Winchester 94 Problems Redux

[Leif]

I wrote an earlier thread about a Winchester 94 carbine in .30-30 that I purchased recently on an auction site (see http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=313044).

Well, it seems that what I thought was a good deal may be going south in a hurry, so to speak. I took it to the range for the first time today and tried three different types of factory .30-30 ammunition in it: Wolf Gold 150 gr, Winchester Super-X 150 gr, and Winchester Super-X 170 gr. Out of these three, only the Wolf would feed into the magazine of the carbine. Neither version of the Winchester would allow loading of more than a single cartidge into the magazine. It almost seemed as if the cartridge length was off and the loading gate couldn't lower to allow further feeding into the magazine. Feeding into the chamber from the magazine for all types of ammunition was without problem. Does this make any sense?

I searched to see if I could find older threads about this issue, but only found threads about feeding problems in Winchester 94 carbines chambered for pistol cartridges.

Help! Thanks.

 

[5thShock]

Is there anything different about the Wolf cartridges that you can see?

 

[Leif]

Nothing that was visible to me.

 

[birdshot]

lifter position

if the gate wont open, your lifter has not dropped all the way down. could be dirt, or lack of lubrication.
Test by softly closing action and seeing if gate can be pressed inward. when i have a dirty 94 i can usually slam the lever hard and that will settle the lifter below the gate.

 

[Leif]

I'll take a look and see if that's the problem. Thanks.

 

[SOSARMS]

There is a long bent spring just under the cartridge guides that snaps the lifter to the lower position when the finger lever is closed, which does open up the loading gate. ( and also secures the previous round in the magazine) Dirt, worn out spring or bent lifter could cause the problem you mention.