Winchester .357 94 feeding issues

[pigsy]

My shooting bud bought a secondhand lever action a few years ago - it initially had issues with double feeds and went straight back for repair.

Since then it's had no more than 100 rounds through it but still had a few issues.

Basically he lost confidence in the gun and took it back to the gunsmiths where he bought it to sell. Essentially it was diagnosed with a broken lifter and was offered no more than scrap/spare barrel value. Parts were stated as being unobtainable at the moment. A quick search reveals known problems.

There's a few points to be taken out of the whole experience (was the gun originally fit for purpose etc) but given the collective knowledge of the FB forum is there a another option? Are there UK specialists who can help?

Any views or wisdom gratefully accepted.

[ovenpaa]

Either repair the original carrier or fit a new after market version, they are available.

[ovenpaa]

Mike Collins is making them:

http://mikethegun.co.uk/marlin-1894-carrier/

[pigsy]

Thank you David.

Please excuse my ignorance but would this be workable on a Winchester? I'm assuming the pattern is the same?

[ovenpaa]

Arghh.. my apologies, I had marlin on my mind and no they do not interchange. Winchesters are a PITA however they can be fixed most of the time.

[Alpha1]

Changing the lifter on a Winchester is fiddly but can be done. Getting hold of a new lifter is the biggest problem.

[ovenpaa]

You can repair them and/or build them up and I would say the chances of finding a new one here in the UK are close to zero. I have been tempted to build some from scratch in the past however these does not seem to be much demand for them despite this being an example...

[pigsy]

Thanks so much for the advice. Really appreciated.

Interestingly the gunsmith said they had several in the shop in bits with similar issues.

Out of interest David - what would you estimate the cost to be produce smal numbers. I hate the thought of a rifle being sold off cheaply for parts.

[greenshoots]

http://www.itlshootingsupplies.co.uk/page19.htm

greenshoots

[andrew375]

Don't even think of repairing the lifter! It is made of sintered metal, once it is broke.... its broke!

The good news is that new ones are available and are machined from solid. I posted this on the subject on this very forum

They are made excess metal for fitting, but are easily filed to fit. I just had to reduce the width of the loading tray slightly and reduce the hight of the surface that sticks out the top to run against the underside of the bolt. In all honesty neither of these dimensions are critical so taking a bit too much off wont matter. If i had to do another one I could probably fit it in less time it takes to get the rifle apart.