Balky Win 94 30-30

[MikeSSS]

I found a new condition Winchester 94 in 30-30, it's a Canadian Centennial model made in 1967 with a 24" barrel. I wanted a long barreled 94, so here was a chance to have one at a reasonable price. I'd rather have a plain, older 94 but this is what I could get.

The plan is to use it for a cast boolit rifle, so I cleaned the barrel very well, loaded up some ammo and a couple dummy rounds too....that's where the "fun" started.

It will load one dummy round at a time into the magazine and cycle it fine but it's pretty hard to finagle two rounds into the magazine. Every once in a while the second round will go into the magazine, when I finally get two into it they might cycle through it but about half the time they won't. Grrrrrr.

The action feels rough, barely ok when not cycling the dummy rounds but is rougher when I use them. (OK, the lever guns I normally use are toggle link or have been slicked by Nate Kiowa Jones, so smooth is pretty subjective.)

Is it possible for a 94 Winchester to be smooth, easy to load and cycle reliably?

Guess I'm going to have this rifle apart several times. and that will be fun too.

[Chuck 100 yd]

Double check the barrel on that Canadian,Mine is 26" long.

I have loaded Lyman 311041`s , RCBS 150 FN and Ranch dogs 165`s in mine and they all chamber hard due to the short throat in that rifle engraves the bullets if crimped into the crimp grooves.

I have had no feeding problems and have to crimp over the front driving band of the bullets on all of the ones mentioned above to get them to chamber easy. You might want to try that.

Good luck. Chuck

[rhead]

Just a wild thought. Could the magazine tube contain a spring that did not get trimmed to length or maybe two springs? The condition you described could be excessive magazine tension. Good luck with the problem.

[MikeSSS]

OK, figured out the loading into the magazine problem. The dummy rounds didn't have primers and the flat point boolits caught in the empty primer pockets. I put fired primers into the primer pockets and now the dummy cartridges feed into the magazine just fine. They seem to run through the rifle just fine too.

These boolits are seated deep in anticipation of the short throat, got that from reading about it and also from looking at loaded Remington ammo which is short and uses tapered RN bullets. (The Remington factory ammo uses round nosed bullets that rest directly on the primer of the cartridge in front of it in the magazine, (Hmmmm).

Now to smooth the action up, first will be levering the rifle a lot and shooting it, leading will probably be a problem since it won't be shot with jacketed bullets before shooting cast. I'll probably JB the barrel some tomorrow before shooting. Heck, the 309 150 TL PB's don't look like they will get a good gas seal and so they will probably gas cut and lead the barrel, there just isn't much to fill in the grooves of the rifling. I'll try them anyway.

Here in the big drought it has rained a few times in the past few days, this will hamper mining lead at the lead mine behind the targets.

[NickSS]

Winchester mad 94 in the 64 through at least 66 that had stamped sheet metal cartridge lifters in it as well as some other stamped metal parts. I do not know if the rifle you have has these stamped parts or not but the one I had that I bought brand new was so rough that I could hardly cycle the lever from the shoulder. Winchester eventually replaced these stamoed parts with cast ones that were similar to the original milled parts they made before 1964.

[pietro]

The conversion from the post-64 stamped carrier/lifters to cast ones, in the Model 94's, came in 1971 with the introduction of the 1871-1971 NRA Rifle & Muskets.

A LOTTA folks, owning rifles with the stamped parts, swapped in the cast lifters after that.

As much as I like and own both models, a model 94's never going to run/cycle as smoothly as a Model 92 - no matter HOW much it's slicked up.

I've slightly stoned the sharp edge off the inside front edge of the loading gate on all mine - as well as the inside front edge of the receiver's loading port - for a tad easier loading.

.

[runfiverun]

get a model 95 and practice with that, then when you use the 94 you will praise it's slick action and smooth handling characteristics. nothing like having to use your leg to assist in levering.

[MikeSSS]

Shot the 94 in the rain today, shot only three 309 150 TL PB group buy boolits over 9 gr of 231. These rounds felt good, later cleaning it there was slight leading that came out with a brush and some CLP, no Chore Boy needed. Got to JB the barrel and drift the sights a bit. The rear sight needed to be higher than the middle position that I had it in. No surprise here, there isn't as much recoil rise with the light loads I used.

I'll get a cast lifter and eventually put it in when I take the 94 apart and smooth everything, with the limited use so far the action is smoothing up some.

Live cartridges load into the 94's magazine with no problem, not so with the .45 Colt Rossi 92 carbine I also shot today. I've already recontoured the gate and frame at the front of the loading port of the 92 but it needs more work, the front of the port cut my thumb today while I was trying to load it. I'm not very happy with this carbine but it is extremely slick and reliable and it doesn't have that "safety" thing in the bolt.

[wilddog45]

Winchesters cycle like glass, Ranch dogs work well in this rifle if you can fin d a mold. NOE just made one that works well.

[Trailblazer]

get a model 95 and practice with that, then when you use the 94 you will praise it's slick action and smooth handling characteristics. nothing like having to use your leg to assist in levering.

That's odd. I just read one user say the 1895 is the smoothest of the Winchesters. Do you have an original or a repro? And what caliber is it? I have read they work the best with the cartridge it was designed for - the 30 US or 30-40. The reason I ask is I am looking to buy one.

[KCSO]

I shot my C/C 94 for almost 30 years before i changed it over to 38-55 and I too was disappointed with the early feeding. Now that rifle has a leaf spring on the hammer and a stamped lifter. I narrowed my mainspring and replaced the lifter early on and that helped a bunch. When I went to 38-55 I replaced the guides with ones from a 375 Winchester and now the gun feeds perfect with the 2.082 38-55's. The 30-30 will slick itself up pretty good after 4-5000 rounds. Mine never got and jacketed bullets and it didn't seem to matter I shot a ton of 31141 bullets and 10.0 of Unique.

[oldhickory]

get a model 95 and practice with that, then when you use the 94 you will praise it's slick action and smooth handling characteristics. nothing like having to use your leg to assist in levering.

True, I have my grandfathers 1895, .30/06 and working the lever is like uncoupling a freight train by hand. Of the 3 1894s I have the smoothest by far is a saddle carbine made in 1898...Smooth as silk! The 26" rifle (1898) is pretty good, and the other carbine, (1940) ain't too bad either...For an 1894.