Winchester 1886 bolt issue

[roseau river rat]

i have an 1886 in 45-90 second year production

the issue im having is its pretty stiff when you cycle it and its apparent that the hammer is rubbing on the underside of the bolt putting pressure on the bolt and thus making it more difficult to cycle.

when i look at newer models there is a considerable channel , recess cut in the underside of the bolt through the middle section therefore the hammer doesn't rub and it cycles allot easier and more smoothly . mine doesn't have that but is definitely the original bolt , is the recess a modification that came in later years of production ??

and what are my options ? i want to slick it up for CASS shooting

thanks

 

[fingers284]

The hammer snout should only rub hard on the bolt underside when starting to #### the hammer, once the hammer bumping mound is past the hammer it should be at full #### and not rub heavily on bolt underside. If your cocking notch in the hammer has been damaged it may be able to come up off of the full sear lockup and drag as you say.
an extremally strong main spring can also cause drag. if you are familiar with how to grind a main spring to reduce trigger pull on any cowboy gun that has a hammer/ trigger sear, you can do this to also release the drag on the bolt.
On my wifes Marlins that she uses as "main match rifles" I have also ground off the "under the bolt" mound so the hammer engages only enough to fully #### the gun. The hammer snout doesnt even touch the bolt for the rest of its movement....essential for a super slicked up Marlin cowboy rifle, she can manipulate her rifle from fired-hammer down to cocked & reloaded with one finger flip.
Your 86' cant be used as a main match rifle so doesnt need that level of "slickage" but you can improve the trigger pull for Cowboy Sillywet use quite easily.

 

[roseau river rat]

Understood but as I said when I compare the underside of the bolt profile on my rifle compared to newer models there is a noticeable difference in the amount of relief and the angle of the radius under the bolt , mine is basically straight.
My full #### notch isn't noticeably worn so i don't think that's the issue . Is it possible Winchester modified the bolt profile at some point maybe a few years later to overcome this issue ? So the earlier models like mine suffer from this problem?
And yes the trigger spring is quite stiff so I can see where lightening it up could help a bit but I don't want to end up with light primer strikes if I were to lighten it so .......
Someone here must know when improved designs were released if in fact they were ?

 

[fingers284]

what is the ser # of your 86, mine is 21### or 121### ( there is a mark in the tang that could be a #1 that doesn't line up with the rest of the ser # so could be a 1 or just a handling mark from somewhere in its life) if the former , mine is a 1888 and the bolt is as you say , slotted at the very back and a cut-out bottom ahead of the cocking bump. The hammer doesnt even touch the bolt after it's cocked.

 

[roseau river rat]

Mine is second year production 67xx Definitely 1887 manufacture date ,and as I say there’s allot of pressure being exerted on the hammer from the underside of the bolt as the action is cycled .
As you can see from this picture I found online there is a noticeable curved recess seen near the locking lugs ,mine does not have this

 

[fingers284]

Mine is as this photo, a year newer than yours.