Help! Winchester Model 94 Action locks occasionally on the last round

[DominicT]

Hello guys and gals,

I need some help here. I was handed a 1964 (later part of the year by serial number) Winchester model 94 Vertical eject 30-30 and was asked to fix her up by my old boss as it was his fathers gun and he recently got his PAL and wants to use it. This gun was is decent shape for not being shot for 20+ years, minor surface rust, stiff action, excellent barrel.

1. I detailed stripped the gun, used 400 grit to derust and then reblued the appropriate components.
2. After assembly it had the dreaded under carrier jam, so I used a mig welder to add length to the nub on the link assembly and filed to shape. That fixed the under carrier jam.
3.The round would then slide onto the carrier and almost clear the magazine tube, but would get caught on the last centimeter of the brass inside the mag tube. I deburred and polished the carrier to no effect, checked all the cartridge guides for tightness and gunk, still jamming. I finally took the flimsy carrier out and bent the arms with receive the pin out to the sides of the camber. Fixed the issue.
4.The gun cycles well now, however for some reason, only occasionally the last round in the magazine will enter the camber fine, but the action locks up. I can clear the jamb but using a punch on the striking plate. When locked up, with the action closed, when I work the lever, the striking plate will move down about 3 mm before stopping and refusing to move. I have stripped it down and deburred and polished the striking plate, I have no idea what it is getting hung up on.

I have been wrestling with this problem for a couple days and I could really use some help. Thanks in advance.
-Dominic

 

[mooncoon]

try putting a piece of wooden dowel in the front of the magazine tube; it will put more tension on the spring and should force the last shell all the way back. If the gun does not jam on the second to last shell, that would seem to be the problem

cheers mooncoon

 

[sean69]

The action only ever locks shut on the last round? no rounds in the tube? does it make a difference if you fire the round or not?

Sound to me like you have the wrong follower in there and it is protruding into the action after you chamber the last round preventing the lifter from dropping down when you try to open the action.

OR ... maybe your mig weld job needs a little more attention. Put some china blue on those parts and try your punch fix to see where it is contacting - also, if this is the case I would expect you would not need to load any rounds in the magazine.

 

[marco594]

Got to ask because this happened to me, all side screws are tight? My action would lock up because of a loose screw on the side, one of the smaller ones.

 

[DominicT]

Mooncoon- all the rounds exit the tube and enter the chamber.

Sean- the follower isn't the issue, on your advice I pulled the mag spring and follower on the jam, still jammed. The link weld is good and only just barely retains the ammo in the tube.

Marco- those are the cartridge guide screws, I removed and cleaned the guides, screws are tight.

Since it only happens occasionally I’m having a rally tough time diagnosing the issue. I am using snap caps, not sure if fired rounds would make the difference. I’ll take it to the range next week and try live fire.

 

[sean69]

good to know the magazine issues are eliminated.

Next time it jams up - check the finger lever pin if that backs out at all it can jam the action shut, it should have a pretty good chamfer around at least one end so that could explain why you can use a punch on the striker plate. You can probably visually examine the pin retaining screw - if there is enough clearance for the pin to back out when the action is open.

are you able to convince it to lock up without snap caps, rounds or spent brass? Take the retaining screw out and work the action (vigorously) to see if that pin starts to back out?

 

[DominicT]

I had the same thought and checked the finger pin when it was jammed, but it hadn’t moved. The action works smoothly with no ammo and I can only lock it up when the last round is in the chamber and “fired” as I’m using snap caps. I also eliminated the cap the caused the first jam and that didn’t make a difference so I don’t believe it’s the tolerance of the dummy rounds. I think you were on to something Sean with the carrier being in the way. Since I had to reshape it slightly to fix the feeding issue. I’m going to try removing the loading gate while it’s jammed and see what the carrier is doing.

 

[DominicT]

Update. After removing the loading gate and operating the action to create a jam, I could see the carrier was the problem. The reason the last round was occasionally creating a jam was the empty carrier was binding on bolt. When I hit the striking plate with a punch to clear the jam it would force the action open and jump the carrier. When I removed the carrier I could see the wear on one tip of the loading ramp portion of the carrier. After some trial and error I was able to reshape the carrier so it is out of the way and this 1964 beauty is back in action.

Thank you all for the help and insight. It feels great to have finally solved this problem.