Winchester 74 Opinions?

[Bigslug]

Threw this out on one of my other forums

Saw one of these little stern-feed semi-auto .22's at my old LGS yesterday. Like the feel. Like the control layout. I think I like the basic mechanism based on what little I've seen on Ye Olde Internette.

As to reliable function. . .I've only watched a couple videos on them at this point depicting numerous feeding issues, however, these videos have me thinking that lack of confidence might be better laid upon the operators rather than the rifle.

What says the Peanut Gallery?

Price not awful, but not great either. Certainly don't NEED another .22, but what does THAT have to do with anything? ​:veryconfu

[Mk42gunner]

Winchester made an awful lot of them for a lot of years for them to be chronically unreliable. Most of the ones I see look like they have been used, i.e. they don't look like as new safe queens.

I have not owned nor shot one; either I wanted something else when I found them in gun shops, or someone else wanted them more when I found one at an auction.

With me being .22 poor and the state of rimfire ammo the last few years, I haven't looked very hard; but I would like one to try out. The question then becomes Short or Long Rifle version? I don't know if Longs worked in the LR one or not, and I can't remember ever seeing one chambered strictly for .22 Long.

Robert

[Bigslug]

Well, it seems we're gonna find out. . .:-)

[Drm50]

I've had several of them. It was first 22 that I shot with a 1" tube 4x scope. That was back in early sixties, my buddies dad bought it new in early 50s. The grandson has it now, still using it
on squirrel. In its 3rd generation and still ticking. If kept clean will give you good service, like
any tube feed 22. A good and accurate 22 by all standards.

[roysha]

These rifles are far and away my favorite 22 autolader. I purchased my first one in 1964, a Shorts only model. I have seldom been without one since, although there was a "poor boy" spell where things were just that.

Anyway, mine have been exceedingly reliable as long as I use ROUND NOSE ammunition. I can virtually guarantee a failure to feed with any kind of bullet that has a bit of a shoulder, such as the Xpert and other 36-38 grain ammo with that style bullet. One must remember that this rifle was made when there was practically nothing but 40 grain RN and/or RNHP available for the 22 LR.

[Bigslug]

I did a little additional Internetting on the matter and the shop owner let me pop a round into their test barrel to verify that all was right with the world. Have to say that I dig the feed system: I've never seen anything that literally spits the round directly into the chamber before - apparently while the bolt is still on it's rearward stroke. I get it out of Purgatory on the 19th. To Be Continued!

P.S. roysha, I really, REALLY like your sig line!

[lotech]

As a kid, I shot the .22 short version of the 74. Accurate and very reliable, pretty well jam-proof, though I would have preferred the more common .22 long rifle chambering.

[dbh1956]

My brother has one that's very reliable except HP

[Bigslug]

Well it's home. Shoots REALLY nice, but has some fire control issues to sort out. Won't reliably stay cocked after firing (Mini Mags), necessitating cycling out the fed round. Cleaned, disassembled, reassembled, tried it stock and with a Remington 870 trigger detent spring in place of the OEM sear spring. No joy yet. Will try some different rounds as I contemplate which fire control bits to order. Guessing it's a sear/firing pin interface issue (no obvious wear), or maybe a sear pin / firing pin impact issue. Can replicate the malfunction when cycling the bolt hard, but gentle it goes fine.

Anybody run into this on theirs?

[Mk42gunner]

Sounds like hammer or sear bounce to me.

After thinking about it for about a minute, without looking at a parts breakdown, I would get new springs for the action.

Okay, I went to Numrich's website. I would get the Bolt spring, Sear spring, Trigger spring, and probably the Bolt Plunger spring. Maybe the Timing rocker spring or assembly, although I am not real sure about how that operates.

Like I said, this is mostly guess work on my part. Most springs in a .22 sized blowback action aren't all that strong to begin with and it is hard to say if they have taken a set after fifty or so years. I replaced the recoil spring in a High Standard Model B and it made it go from a sometimes it worked *** to acting like a newish well broken in, reliable gun.

Good luck,

Robert

[kerreckt]

I have one made in 1950. It is accurate and reliable. I shoot long rifle round nose 40gr. bullets. It loves the Blazer 22 long rifle bullets but so does every 22 (pistols and rifles), I own. I really haven't experimented to find a bullet it won't shoot reliably.

[Bigslug]

More evaluation yet to do, but it appears primarily to be a mild allergy to Mini Mags. Seems to do much better on Federal 510's and Super X. More testing this AM.