win 94 circa 1945 repair needed

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farshot

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I picked up a 1945 approx win 94 as a shooter, shoots well, accurate, feeds well, everything good but when i lever in a shell and pull the trigger it will 90% of the time just leave a slight dent in the primer of my factory ammo.

When i then immediately pull th ehammer back and pull the trigger it will fire with a normal deep dent in the primer.

suggestions? firing pin? spring? I see i can get a new pin from brownells.

i dont know winchesters at all - dont know where to start. I like the gun tho.

can anyone suggest a gunsmith that knows these rifles?

any help is appreciated.
 
It could have 63 years of grease, powder residue , and other crud in and around the firing pin. Try giving it a spray with one of the spray gun solvent/cleaners.
 
i had cleaned it very well prior to shooting it

i just dont know if the rear of the firing pin is supposed to slide down to just below the recess of the bolt or is to remain pround of the rear of the bolt for the hammer to strike

as i said - the ignition is inconsitant

i will spay clean some more with break clean - but it is really quite clean throughout .
 
i looked on a drawing and i thought i better use the proper terms

the pin appears to be intact from one end to the other as i can slid eit back and forth in the bolt

the question i have is in regards to the short firing pin striker that is in the locking block. should this short firing pin striker always remain pround of the locking block when you close the action, or is it normal that the short firing pin striker slides below the rear face of the locking block when you tile the rifle forward?

i wonde rif ther eis some sort to spring or lifter that is supposed to hold that short firing pin striker nice and proud in order for the hammer to strike it and not the rear face of the locking block

as i said, i have no other 94 to compare it to

thx
 
The problem is probably a broken firing pin; chances are the tip ( where it protrudes through the bolt face ) is broken off and just sitting there. With this type of design, the tip of the firing pin can't come out when broken off, and even pushing it ahead manually will still make it protrude like it should. The only way to be sure is to pull the firing pin out of the bolt altogether and check it.

If nothing else. it will give you an excuse to take it apart and give it a good cleaning.

Also, check the tension on your hammer spring.
 
It is normal for the pin in the locking block to float.
There are two screws at the rear of the finger lever going up into the tang. The rear most large screw holds the back of the hammer spring. The front screw puts tension on that spring. Both should be tight, very tight. If the front one is missing, that will be your problem.
There is no spring on the firing pin, and it should also float back and forth easily. As mentioned above, you could have a piece broken off the end of the pin, or it may be broken in the middle.
If it's broken in the middle, open the action and rap the but of the rifle on the floor. If part of it falls out, there you are.
 
i can use a magnet to draw the firing pin both back and fowards with the opposite end moving - so i m guessing that is ok

i did get about another 1/10 inch more tighteness on the strain screw and i feel that the hammer hits with more authority - dummies with a piece of masking tape on the primer all appear to have good strikes. I will have to now get out and test it

thanks for the info
 
good chance you have a headspace problem.
I have seen this before with 94's First blow makes the indent and 2nd time will light er up. Have a smith check for excessive clearance. .063 min .070 max. When the rifle fires the brass backs up making the indent look normal.
 
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If a '94 has a headspace issue, often you will find the primer is high after firing.
It can be cured by simply neck sizing the cases, if you reload, even a partial full length sizing will do it, if your rifle doesn't like neck sizing.
 
farshot said:
I picked up a 1945 approx win 94 as a shooter, shoots well, accurate, feeds well, everything good but when i lever in a shell and pull the trigger it will 90% of the time just leave a slight dent in the primer of my factory ammo.

When i then immediately pull th ehammer back and pull the trigger it will fire with a normal deep dent in the primer.

suggestions? firing pin? spring? I see i can get a new pin from brownells.

i dont know winchesters at all - dont know where to start. I like the gun tho.

can anyone suggest a gunsmith that knows these rifles?

any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...

Tell us where you are located and we can suggest a 'smith to help. I'ld say, unless you've had the bolt apart and visually looked at the firing pin and it's channel for serviceability and cleanliness, you need to see a 'smith. Simply spraying break clean into thiings won't clean them out completely. This is especially true if it is 50 yr old dried up grunge......
 
There is the possibility that headspace issues are at play here.
Put a fired cartridge in the chamber, and press forward on the closed bolt. There should be very little or no movement. Most move a barely perceptible amount. This is a very crude headspace check, and by no means absolute.
If the hammer trick didn't get it firing, You'd best get the rifle checked out.
 
Just to give an update _ thank you for all your help
I tightened the main spring strain screw down about another 2 turns - very tight - and the hammer hits with more authority now.

I finally tested it out with 100% reliability!

I do see a very very slight primer pop with factory ammo, so it appears to have a slight headspace issue, but as it is an occassional shooter (for climbing after cats), i am not going to worry about it.

Accuracy with the winchester 150 gr factory is about 1 to 2 inch with my older (damn it!) eyes and iron sights - more then acceptable

again, thanks for the input as you guys solved the issue.:wave:
 
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"...simply neck sizing the cases..." Lever actions usually don't like neck sizing only.
"...tightened the..." Someimes that's all it takes. The first thing you do with old firearms after cleaning is make sure all the screws are tight.
 
Hey sunray, obvious you don't do much on old 94's.
Most 94's, particularly 30-30's have no issues at all with neck sized cases.
The screw we are talking about has to be insanely tight sometimes, not just a little tight.
 
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