Winchester 94 30wfc

[nagantguy]

My old Winchester lever action of 1928 vintage has developed a problem; or maybe had it all along. So about one in 3 of my cast load (lee 170) won’t chamber fully; the lever won’t gonall the way home and put the rifle in battery. So I grabbed a very old box of federal 170 grain soft points and one of the 4 wouldn’t chamber fully. So I fished out some of my plinking unique loads and 1 in 3 wouldn’t chamber fully didn’t matter if I worked the lever smooth, slow, like I was trying to rip it off the frame; seems there is some type of obstruction as some the rounds that wouldn’t chamber have a dent in the boolit just above the case mouth. I can’t see any obvious thing wrong; and the action and barrel are inspection clean. Any thoughts?

[bigted]

Maybe a small speck of lead in the throat or just at the end of the chamber.

Nother thing i would look at is the ammo. Has some small thing happened in your seating, flairing or boolit seating, or , is it possible that your brass is old and work hardened so some of it springs back after sizing? Annealing the case mouth's will ensure an even size to all the brass and it would then "take" the sizing and not spring back.

All your cases the same length? This will cause untold amounts of hair pulling.

Nothing has changed the chamber?

Just a few things that come to mind with my small experience. Sure others with more experience will chime in as well with some other things to check.

[nagantguy]

Work hardened brass I had not thought of; what throws me on ammo is two cast loads and a factory load hang up at about a rate of 1 in 3

[Texas by God]

Try plunking the offending rounds, if they won't drop in the chamber freely and everything else does then maybe you buckled the shoulder or those brass are too long. Pics always help and we get to oogle your old Winchester.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[nagantguy]

I sure wish I could post pics ; I did a slug of the barrel, and there was a ring around one side of the unsized boolit I used and a definite tight spot right at the chamber mouth. I did this early this morning and before I ever took calipers or micrometer to it the work phone started ringing; the dogs needed fed; the daughter needed money for her trip to the beach and the wife had to remind me of our ultra sound appointment on Wednesday morning. This problem has went to the top of the get done list as this is one of my favorite rifles and deer season is only about 3 months away. The rounds that did feed still went into an inch at 50 yards with my favorite 4895 reduces load.

[nagantguy]

So that bore slug showed .3085 on the lands for some reason that is not what my notes say from years ago when I did it the first time? So could my problem be my 311 sized pcd boolits? Why the hang up than with factory jwords? I feel I’m falling down a rabbit hole

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Seeing as this is a recent problem and it does it with both factory and reloads I am thinking it’s an issue with your chamber or throat. I’d coat one of the live rounds that is causing a problem with a black sharpie and then close it in the action. The problem area should rub off the sharpie and give you an idea of where the problem is. It probably just needs a thorough cleaning with a penetrating oil.

Unless you use a bore snake the rifle has probably always been cleaned front to back. Not a big deal if done properly, but it’s fairly easy to push crud from the bore into the chamber.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[indian joe]

Seeing as this is a recent problem and it does it with both factory and reloads I am thinking it’s an issue with your chamber or throat. I’d coat one of the live rounds that is causing a problem with a black sharpie and then close it in the action. The problem area should rub off the sharpie and give you an idea of where the problem is. It probably just needs a thorough cleaning with a penetrating oil.

Unless you use a bore snake the rifle has probably always been cleaned front to back. Not a big deal if done properly, but it’s fairly easy to push crud from the bore into the chamber.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah! Based on the previous posts I would strip the old girl down and scrub the heck out of the chamber from the rear end - then I would heave the powder coated bullets and shoot some proper grease lubed stuff for a while

[nagantguy]

Rifle is clean; like Marine Corps inspection clean, as that and scope or magazine trouble are always my first three steps to identify and eliminate problems

[country gent]

Maybe a carbon build up. Carbon can be hard to see and hard to remove.

[GoodOlBoy]

Hate to point this one out, but I've seen some vintage 30-30s/30wcfr that didn't LIKE 170gr bullets for loading. They would shoot fine, but have intermittent problems with chambering. 150s in those guns always seemed to function flawlessly. However, the fact that it is doing it pretty regular on a pretty specific number could be any number of weird issues. You've already cleaned and inspected it. Check OAL of the oddballs vs the others first. Second, look at your magazine follower, and spring. Is it that last or second to last round in the magazine? Is it for some reason not loading straight in because of less pressure from the spring than the first few rounds? Is the worn follower cocking the last round or two at an odd angle (even minute) when loading? Too good an old gun to give up on by far. I would be curious to know what it is if you ever figure it out buddy.

God Bless, and One Love.

GoodOlBoy

[indian joe]

I sure wish I could post pics ; I did a slug of the barrel, and there was a ring around one side of the unsized boolit I used and a definite tight spot right at the chamber mouth. I did this early this morning and before I ever took calipers or micrometer to it the work phone started ringing; the dogs needed fed; the daughter needed money for her trip to the beach and the wife had to remind me of our ultra sound appointment on Wednesday morning. This problem has went to the top of the get done list as this is one of my favorite rifles and deer season is only about 3 months away. The rounds that did feed still went into an inch at 50 yards with my favorite 4895 reduces load.

yr slug is trying to tell ya something here ------ ring around one side of it and a tight patch at the chamber mouth???? - sounds like a tiny bit of something lodged there - just enough to foul up a round that is a tiny bit oversize - we only talkin a couple thou here I bet - is it lead? hard carbon? caked powder lube? none of us can see good enough with bore lights and mirrors to say theres nothing there - I got an endoscope off ebay for my tablet - the first time I put that down a good clean muzzle loader bore I near fainted - but even that you need something reflective down the bore a couple inches ahead of the light to really see stuff - that would tell you .

[webfoot10]

Try an find a chamber brush that comes with the M-14 cleaning kit
with the ratchet and insert into the chamber and brush whatever is
in there out. A shot of bore scrubber in the chamber will help to remove
any powder crud.

[nagantguy]

So I’ve completely brushed and cleaned the Cunene again, problems still exist, and I’ve heard of and thought of trying a lighter boolit with slimmer nose profile but decided I’m going to ride this out and discover the problem, this weekend I’ll
Start with checking parts for wear or damage and go from there

[2ndAmendmentNut]

In your first post you say “developed or maybe had it all along” which is it? Did the gun ever run 170gr bullets reliably? As others have said some guns just have short tight throats that make heavy bullets hard to chamber.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nagantguy]

Yes the rifle has been fed a steady diet of 170ish boolits and some factory fodder and taken beer and varmints with reduced loads and I never had an issue like this before.