M94 feeding problem

[andrew375]

Remember a while ago I posted about a friend was after a part for his Winchester 94? Well mine went tits up a couple of weeks ago; the cartridge lifter / carrier broke in half. Turns out to be sintered! :mad:

Anyway a quick visit to Homestead parts.com and a new part (machined from solid) arrived just six days later :thumb:

The new lifter needed a bit of filing to fit, mainly the side at the front to clear the cartridge guides. But all I did was take them down to the same dimensions as the original part.

Now the lifter functions ok; sometimes. When it doesn't behave itself it doesn't come up as far as it ought to and the bullet nose hits the bottom of the barrel. This not the lifter almost but not quite making it, it is no where near close enough! When it does feed the lifter is in exactly the right place and the cartridge goes straight in to the chamber.

So what can be stopping the lifter travelling far enough? This happens no matter how fast I cycle the action. I've also stripped the action down so it is just the lever assemble, bolt and lifter but it makes no difference. Also, when the lifter is in the correct position it wont drop back down until forced down by the bolt. I've compared the old with the new side by side and measured what I consider to be the critical dimensions and can see no difference. But like I said sometime it works perfectly!

[TXGunNut]

Sounds like a burr or sharp edge somewhere, lifter is first place I'd look. Sounds frustrating but you're very close to getting it right, IMHO.

[andrew375]

The answer came to me in the early hours of the morning just like normal. The top rear of the lifter has a long narrow finger, the front surface of which is hit by a similar projection on the underside of the bolt causing the lifter to tip backwards so lifting the cartridge. If that finger is slightly too high it will hit the bottom of the bolt as it tips. An easy way to check was to strip the action to just the bolt and carrier, then push the bolt back until the lifter lifts and now press on the underside of the lifter and see if the bolt is still free to move. I my case the bolt was locked solid by lifter. A quick comparison with the original part revealed that the finger edge was roughly 0.5 m.m. (about 20 thou') too high. A couple of strokes with a file reduced the top to the correct height and for good measure I filed slight incline on the top surface to reflect the geometry of the parts when in the ready to feed position; probably unnecessary, Mr. Browning didn't think it was, but it makes me feel better.

Anyway it now works as intended and now makes no contact with the bolt except where it is intended. http://crater-info.org/phpBB3/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

On more thing to do now before I can get the rifle back together. When I stripped the rifle to pull out the lifter I found the a little lug on the underside of the bolt through which the ejector spring guide runs has broken off, leaving just a nub with the hole now just a "U" shaped channel at the top. The only fix I can see at the moment is to machine off the lug and make another from a machine screw. That will have to wait though till I get back to work.

_________________
Never to forgive. Never to forget.Never to give up.

[fouronesix]

Make no mistake, even the pre-64s will wear out and break. But, what you experienced is exactly the type thing that's often discussed about "modern" cost cutting and mass production of firearms. The post-64 "sintered" and/or cast parts and loosey goosey fit issues are easily talked about on anonymous internet chatter, but not fully appreciated until witnessed in person. No matter, glad you got it operating as it should.

[pietro]

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Nice job ! JB would have been proud of you. :)

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