Stiff 1893 Action

Yellowhouse · Post by **Yellowhouse** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:54 pm

Except for one rifle, all my 1893's have fairly slick actions. This, a 38/55 made in 1901 has more closet wear than actual use. It's not pristine but has some blue and case left. The problem occurs as the bolt comes back about half way (lever almost at 7 o'clock) it really starts to bind and takes a lot of effort, compared to my others, to rack a new shell in. Lubrication helped but didn't solve it so:

I dropped the the lever and took out the bolt. Neither showed any signs of galling nor did the track the bolt slides on.

The lifter works fine with no friction.

Took the ejector out and it has no effect on action.

Something is binding that I can't detect. Or maybe, this gun has just never been shot that much (has a nice bore) and the action is still really stiff. I've never had the opportunity to try a minty 1893 so I'm not sure. Have a few 39a's like new that are really stiff though.

Any thoughts from the crowd?

Jim D · Post by **Jim D** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:14 pm

Yellowhouse,

Try taking the hammer out and see how it works. The hammer could be binding as the bolt trys to force the hammer down past the full cock position.

-jim

Yellowhouse · Post by **Yellowhouse** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 7:18 am

Didn't take the hammer out, but it makes no difference if the hammer is cocked or uncocked

Sure-Shot · Post by **Sure-Shot** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:49 am

When the bolt comes back it forces the hammer past full cock. So the hammer is pressing against the bolt. You might try holding it full down past full cock and try levering if you do not want to take it out. Look and feel if it is hanging on the hammer.

Jim D · Post by **Jim D** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:10 am

Yellowhouse,

The hammer will only go back so far. If the cam on the bottom of the bolt trys to force that hammer back farther than it can go, the bolt will bind. I think if you look at the hammer and the bolt as you open the bolt, you will see what I mean. There is a raised cam surface on the bottom of the bolt that pushes the hammer down past the full cock position. As this cam hits the bolt, that is when the bolt binds. You may also want to take the stock off to watch what happens with the hammer as it goes past full cock. Is it binding on something like the hammer spring?

If the cam on the bolt is trying to push the hammer too far down, you may have to file down the cam slightly. But don't do this until you know exactly what is going on.

-jim

Yellowhouse · Post by **Yellowhouse** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 11:22 am

I'll inspect everything above. Privy to bolt pushing hammer. I'm not sure I understand about friction with the hammer when it already cocked. The same problem exists whether cocked or uncocked.

Anyway I'll yank the stock this weekend and see if I spot anything.

Jim D · Post by **Jim D** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 5:35 pm

Yellowhouse,

The key here is that the bolt pushes the hammer PAST full cock. If it tries to push it TOO far past, it will bind. Doesn't make a lick of difference if the hammer is cocked or not when you work the bolt.

-jim

Leverdude · Post by **Leverdude** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 5:58 pm

Is it the original mainspring? I found while fitting a replacement spring that it needs to be the proper width to fit into the recess in order to cock the hammer. I'm thinking it could happen if the spring is off center too. It gets pushed down into the recess the trigger spring sits in at full cock. If it cant go in it would stop the hammer stopping the bolt.

marlinman93 · Post by **marlinman93** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 6:04 pm

I think you're on to a possibility Ken. The mainspring may be a replacement, or it might have been repaired by sandwiching a spring to a existing broken one, which would limit hammer travel. (seen this several times!)
Either way, it sounds like a hammer to breechbolt problem that is directly related to some restriction in height or width of the mainspring.