Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Winchester 1894 Trapper .357 feeding issue

Fella's,

I have one of the last model Winchester 1894 Trapper carbines chambered in .357 that I bought new- it has the tang mounted safety on it and I like it's handiness as both a .357 or .38 Special thrower and just plain fun.
Ever since I bought it, quite regularly when I cock the lever to eject the spent cartridge, a cartridge from the magazine tube will prematurely shoot out of the magazine tube inserting itself into the space below the elevator jamming up the works.
This has never happened to my other two 30-30 model 1894 carbines which makes me wonder if this is an inherent problem with the short stubby .357 round??? Any suggestions? I've taken it to the gunsmith and it still does it regularly about one time every other magazine refill.

Unfortunately your problem has been reported by a number of M94-357 Magnum owners.
With the rifle unloaded, open your action just enough to slide the bolt back but not enough to raise the carrier. When the lever comes up there is an additional small spring on the lever which helps to hold the cartridge at a horizontal position and to prevent it from sliding back under the carrier.
With the lever down and the bolt back look around for this spring, you may or may not be able to see it at this point. If you cannot see it, move the lever the last little bit and raise the carrier. Look at the carrier where the lever comes up through it and look forward of this looking for a small bent flat spring.
I have seen two of these springs bent over and allowing the cartridge to slip past.
If you handload make up a few action dummies and put one in the magazine. Working the action slowly watch the rim and see where it is stopped.
Once you locate the spring it is pretty obvious how it works. It is hard to see it and many people do not know it is there.

Incidentally, when working properly this may be the most fun of all the Model 94�s to play with.
My fathers 357 Trapper feeds anything with the rifle at any angle.

Slim,
Will investigate the small bent flat spring you reference- that's a new one on me! Thanks!
You're absolutely right! When this Trapper is working, my son and I have A LOT of fun with it- it's a great carbine for all kinds of general shooting applications.