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Winchester Model 74 22 Long Rifle

stuball48

Stainless
Joined
Sep 10, 2006
Location
Dickson, TN
Friend brought in a Winchester Model 74 22 L rifle today and said the firing pin was "messed up." I am familiar with guns but not anything close to an even "shade tree" gunsmith. I took the bolt out and gave a look. He "dry" fired it with the bolt out and the firing pin is turning a 1/4 turn and not denting the rimfire cartridge.
My first thought was he has "snapped" it a few times with the bolt in and bent the firing pin but I still do not understand how the firing pin turns a 1/4 turn in the track it sits in. Have any of you had any experience with such problems on a model 74?
Thank you
 
Been a long time since I was in one..

I bet the long slender firing pin has broken. It should not rotate.

E gunparts show them in stock, in my old catalog..
 
I haven't got one in front of me and I generally refuse to work on them because they are a never ending battle. But if memory serves there is a flat cut on the firing pin that must be oriented correctly when the fire array is assembled or it will not work. The flat either has to be up or down, not sure, and the mainspring must be compressed and locked by the sear when everything is assembled. For some reason it sticks in my pointy-little-haid that its very important that the fire array must be cocked when everything is slide together.
 
Chucker nailed it.
The 74 was an engineering marvel that the Winchester engineers dreamed up while trying to recover from their roller skate, refrigerator, and hardware days. They are not very straighforward to work on. Jack First and Wisner's have some parts. It is too well made to be considered disposable, but once they break it can eat up more time than the thing is worth getting it to run again.
 
Is the firing pin one solid piece or is it suppose to have the "collar" looking thing about halfway? I am not at the shop but my memory says the total length is 5-6 inches--does this sound correct? Thanks for the good advice and I will check with the owner and see what his wishes are? My suggestion will be to order a new firing pin.
Shelby
 
If it looks like that, odds are its just assembled wrong. They take a bit of thinking to get back together right. Even when they work, they don't work well. I blame engineers. The only thing engineers have done to the toaster in the last 80 years is make it disposable. I think it applies to a lot of things today.



Gunsmith Rod Henrickson 74.jpg
 
After contacting five different sources and getting "not in stock" for four and $44.95 plus shipping for the other, I decided it was, indeed, broken and silver soldered it. Don't know how long it will hold but it is working,now.
Thanks for all your help.
 
Western Gun Parts was out but said they get reproductions from time to time and encouraged me to check back - good business.
I will try Wisner's
 
My first rifle was the Winchester model 74 22LR, had it for 65 years. At age 15 went into centerfire and hunting with father and freinds, they are no longer with us.
I dug out my 74, cleaned it up and took it to the range-- to my surprise-- it didn't shoot-- not know why. Took it to gunsnith-- they had it for 5 months-- then say-- because of the covid 19-- to busy for it-- so I took it back. They gave me a bag of busted springs and and broken firing pin-- that rotated. At first-- I didn't want to take the bolt apart-- not sure how to put it together--- but now won't hurt to look at it myself. I saw on the Youtube-- how to take the bolt apart and put it back together. I found on the internet-- gun parts-- that there seems to be many variations of what the firing pin should be. Most concerned about the little key-way on the mid part of the pin that keeps it orientation while cocking to keep the notch in position for the catching sear. I found on the internet-- many variations-- some with no keyway part and some with no thin little half inch long x 1/16 dia tail at the end of the pin(think that goes in the back stationay bolt-- that locks the bolt with pin is cockes-- so you can't press the bolt release to remove bolt when cocked). Anyway-- you can find correct firing pins from Midway--- they need fitting-- the tail peice dia and the firng pin end. You can find these 2 springs at Gunsprings. but again all this needs fitting. The problem seems to be to cut spring so they don't bunch up from the recoil and not allow travel to cock, and to keep the firing pin spring end from jamming into the back stationaly bolt into the notch and sear.
if that happens-- the gun is cocked and the safety end in the bolt-- keeps you from removing the bolt. it is very difficult to remove the total bolt . I was lucky.
I was thinking about removing that little tang at the end. My old pin did not have a tang. but the pins I tried without the tang-- had a tendency to jam a little
into this back small hole and dent the back of the pin and jam it tight. When the bolt and pin jump back after firing-- the pin may continue back after the bolt stops.
I was thinking--- pushing a stop into the little hole-- to stop the back on the pin from jamming. Agin-- my rifle nit not have a tang on the back pin-- it did have marks where it hit the little hole edges at the end-- but never had a problem. So now you have it-- the only last thing to say-- is your thumbs get sore from holding th springs back while reassem;e the bolt to put the slider stop pin back in place.
 








 
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