On my post war standard rifle. The lever drops by its self. Trying to figure out the cause. I was thinking it was the small metal friction pin may have been worn. I picked up one a while back but have not installed it. What's y'alls thought on why the lever drops?. It seems when the gun is at half cock it doesn't drop as easily.

Thanks

Sounds like the friction stud is not working as it should. Drive out the pin, check if spring is broken or there's rust

It does sound like the friction stud. If it drops that easily -it could be rust or crud-or age-affecting the spring.
Keep in mind that unlike the 1886/86-the Model 71 has tapered bolt locking lugs. The straight tapered lugs on the 1886
in 33 WCF and 45-70 could handle a bit of pressure before the lever dropped.

With the M-71, the tapered lugs allowed the lever to drop; an early warning sign that maximum pressures had been reached. An interesting safety feature for
load development in cartridges. All lever actions need to stay close to SAAMI-Winchester-Marlin chamber pressures. Lever actions-unlike bolt action rifles-
don't have all the warning signs like tight bolts and actions. Its easy to crowd max pressures. A blown primer or cratering is not always the first sign that max pressures
have been exceeded. A dropping lever on other than factory pressure ammo is a subtle hint.