carrier is just fine.)

When I take a Carrier out, I do so after I’ve taken out a few of the internal parts in the receiver.  And getting the screw holes lined up for reassembly–again, you should ask folks here for instructions.  If you had an old-beater gun, then I’d say, “Dig in and see what you can do!”  But your rifle is in a different league condition-wise.  You will not want to touch your screw-heads with a driver that is not meant for working on firearms.  Normal screwdrivers will damage the screw-heads.

You say, “I’m embarrassed of my unfamiliarity with the gun, the more I look at diagrams and parts list, the more ‘lost’ I am.”  Those schematics do look a bit much, until you’ve taken these rifles apart a few times.  Then everything becomes old-hat.

When a teenager, and on the eve of deer season, I intended to do my Dad a good turn by cleaning his modern deer rifle–barrel and inside the receiver.  This was the first time I’d be digging into the internals of that rifle–and it was the last time.  All was going well until a spring shot across the livingroom.  I had no idea where it belonged inside the action; no clue to its purpose.  (This was decades before computers and the internet.)  I did find the spring.  The evening was one of the longest I’ve lived.  Every minute of not figuring out how to get his rifle working was another minute closer to first light when we were supposed to be on a mountainside.  Whew, I did get it figured out.

I hadn’t told Dad about the mystery spring.  But in his quiet way, he likely knew what I was up against, and allowed me to sweat it out and figure it out on my own.  He was a wonderful father.  Not being sarcastic there.  Dad was a great man.