94 Winchester Timing.....Need Help

[JohnH]

I traded for a 94 Winchester, 30-30, this weekend. Thing has bad timing problems.

It is a post '64 rifle, #31351XXX

The carrier/lifter doesn't always lift. It will if the action is cycled aggresively, but that doesn't always help either as the feeding from the magazine to the carrier is screwy too. Sometimes the case pops out completely, sometimes not, sometimes a little off center, each condition creates it's own jam.

The rifle shoots well enough, producing 3 groups of 2" and less at 50 yards through the crappy factory irons as seen with my rapidly aging eyes in light failing even faster. The one bullet mold I have is the Lee 180, and the bore riding nose is tight in the muzzle.

The rifle has potential, but not as a sometimes repeater.

Anyone here able to tell me how to correct this? I took the carrier to work today and built up the tab the bolt hooks to make the carrier lift, but it is not yet solved. Don't know if I need to add a bit more material or do other work. I believe the projection on the lever link needs help as well, but simply examination doesn't reveal what it might be.

Anyone out there able to help out?

[Trailblazer]

Kinda tough without seeing it. I would be looking for something that is interfering with the bolt travel. I would take the bolt and lever off and push the lifter up and down see how easily it snaps up and down past the spring in the side of the receiver. Look for dirt behind the spring that prevents the spring from compressing into the side of the receiver. Maybe the spring is sticking out to far and is engaging to much of the lifter. Also look for burrs on the end of the spring or on the camming surface on the lifter that might be catching. If nothing shows up there I would look at what else the bolt or lever might be catching on.

If the cartridges are not coming out of the tube I would remove the cap at the front of the tube and make sure the inside of the tube is clean and rust free and that the follower is not bent or getting snagged on something. The spring may be weak or to short. The only function of the cartridge stop(projection) on the lower link is to stop a cartridge from being pushed under the lifter when it is in the raised position. Don't mess with it if you are not getting a cartridge under the lifter.

It shouldn't really matter how straight the cartridges come out of the tube if the cartridge guides are in place. Are the cartridge guides there?

Hope that helps and if not maybe I can think of something else.

[JohnH]

Trailblazer, Thanks for the reply. All the parts are present and accounted for. I decided yesterday to take it to the local gunsmith, he has been doing work for over 25 years here and has a good reputation. In thinking about it I figured that this was a somewhat common problem in the first years of post '64 '94's and that it would be worth the money to just let someone who has been there fix it. It looks like it has a combination of problems, and would be better served by one with more knowledge than myself. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Rifle still has the lousy factory irons, the sheild is gone from the front sight. It shoots at least as good as mt eyes can see. Any suggestions about sights?

[Trailblazer]

I hear the early post 64's have a stamped lifter that can cause problems. My 94's all have cast lifters and they all work as designed. I am curious to know if the lifter is the problem.

I don't have any strong preferences in sights. I would probably go to a peep sight. I modified the rear sight on my 30-30 to make it a shallow V. I also enlarged the front bead so I can see it better. I use the rifle to shoot our club levergun silhouette match and they have a goofy rule that if you use a peep sight you have to shoot in the scoped class! The shallow V and larger bead work much better than the factory sights on the silhouettes. I still can't shoot it very well at 100 yds. on paper. I can do OK at 50 yds. I have an old Redfield peep for a 94 and some day I want to replace the front bead with a blade and try it with the peep. Good luck.