Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Exssesive headspace in a Winchester 94?

I have a win 94 made in 1952. The barrel doesnt show any real wear and I thought it hadnt been fired a lot.
But I have noticed now that every round I fire in it has rounded backed out primers. I didnt think too much of it when I was using factory ammo, but now I have started handloding using max load of Varget (34.5 grains) behind a 150g proj and it shows the smae result which I thought was curious for a max load since normally I would think this indicative of a light load.

I asked somone else about this and his opinion was possible exssesive headspace due to wear int he action not holding the bolt forward enough on firing.

I sized a case, pushed a fired primer into the pocket lightly - closed the bold, and the rifle pushed the primer into the pocket and left the same anount pertruding as it does on the fired cases.

What do you guys think about this?

If its true how much of a problem do I have? THe primers are pertruding enough for you to think, oh thats a farily light load. They are not all the way out but enough for you to see them clearly by eye.

If this is true then I dont think its fixable? Shes just worn out?

I need some help here...

It does sound like you may have a headspace issue. If so it is easy to make minor adjustments for a model 94 by polishing the rear of the bolt. Harold McFarlind wrote of this in an old American Rifleman and in one of his books.
You need to be certain by having the rifle checked by a gunsmith who understands the Model 94.

Thanks William, I will try and find someone like that - not so easy here in NZ where the bolt action reign supreme...

Can you recall any further details on this operation?

I'll look up the article for you. There are a couple of interesting points to ponder with regard to Model 94 headspace. It is not rocket science so I sort of understand it!

Take it too a gunsmith and have him gage it..Won't cost you much if anything...the only cure is to take a turn on the barrel and reheadspace it..Lot of the old SRC have a little excess headspace but you can still shoot them if its not too much and no gas is leaking.

I thought since it headspaces on the rim that turning the barrel will not help...
Nearest gunsmith is a quite a ways away....

At the moment I am figuring if I can get three reloads (so far) with no sign of head speration with the brass I am using then I dont have a problem...

Have you tried this for a quick check?

http://www.castbullet.com/misc/hspace.htm

twodogs,

Good info, thanks for the link.

contact Jim Wisner at partswisnersinc.com tell him i sent you but i don't know if he exports. i talked to his wife about a month ago and they had all the oversized locking blocks in stock. what you will need is someone to figure out what locking block you have on your pre-64 winchester model 94 and how much oversize is needed. i believe they come in .005, .010 and .015 oversize. the firing pin striker stop pin needed to be replaced by a roll pin on the last one i did. in the old days we used to set the barrel back but this is too much work (face off barrel, rechember, recut extractor groove, shorten and rework rear of foreend, mag tube. etc.) it is much easier and cheaper to replace the locking block with an oversized one. also in the old, old days i was told that winchester used to make a "heavy" bolt or barrel which was oversize and would correct headspace problems. good luck with your gun!

Melchung, I have done exactly as you said only yesterday and am waiting for a reply from Jim Wisner about availbality. I am heartened to hear that you say he had them in stock a month ago...His website says they are okay sending international, and I cant see why not anyway. I will send the rifle to the gunsmith and he can tell me what he reckons and what size replacement lugs I should order. Thanks guys.