1894 winchester- I have many questions, Oh wise ones!

[samwithacolt]

I have purchased an 1894 38-55 octagon barrel/crescent stock, seems to have been made in 1894(serial no in the 7000"s)
It has been broken through the tangs and the butt has been replaced(horse rolling?)
Top and bottom tangs have been brazed a long time ago, but I suspect that the gun has been a single shot since it's "accident".
The shell lifter does'nt go all the way to the bottom, so it stops the gate from opening.
If I reach in and press the lifter down with a screwdriver, I can load a cartridge. It then lifts the cartridge up, but it can't transfer the shell from the lifter to the two guides in the reciever as the lifter seems to be too worn.
I have a replacement bottom tang and a shell lifter on the way. I suspect that the bottom tang is positioned too low and is stopping the lever coming fully home.
Do I have a pile of junk?
I'm guessing this was never meant for nitro powders, I have a lee 250 gr mold on the way and intend to start with Trail boss or Unique.
Could I get 1500/1600 fps out of this with modern powders, or is that way too much for a black powder era barrel? The bore seems surprisingly good.
Your thoughts?

[williamwaco]

This seems to be not uncommon.

I have seen several posts here on how to fix it but I don't remember.

[pietro]

Winchester Model 1894 Rifles in the 7xxx SN range were made in the last half of 1895.

You better order a new lifter spring, too.


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[samwithacolt]

The lifter spring does work, the lifter snaps up and down under the power of the spring. Unless the spring has weakened over time.

[hunter64]

Search under my handle hunter64 from aug. 2009, sounds exactly like the same thing I ran into.

[samwithacolt]

Thanks, Hunter64!
I now understand the function of the spring better. I will look into a replacement. I have another 1894 in .32 special so I was able to compare, but I did'nt realise the shape of the spring was so important.

[Marvin S]

Better to stick around the 1300 fps range.

[hunter64]

Thanks, Hunter64!
I now understand the function of the spring better. I will look into a replacement. I have another 1894 in .32 special so I was able to compare, but I did'nt realise the shape of the spring was so important.

Once you have the new part in your hand, the difference will be obvious. Yours will probably have the back side warn down on the "triangle" shaped point and the new one will be a perfect triangle. I put the new one in and problem solved. Here is a quick link to the new part, http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Products/265490.htm

[samwithacolt]

Thanks again Hunter64!
I bought some used parts from a guy and he had a carrier spring. Just swapped them out and what a difference! I saw what you meant, the point was gone off my old one. I got a used carrier and spring, and I just cycled a couple of .30-30 rounds and the were slicker than snot. Just got to go pick uo my mold and dies from the post office and should be shooting by tommorrow!

[hunter64]

I just found my old spring and I was going to post a picture so you know what to look for but you got it fixed already. When I first started to troubleshoot the gun I couldn't believe that if the tip was warn by just a bit it will not function correctly. I bought the new part and still had a hard time believing it would fix the problem until I changed it out and end of story. Took me a few hours of working the lever slowly with some dummy rounds to figure out it was the spring at fault. Glad it is working for you.