Winchester 94 30-30 "Ranger" & primers - question/help

[Wayne Smith]

Another possibility when the second try sets off a primer is a incompletly seated primer, the first strike fully seats it and the second sets it off.

[OverMax]

Primers not fully seated.
Tip: Get yourself a old Pacific Brass trimmer. Seat your primer as usual. Then use the Pacific Shell Trimmers w/shell holder. _Turn Ram c/w _ to fully seat any large pistol/rifle primer before its case is re-loaded. (you'll be surprised how far primers actually seat down into their pockets.) Once the primer has been seated correctly. You'll never have another miss fire primer problem (with a rebounding hammer coil or leaf spring.)

[shdwlkr]

If I were to go and look for a lever first thing is has to have at least a 24 inch barrel on it, don't really care who made it. I started with winchesters many decades ago because the local gun shop I went to with my cousin only had winchesters. In later years I got to shoot many marlins and liked the ones I shot. When looking for lever action firearm make sure you actually put it up to your shoulder and think how it fits you and how it will work for you. Nothing really matters as to who made it more of how well it fits you is the important thing to keep in mind.

[Jmburns]

+1 - if you pull the buttstock, you'll see that the forward end of the mainspring strut is forked, one tine shorter then the other (the rebounding hammer actuator).

The long leg propels the hammer towards the fired position, until the short leg starts to push the hammer back (toward the middle/rebound position).

Sometimes, when the short leg is a slight bit longer than it should be, intermittent misfires can occur.

The fix is to remove the MS strut & (VERY) slightly shorten the shorter leg at it's tip.




.

I'm having an light primer strike issue with a newly purchased 94ae, which is the short leg of the marinating strut? I want to make sure I trim/sand the correct leg.

Thanks

[shtur]

I had the same problem with my 94ae, sometimes the round went off, sometimes it didn't. I read on another internet site, cutting the lower leg took care of misfires.

The poster on the other site removed almost 3/8 inches from the lower leg(the leg pointing down). I only filed a minor amount from mine and polished it with 600 grit paper when done. I also purchased a Sinclair large primer reamer and that really squares the primer pocket perfectly.

[pietro]

I'm having an light primer strike issue with a newly purchased 94ae, which is the short leg of the marinating strut? I want to make sure I trim/sand the correct leg.

Thanks

Welcome to the board !



The mainspring strut upper fork leg drives the hammer forward; the lower leg is supposed to raise the hammer off the FP after it was dropped, but if the lower leg is too long, it will intercept the hammer's fwd movement as it only begins to hit the FP, instead of a millisecond afterwards.

Shorten the mainspring lower strut leg to resolve light hammer strikes - baby steps only...………………….

File/grind, testfire… file/grind/testfire, etc, etc until the light strikes disappear.

(note: not every rebounding hammer will need this "adjustment")



.

[FergusonTO35]

The Mossberg 464 also uses the rebounding hammer design. Mine has light strikes, however I think it just has a weak hammer spring.

[veeman]

My old Ranger has never had a problem with it's rebounding hammer. Guess I got lucky. Great shooter, too.

[shootsblanks]

I had the same problem with my 94ae, sometimes the round went off, sometimes it didn't. I read on another internet site, cutting the lower leg took care of misfires.

The poster on the other site removed almost 3/8 inches from the lower leg(the leg pointing down). I only filed a minor amount from mine and polished it with 600 grit paper when done. I also purchased a Sinclair large primer reamer and that really squares the primer pocket perfectly.

i am one of those guys that just cut the thing off, now it functions more like a half cock, fixed my issue of misfires though

[Jmburns]

Thanks for the help everyone. I ended up taking a little over a 1/16 off and now it goes bang every time. The primer strike depth is still a little shallower the I'd like but I think the cci primers might be part of the issue.

[robg]

Had a problem with some large rifle CCI primers last year ,never had a problem before or since maybe you had a few duff ones. Otherwise check and clean your primer pockets.