[Sleeping Dog]

Is replacing a firing pin on a Winchester 1894 a do-it-yourself project? I know it's easy on most military guns, but haven't dismantled a lever gun.

Thanks

[Jim K]

Removing the firing pin on a 94 is simple. You DO NOT have to remove the bolt, so ignore all the directions that tell you how to do that.

First, look on the left side of the receiver and you will see a large screw up close to the top of the action and at the forward end. That is the Lever Link Pin Stop Screw; it is just a cover screw. Remove it. In the hole you should see the end of a pin; if it is not centered, jiggle the lever until it is. That is the Lever Link Pin, which connects the lever to the bolt and also holds in the firing pin. Turn the rifle over and you will see a smaller hole in the same area on the right side. Insert a punch in that hole and if you have the bolt in the right position, you can push the Lever Link Pin out through the hole in the other side.

Now, look at the lower front of the receiver, and you should see a screw that the link pivots on when the gun is opened. It is called the Link Screw. (If the gun is an old one, there is a Link Pin and the small screw on the bottom of the link must be removed to allow the link pin to be pushed out.) In any case, remove the link screw/pin. Then open the action and turn the barrel upwards, while pulling outward on the lever. The firing pin should fall out. (It is held by the link pin and the lever.)

It may be necessary to jiggle the lever a bit to get the firing pin to drop free, but it should do so.

Replace the firing pin, making sure the angled cut at the back is down. Push the lever up into the bolt and move the link forward until the link screw/pin can be inserted. Then use the lever to close the bolt, making sure the firing pin is forward. Again look in the hole on the left side and you will be able to move parts a bit until the Lever Link Pin will drop in. Screw the Lever Link Pin Stop Screw back in. You are done.

HTH

P.S. The rest of the disassembly of the 94 is a four star b***h. Those who admire JMB for the simplicity of his designs seem to know only about the 1911 pistol. Many of his other guns are complex as h**l and bears to take down and reassemble.

Jim

[Sleeping Dog]

That was a great detailed write-up on the job. Not as simple as a firing pin job on a M1 or Mauser, but certainly do-able.

Maybe the 1894 is complicated because it was an early work. The 1911 is pretty simple. How easy is it to dismantle/reassemble some other later works? Didn't JMP come up with a 1919 machinegun as well as the .50 cal M2 and of course the BAR?

Thanks again.

[Jim K]

The BAR is pretty easy, and the ones with replaceable barrels are even easier. But the .30 and .50 MGs are not that easy to disassemble. The Browning A5 shotgun is not easy, nor are guns like the Remington Model 8.

The Model 1903/08 hammerless pocket pistols (.32/.380) are so bad I never detail stripped them unless I had to. For cleaning, I field stripped the gun, removed the grips and tossed the stuff in the sonic tank. Saved a lot of headaches and cut fingers.

FWIW, the simplicity of the Model 1911 is not all due to Browning. The military officers on the various boards kept beating on him to make the gun easier to maintain in the field, make parts usable as tools, make the gun safer, etc. The Browning pistols Colt first submitted had two links, no manual safety, no grip safety, no slide stop, and had to be detail stripped with a hammer and punch. The only safety was a half cock notch, which was all JMB thought necessary on any gun with an outside hammer, and leaving out the slide key on reassembly would let the slide come back in the shooter's face.

After several years of nagging by the Army and redesign by Browning (probably grumbling all the while about those darned brass hats), the final pistol was adopted and it was a masterpiece. But it was a "joint effort". While the changes were made by JMB, the impetus for them came from the Army.

Jim