Winchester 1894 AE 30-30 Feeding Problems

[EMR]

I started to hint at this problem in another thread of mine here about casting and loading for this rifle, but I thought since it's a new topic and new problem perhaps I should start a new thread.

I picked up a new to me Winchester 1894 AE in 30-30. This is my first lever action so I'm pretty clueless with these things. Manually cycling different types of ammo as well as my own cast at several different OAL, 90% of them end up in a failure to feed.

The round is able to eject from the tube and onto the carrier. The carrier lifts the round with the cartridge nose pointed to the chamber. The problem starts when the bolt pushes the cartridge forward, the cartridge gets stuck at an angle. If I move the bolt back a smidge, it seems the carrier is able to pop the round up and I can close the action and feed the round. If I slowly closed the action, sometimes the rim of the case would pop up high enough to clear a small gouge in the left ejector guide. Then the cartridge would feed normally and the bolt would close just fine. Other times, I would slowly close the bolt and watch the rim of the case not pop up and head straight for the gouge and get stuck in it. If I released pressure on the lever, the cartridge would pop up and ride over the gouge and feed like normal.

I don't think the nose is getting jammed into the chamber as there are no obvious marks on the bullet itself, but after some online research I believe the rim may be getting caught on the ejector guides. I decided to take it apart and try to verify for myself. Sure enough, the left sided ejector guide had a huge gouge in it. The right one had a smaller one.

I decided to try my luck and ordered a used left ejector guide from Numrich. Hopefully it'll solve my problem.

I'm just wondering if the ejector guide isn't the problem and the carrier isn't lifting the rear of the case high enough to cause the case rim to smash into the ejector guide in the first place.

Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks for you time!

[KLR]

I had that same problem and with the same gouge. I solved it by lightly rounding the bottom corners of the cartridge guide slots - especially at the rear of the channel. This let the rim pop up into the channel sooner and avoid hitting the bottom of that front channel that you show with the gouge in it.

Edit: I just went and looked at my rifle and the most of my metal removal was at the rear part of the guide. I made that horizontal cut almost parallel with the top of the cartridge guides rather than sloping downward so much.

[EMR]

I had that same problem and with the same gouge. I solved it by lightly rounding the bottom corners of the cartridge guide slots - especially at the rear of the channel. This let the rim pop up into the channel sooner and avoid hitting the bottom of that front channel that you show with the gouge in it.

I just tried lightly polishing and smoothing out the gouge without any luck. At least I didn’t make the problem worse LOL

[KLR]

I just tried lightly polishing and smoothing out the gouge without any luck. At least I didn’t make the problem worse LOL

Yea, that's how I started. Lol. You need to get the rim up sooner and hit the front slot higher by working the rear part of the cartridge guide.

[EMR]

Yea, that's how I started. Lol. You need to get the rim up sooner and hit the front slot higher by working the rear part of the cartridge guide.

Are you talking about this area?

[KLR]

Yes. That area.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if you need to start with a new cartridge guide. That damaged corner means that the rim has to pop up even higher than it would on an undamaged guide.

[EMR]

I ordered a used from from Numrich. I couldn’t find any new ones anywhere. Hopefully the new to me piece won’t have the same issue!

[EMR]

Well I’ll be.... hey thanks for the tip! If the numrich turns out to be a dud, I’ll likely go the eBay route. Thanks!

[EMR]

*update:

So I figured out what was causing the misfeedings. It’s the carrier spring. It was worn and didn’t have enough tension to keep the carrier elevated long enough for the case rim to travel through the channels in the cartridge guides.

I ended up bending the end of the spring to build more tension on it and now it cycles 100%.

Now to source a new carrier spring!

Thanks for everyone’s input!

[KLR]

Dang, sorry for steering you wrong. I guess you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet. Lol.

But glad you solved it!

[EMR]

Not at all KLR! I appreciate you offering the advice! I knew nothing about levers but this gave me the opportunity to tear it all down and learn!

[Texas by God]

You are now ready for a Rossi!!
Glad you fixed it.

[KLR]

Not at all KLR! I appreciate you offering the advice! I knew nothing about levers but this gave me the opportunity to tear it all down and learn!

Well you got some good experience. Lol. BTW, I replaced my carrier and made sure it was working correctly, but it didn't help.

You are now ready for a Rossi!!

Lol!

[EMR]

You are now ready for a Rossi!!
Glad you fixed it.

LOL thanks!

Well you got some good experience. Lol. BTW, I replaced my carrier and made sure it was working correctly, but it didn't help.




Lol!

I thought about maybe going the carrier route, but couldn’t find any replacements online so I tried looking at only things I could replace easily. Got lucky!

[ShooterAZ]

You "may" find that if you cycle the action briskly that your problem will go away. I have a 94 saddle ring carbine in 30-30 that will act like that it I don't shuck the action smartly. If I try to do it slow...it acts up. Just thought I'd share that.

[EMR]

You "may" find that if you cycle the action briskly that your problem will go away. I have a 94 saddle ring carbine in 30-30 that will act like that it I don't shuck the action smartly. If I try to do it slow...it acts up. Just thought I'd share that.

That’s how I found the problem. All the rounds would slam into the gouge.

Now after messing with the spring, I get 100% at all speeds.