Winchester 69A Safety Problem

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fonestar

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Hoping someone here might be able to help me with my 69A's safety problem. Discovered it while out shooting and was a good reminder to keep your rifle pointed in a safe direction. I had the rifle on safety while I was doing some other stuff. I went to move the safety forward and it was very stiff and wouldn't move. I finally pushed the safety forward hard enough and the rifle fired the round.

So I've been researching it and have found limited information on it. A little bit at rimfirecentral.com but their suggestions did not work for me. I tried putting the trigger adjustment all the way in clockwise and testing... that way, disengaging the safety would fire the rifle about 50% of the time. If you take the trigger adjustment all the way out, the rifle can fire just by closing the bolt. There was no "sweet spot" where the safety would work reliably and I tested 1/4 of a turn at a time.

I disassembled the bolt and found that the bottom of the firing pin has a small notch worn in it from extensive use. I also found it was missing the forward pin that fits through the bolt and firing pin, so I replaced that. I used a fine stone to try remove the notch, oiled and reassembled to test... but it still did not work. I am not 100% sure it's the notch that's doing it but it was the only thing that looked worn.

Any other ideas I could try? I've thought about removing the safety for the time being because it's a second trigger now. But I don't want to lose anything. And I don't know if I could find a new firing pin and if I did it might be an old worn one too?

Thanks....
 
I've run into this problem with these old gals.
Did you examine the safety lever top edge of the arm?
I've found they wear paper thin and don't hold as they should.
Also the sliding block plate (for want of better terminology) gets gummed up
and needs to be cleaned up.
I have a 69A here that is doing what yours is.
It is brutally tarnished up and one day I'll get it apart and cleaned up.
 
Got a couple photos.
One a bit blurry, my apologies.
The safety lever slides this plate with the bent tang to stop trigger movement.
Any play or not full engagement will cause the safety to fail.
As you can see with this example, it's filthy and the safety wasn't engaging
properly until I freed it up.
It still needs to be disected and cleaned and oiled properly.
Another project to be completed.

If you give up on yours, send me a p.m. as I may be interested in it.

If for some reason you decide to disassemble the bolt, the firing pin pressure
may surprise you on it's strength.
Proceed with care and eye protection.


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[URL=http://s614.photobucket.com/user/kamlooky/media/Gun%20Stuff/IMG_4638_zps0bgvfxyb.jpg.html][/URL]
 
Hi thanks for the photos. I will have another look at it when I get home.

Mine's a 69A Target with correct sights and no 3/8" groove for sight and a straight bolt indicating pre-1954 manufacture. Can't imagine giving up on her even if the safety doesn't work!
 
Okay.... so I thought I finally had everything figured out.

This time I took *everything* including the bolt, the safety, the sliding piece and the magazine well apart for cleaning. I had an "aha moment" when I took the trigger tension screw out and found the trigger tension spring broken in half. Also found some gunk under the sliding piece and cleaned that all up. I found a spring that was an exact fit for the old one. Cleaned everything up real good and reassembled. Tested again going 1/4 of a turn at a time. Exact same thing happens as before.... you can pull the trigger when the safety is engaged and it throws the bolt into a half-#### position. Then disengaging the safety fires the rifle.

I guess the safety on this rifle just wasn't very well designed and good luck finding new parts for a 70 year old rifle. I'll just have to be happy with it the way it is and not use the safety.
 
Is there any play in the trigger when the safety is in the "on" position?
There shouldn't be.

When cocked, does it pass the bump test?
 
I just went and tested, there is no play.

I've also tried moving the sliding piece all the way forward and tightening, all the way back and tightening... same thing happens.
 
So you were right about the sear. I found the sliding part of the safety has to fit under the magazine well just like so, and very tight. Unfortunately, because of the wear on the sear & safety I have to turn the tension in so far that the trigger breaks at around 7 pounds. But at least the safety works 100% of the time now. I know you shouldn't rely on a safety anyway, but I still feel better about having a properly working one.

Thanks Kamlooky.
 
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