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Disposable Win 94 AE

1K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  AZshooter 
#1 ·
Got the .357 mag version in 1998 (crossbolt safety) & hunted with it for a couple of years. Then one trip to the range & it wouldn't feed - all the cartridges had jammed up under the carrier and I later found the little tab on the end of the link that holds back the next cartridge in the mag had broken off. Some complete jackass at Winchester decided to make this part from sintered metal for the .357 & .44 models, presumably as a cost cutting measure. Apparently it broke on a lot of these substandard model rifles, since Numrich shows them as sold out. I replaced the part shortly after it broke. Today, the thieving ba$tards at Winchester want $80 for a replacement.

I've never been happy with the excess force needed to operate the action, so tonite I installed a 13# Wolff hammer spring. NOW it cocks and cycles exactly as it should. The only unknown is when that little tab on that POS sintered metal carrier is gonna break again. When it does, there will be a lot of parts for sale on E-Bay from it, unless I can fabricate a stronger carrier tab that would deem the otherwise beautiful-looking and accurate shooting little rifle as finally reliable. As this moment, nobody can tell when that ¢rappy little sintered metal tab is gonna fail.

I wish only misfortune for the jerk at U.S. Repeating Arms Co. who made the decision to build an otherwise fine rifle with a substandard part prone to failure.

Meanwhile, I have a rifle that finally cycles as it should, limited to range use only.
 
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#2 ·
I once saw a cop come into the gun shop I frequented with a broken hammer on his duty revolver. It was either a Colt Trooper or Lawman model and he said that he bumped it on the windrow crank (remember those?) of the squad car,and the hammer spur went "clink".
Snapped off easy as pie and was a sintered metal part.
Maybe a quality after market part is available for your Winchester? Pretty unnerving not knowing when it will fail.
 
#3 ·
I've looked around in the past & the only parts source is the Browning parts warehouse. I had the broken part out on the bench a few months ago and was considering brazing or silver soldering a steel part onto it, but consensus is that sintered metal parts don't braze well. I can cut a slot & fit the tab & cross pin it - at least it would be more sturdy & I'd not be so edgy over the unforseen moment when the replaced sintered part will break.
 
#4 ·
I've done some silver brazing on sintered metal parts. It works pretty well. Another alternative is to make the piece out of actual billet. I'm not all that familiar with the lever actions other than the marlin and colt diggers but how hard can it be if post 64 winchester did it?

Post a pic of the part and lets see what can be done. Its a real drag to have guns that don't work.

Frank
 
#7 ·
Just came across your Thread. Sadly/actually/likely, best just to pay the factory replacement part toll and be done with it. Were it mine, I'd repair & sell or just dispose 'as-is'. Buy an earlier '94 model or something else. But then, I never liked the angle eject or cross-bolt safety models. Scoping insistence one matter of course. Yet historical 'aura' lost to 'newfangled'. By the Seventies/early Eighties era, the last of the Olin Winchesters and the early USRA 94 models were pretty decent and can be had reasonably. Such at least compared to the 'pre 64' Win Model 94s.
Just my take
 
#11 · (Edited)
Due heed here to the advice... And feeling like I'm in some kind of time warp. Not disputing at all, just an "OMG" with the idea of engaging a machinist for such task as mentioned. Talk about regional differences!!! Here I'm sure I could just buy a decent Win lever for considerably less than a CNC shop moonlighting from 'real business'. I do know there are cottage industries lurking even here, but few, far between and worst, no insurance getting quality work. True "gunsmiths" in the classic sense, perhaps some within a hundred miles. That depending on definition and actually more the "custom gunmaker" with most work 'sub'ed' out. (Maybe to your areas if not Mexico.)
This Thread building upon something of a cultural learning experience for me... In some ways envy, but in our 'disposable culture', unless the gun somehow exceptional, as noted above, I'm with chucking it and replace! If some parts aren't quality/durable, I don't want the gun as a dice-rolling 'test-bed' for future failures! . The innate romance of guns and self sufficiency not built around pesky parts failure!
Sorry if sounding barbed, but...
My take
 
#12 · (Edited)
Actually, I got the original (broken) part out & as time permits, I can mill in a slot and insert a steel piece to either silver solder or more likely to pin into place. It's just a small protrusion that broke off that holds back the edge of the cartridge rim until the action is opened & the next round feeds onto the carrier. For now, I can confine use to plinking & other non-critical applications until I can assemble a sturdy & reliable part.
 
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