Miroku Browning & Winchester High Walls - Ejector versus Extractor

[texasmac]

I recently responded to an email from a Browning High Wall owner. One of his questions was, “Do you know if the ejector function can be disabled yet leaving a working extractor?”

If you’re the owner of one of the Miroku Browning or Winchester 1885 High Wall with an ejector and are also a reloader, you likely don’t enjoy hunting for ejected cases nor fixing bent cases. In that case you might be interested in my response, which essentially was:
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By removing the forearm and removing the automatic ejector parts and spring, the ejector can be disabled and the extractor will continue to function, but you may have to press the extractor down out of the way prior to inserting an unfired cartridge. Under normal ejector operation the spring loaded ejector system kicks the extractor completely back and holds it down after ejecting the case, which does not happen if the ejector system is disabled. Functioning only as an extractor, the extractor will push the case back for manual removal, but it likely will not fully rotate down and out of the way.
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When Browning introduced the 1885 Black Powder Cartridge Rifle (BPCR) model in 1996 in 40-65 and 45-70 calibers, they were only offered with an extractor, the same .45-70 extractor previously used with the ejector system. It normally had to be pressed down to load a new round. Later (for the 1997 and 1998 rifles) the extractor was redesigned to ensure that it rotated fully out of the way after extraction. Since then many of the 1996 rifle have been retrofitted with the new extractor design. Disassembly of the action is required to replace the extractor, which is fully discussed in my book on the Browning’s (www.texas-mac.com)

Regards,
Wayne

[bigted]

thanks wayne, i have your book and again i thankyou for it. i have pm'd you regarding a browning project im having done and am searching for an extractor in 30-30 or 38-55 configurement.

[texasmac]

Ted,

See my PM back to you. If Browning is out of stock on the 38-55 extractor, another option to consider is to purchase a different caliber extractor and have your gunsmith modify it.

Wayne

[texasmac]

By the way, if you read my opening post and thought, "what's the bid deal since the case stop can be rotated to catch the case on Browning rifles with ejectors"? Following is a similar response on another forum.
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I have two Winchester Hi-Wall rifles with the ejector system; a 38-55 & a 45-70. I set the face of the stop square to the case rim and rarely have a case jump the track, so to speak. When shooting over sticks, it's easy to place the hand over the action and contain the case.

For those who don't like the ejector system, your answer turning it into an extractor only seems easy enough to implement.
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My response:
Point well taken. I'm mostly a BPCR guy, therefore my Browning's and Winchester's only have extractors, with the exception of one Browning .45-70 with an ejector. When shooting it, most of the time the case stop works, but some do bounce around and out of the action. If hunting or especially bench shooting, I end up having to retrieve them or find that I tend to step on a few. So I've disabled the ejector on that rifle.

By the way, the guy that asked me if the ejector could be disabled provided the following reason for the question: "I shoot mostly benchrest and am used to picking brass out of the chambers of my target rifles. I guess I just don’t like that “snap” at the final stage of extraction".

So if you fall into one of the above mentioned catagories the ejector is easy to disable.
Wayne

[ph4570]

Another option is to replace the spring with a much lighter one. I did this on my wife's winny 38-55. The case is gently ejected just enough to clear the chamber but not so much as to clear the weapon regardless of the position of the case stop.

[bigted]

thanks for all the info from all. i am having the stop tab machined off mine as i do desire that the case is completly ejected from the firearm. i will have a malcolm scope on it and the small space under the rearmost scope is too tight for my big fat fingers to dig out the spent case. this stop has been a hastle from the gate as this rifle was modified for a 45-120 case and this long case was in need of a non-obstructed area for loading straight and also ejecting the spent case. invariably the stupid thing would turn just enough to obstruct things and cause more problems then it were worth.

just my reassons i guess. i never am in such a hurry that my left hand cant be covering the end of the chamber to catch the ejected case. the case is never deformed this way either.

i had a #1 that i filed back the safety top of the lever to clear the ejected cases on this as well. this was a hunting gun and the ejected and out of the way case meant for an un-obstructed chamber for the reloading of another round...almost as fast as a bolt gun..........almost