Model 94 feeding issues

[The Flint&Fly Guy]

My M94 in 44mag has a problem. When I open the action the round in the magazine gets stuck halfway out onto the carrier, the I close the lever a wee bit and it pops out the rest of the way after which I completely open it again to snap the carrier up and then I can close the action. Some times the round stays all the way in the mag. This happens about 75% of the time with s&b soft points and about 20% of the time with hornady xtp.
Help please!

 

[Fargone4sure]

Someone with much more lever gun experience will chime in. But what is the overall length of the two different cartridges? Also, are you cycling the lever slowly? Does it make any difference if cycled quickly?

 

[Robert Nicholson]

Not knowledgeable on this issue but wondering if tube magazine is dirty so that spring is not able to push smoothly enough?

 

[The Flint&Fly Guy]

So first to answer some questions, magazine tube clean as a whistle,OAL of the cartridges much the same with the s&b averaging 4thou longer.
I did find out that I had two different jams, one was caused by the joining of the tube to the receiver not being chamfered, got that fixed. and now it reliably jams exactly the same way, the cartridge comes half out, then the elevator starts moving and pushes the backend of the cartridge up against the side rails in the action making it stuck, when I pull the lever closed a bit it releases the tension and I can complete the cycle. doesn't really help to go slower

 

[Lee Enfield]

Check the cartridge stop tab on the lever link.

Older 94s will exhibit this as the cartridge rim will jump the stop and partial double feed.

 

[gunrunner100]

As Lee Enfield pointed out, the "link" on these often fail or chip.
I've had 2 94's that were chambered in the pistol cartridges and had to replace one link on an otherwise new rifle due to the cartridge jumping from the magazine.

 

[The Flint&Fly Guy]

my problem is it doesn't jump from the magazine, it stays halfway in. if I point the barrel up it works perfect

 

[gunrunner100]

Take the magazine end cap off, stretch the spring, and see if that helps a bit. Almost sounds like a lazy spring.

 

[The Flint&Fly Guy]

Well I think maybe its just an OAL problem now, the hornadys in two different weights feed beautifully but the S&Bs still jam frequently. they average 8thou longer than then the H, which doesn't seem like much but the H has quite a tapered bullet with a smaller jacketed front while the S&B is straight sided half with an abrupt taper to a fairly wide front end thats exposed lead. thanks for all the helpful suggestions, stretching the spring deffinetly helped.

 

[gunrunner100]

Cheers!