Winchester 61 not working

[abunaitoo]

A few weeks ago I took my Winchester 61 S,L,LR out to the range for some fun.
Made in 1953.
Loaded it up, worked the slide, pulled the trigger. Didn't fire.
Worked the slide again. Round ejected. Pulled trigger. Didn't fire.
Noticed the trigger didn't feel right. I thought "hammer not cocking. Something broke".
Unloaded it, put it away and took it home to work on.
A few days later I broke it down. Noticed a spring jammed behind the hammer.
Where the heck did that spring come from????
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Pried the spring out, but still wouldn't work.
Took the hammer out (what a pain to do), and found a pin stuck under the trigger.
Where the heck did this pin come from????
Cleaned it up and reinstalled the hammer. Working fine now.
I took the bolt out, and found it was the firing pin return spring had found it's way behind the hammer.
The mystery pin was half of the "firing pin spring retaining pin" that had broken.
To remove the broken pin in the firing pin, I had to take the ejector out. Held in be another pin.
To remove the ejector pin, I needed to push it out from inside a recess out.
Didn't look like it would/should go the other way. To me anyway.
Formed a reworked welding rod into a punch to tap the ejector pin out.
Once the ejector was out I could tap broken firing pin pin out to remove the firing pin.
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This rifle sure has a lots of pins.
Parts on order from Numerich.
I'll post more when the parts come in.
Will also post a tip on reinstalling the hammer.

[VA Jim]

All of my old guns eventually become "project rifles", but they are worth it. It seems that the only rifles that interest me any more, are 50 to 100 years old. May have something to do with my age:wink:

[abunaitoo]

I've always liked old stuff.
The older, the better.
New plastic stuff just doesn't interest me.

[abunaitoo]

Got the parts in and has some time tonight to work on it.
Lots of small pins on the bolt, but I got it together.
Three hands would have made it so much easier.
Reinstalling the lifter on the trigger presented a little problem.
A spring had to go up through a slot inside lifter.
Book says to use a tweezer to hold the spring up.
Not much room in there.
Didn't want to over stress the old spring by lifting it up to high.
This is how I did it.
1) You can see the spring deep inside the trigger housing.
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2) The Lifter and the slot the spring has to go into.
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3)I used a dental floss, under the spring, to lift it up just enough to get it onto the slot.
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4) I put the lifter in between the floss, pulling it up, lifting the spring, so I could slide the end in the slot.
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5)Then just pull the floss out.
All back together.
Sunday range day.
Hope nothing else is wrong.

[abunaitoo]

It didn't fire. Seems like the hammer is not hitting the firing pin enough.
Will have to try again.

[JeffG]

Good thread. I have one of these that came from my granddaddy, 59 vintage. I love it. I have a firearms disassembly book that covers this model it you want any information from it. I could copy and send to you.