Winchester 190 Feeding and Re-chambering Issues

[cycotcskir]

Greetings all,

It was suggested to me by someone in the Rifle Country thread to post my issue here,

I have a new (to me) 190 and I am having some issues with it. It has been in a closet for years, so I began with taking out the trigger and bolt and giving them and the bore a good once over. I tried it out only to find out that it isn't working so well.

I am not an expert, or even a real enthusiast. I am mechanically inclined and understand the basics of how a gun works. I am confident that I can fix most issues that don't require machining or other fancy-dancy equipment.

I have noticed a few peculiar things, though. When the bolt comes forward to load the next round, the front of the round pushes downward into the feed guide. It causes an angle of about 45 degrees downward and it jams. I tried to tighten the feed guide with the trigger housing out of the rifle... not good. The rim caught and it was worse. I loosened it up some more and it has had some success with LR, but not with the Shorts. When I first rack the bolt, it jammed, then if I fire a round, the next one finally chambers. I haven't been able to practice with multiple rounds yet, though.

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The other issue that I've noticed is that the bolt seems to get stuck and I think that I've found the culprit. In order to lock the breech open, the cocking handle pushes into a gap on the opposite side of the frame. I suppose that this was intentional.
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The cocking handle is just barely longer than the width of the bolt when it is pushed in all the way. If it is, in fact, intended to be a catch, then it has worn down. If it is not intended to be a catch, then it is too long.

In any case, it is sticking in this point fairly frequently when pulling the handle back to load the first round. Initially, it did this with the shorts, too.
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I'm thinking of taking the cocking handle and grinding it down a bit to eliminate the catching point. I'm not too concerned about locking it open. I realize that it may cause some headaches, but the bigger headache is not being able to use the gun.

If anybody has any suggestions or ideas, it would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for all the links. I put them in as img, but they didn't show on the preview so i changed them to links.

The barrel is fully tight.

Thanks

 

[Old Shooter]

Do you know if the gun has ever functioned well with the 22 shorts?

If it is a low round count gun I would probably try putting a few boxes of longrifles thru it (try several brands) and see itf it starts to run better.

Numrich has a schematic and quite a few parts listed as in stock for this model

I had one years ago and it was a good shooter, never had any problems with it at all but I don't believe I ever tried it with the shorts.

Good luck

 

[FiremanEd]

Most semiauto .22 need to use LongRifle .22 rounds to cycle properly. I just worked on one of these. Usually a good complete cleaning ( after stripping everything apart) is all that it should take to get it running smoothly.

 

[cycotcskir]

Thanks for the replies.

I have stripped practically everything down and cleaned it. I took a plastic pick and nylon brush to it and the only part that i didn't strip down was the bolt. I used a brass brush on some parts.

Someone told me that theirs only said L, LR, but mine says S, L, LR.

I'm not sure whether or not it ever worked well with shorts or how many rounds it has through it. I'll ask the original owner if I can.

 

[thralldad]

I used to have a 290 and shot thousands of short in it with no issues.

 

[chiggerbyt]

You are not missing the long mainspring are you? I've seen them broken before and also completely missing. I suspect the latter to be when someone finds the spring broke and takes it out intending to get another one and never does for some reason or another. Then along comes someone years later????
Yes, the early 60's models were stamped s,l,lr. They usually are pretty hardy little .22's and work very well except for the hard trigger pull they all exhibit. chig

 

[cycotcskir]

Are you referring to the bolt return spring? If so, no. It is still there, and is a pain to re-insert, just like some of the previous posters about this gun have noted.

So far I'm doing ok with the LR, for now. I need to run a butt load through it to be sure. Perhaps if i get a tighter spring for the bolt return it will handle the shorts better.

Not sure where I would find one. Not sure what the pressure rating would be... could be difficult.

 

[chiggerbyt]

Yes the spring that is a "pain" to get in is the one I was referring to. Some take the buttstock off to help get that one in. I have about a 1/2 dozen of these 190's around here. If I can be of any help taking pictures of a part or something let me know by PM. chig

 

[cycotcskir]

Thanks,

I keep tinking with it and now it is working with both shorts and longs. I think I just need to keep the puppy lubed up.

I still feel like a stronger spring would probably help.

 

[Mel1776]

My 290 says .22 S, L, or LR. My 190 says .22 L or LR. Never tried Shorts in either. Just now rounded up some Shorts and both rifles feed, fire, and eject the Shorts just fine.