I took my Winchester 94 Ranger Compact out to the range today for the second time. I was shooting cheap UMC 125 gr 357. Previously the Winchester functioned flawlessly with both 357 & 38, but today was another story. The action is not exactly smooth & when loading a round it often felt as if it were slightly hanging up. Each time the round would catch, I’d back off a little & then the bullet would feed the rest of the way. On the 12th round I jammed the rifle. I had two rounds underneath the feedramp. It required my removing the screw & pin holding the lever in, to get the rounds out. I figure this jam was my fault because I was not using the lever firmly enough and might have possible moved the lever back down before the round was loaded. This may have allowed the other rounds to come out of the tube and get stuck under the ramp. Nevertheless, I’m less than thrilled with this performance as I do think that I can be 100% perfect when cycling this rifle. If the rifle is not perfectly level with perfect lever action it seems prone to jamming. As a result I think I’m going to get rid of it. Maybe this will not be an issue for someone else. I consider this rifle of having the secondary function of self-defense & as it stands now, I would not be comfortable relying on it for such. Also I have a friend with a Marlin 1894CS which he estimates to have no more than a couple of boxes of ammo through it. He has about 6 Marlins & was thinking of getting rid of this one, as he uses it very little. He purchased in 1991, & says that it is very accurate and has never jammed. 18 inch barrel & a walnut stock, no checkering. Finish very good other than some scratches around the loading gate. He will sell it to me for $300. What do you all think? Seems like a decent price to me, but I would appreciate your opinions. Also are they any issues with early 90's production Marlins? I vaguely remember reading a post saying that some of the 80's or 90's Marlins had some issues. Am I remembering correctly? Thanks.
Winchester 94 Range Report
- Thread starter Doug S
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one45auto
Member
I've owned two Winchester levers in the .357 Magnum for years and the only time I've ever had them jam on me or misfeed was when I levered them too gently. Once I stopped treating them like they were made of glass and worked the action like I meant it they did just fine.
Cosmoline
Member
Had the same problem with my '94. The rifles they call "Winchester" today aren't really Winchesters in any meaningful sense. You'd be better off with a Marlin.
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