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My friend brought his dad's very early model Winchester 94 over tonight to see if I could help remove some of the 20 years of neglect it's suffered through. Given how much surface rust the metal had, we chose to take off the wood so we could really see how bad it was. Turns out, not all that bad really, but all that is beside the point. Everything was going back together fine until we got to installing the lower barrel band, the one that holds the forearm on. We got the barrel and magazine lined up, seated the forearm and band as far down as they'd go and yet the screw would never quite line up with the threads on the far side.
We tried everything we could think of for about an hour before we gave up. We did notice that the screw, which for all we know has been in there since it was installed at the factory over 100 years ago, had a slight bend in it. I have to assume that this is the root of our problem and that the answer is getting a new screw(Brownell's sells a complete screw kit for pre-64s for $40) but before I suggest that they place an order, I wanted to check with the collective here to see if there might be any tricks worth trying.
Additionally, is this a common problem with Win94s? Given how that screw rides in slots between the barrel and magazine, it wouldn't surprise me that it'd get a bit bent over the years if the barrel and mag tube move in relation to each other when fired.
Thanks!
We tried everything we could think of for about an hour before we gave up. We did notice that the screw, which for all we know has been in there since it was installed at the factory over 100 years ago, had a slight bend in it. I have to assume that this is the root of our problem and that the answer is getting a new screw(Brownell's sells a complete screw kit for pre-64s for $40) but before I suggest that they place an order, I wanted to check with the collective here to see if there might be any tricks worth trying.
Additionally, is this a common problem with Win94s? Given how that screw rides in slots between the barrel and magazine, it wouldn't surprise me that it'd get a bit bent over the years if the barrel and mag tube move in relation to each other when fired.
Thanks!
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