Winchester 94 problem?

[TBirdGuy]

I have a 30-30 Winchester 94AE Legacy, serial # 627xxxx. The action is grabby when you begin the downward cocking motion with the finger lever to open the breech. The hammer has a really heavy feel and is hard to push back using the finger lever during the cocking procedure. The breech is hard to close (same as it is hard to open) when you bring the lever back up to close it. I would prefer that the action be more fluid.
My question being is this natural or should I take the rifle to a gunsmith to find out what is wrong. The rifle has only been fired 4 times

 

[loose noose]

I would continue to fire at least a box of 20 rounds thru it and check and see if the action doesn't loosen up a bit, make sure there is a light amount of gun oil covering the moving parts.

 

[Malamute]

My first thought was oil also. If its lubed well, it may be just a burr soemwhere that needs to wear in a bit. Its not good to dry fire them (firing pins tend to break with no primer to cusion the blow), but cycling the action for a few minutes after lubing may help it.

Mine can get sticky feeling if they dry out.

 

[gwpercle]

Nothing is wrong, it's just brand new and has not been cycled a lot. After production tiny burrs , ups, downs and tight spots exist...it's normal.
A rifle 50 years old will be smoother than a babies behind.....that's because it has been worn in and surfaces are mated from years of use.
The process can be sped up by sitting there and cycling the empty action, you don't have to pull the trigger ( that's dry firing) . Make sure to flood/spray some good lubricant onto/into the moving parts to help smooth the process.
Or, taken apart, the rubbing surfaces can be polished, carefully by hand. ...polished not filed or sanded...but be careful doing this, you want smooth parts/mating surfaces then stop.
I have had trouble getting all the parts back together when I take apart guns so I generally use the lube and cycle the action method, with a small amount of dry firing to get things going smoothly .

Gary

 

[Coyote3855]

New or used? Four rounds through a new gun is a different situation than the same number through a used one. If it's used, who knows how many shots fired or what a previous owner did to it. If it's new and you are not happy with how it functions, take it back to where you bought it. Although you maybe should have tried the action before you bought it, new or used.

If it were mine, I would hose it out with Gun Scrubber, lubricate the moving parts, and then cycle the action repeatedly while watching a long movie on TV.

 

[BSA1]

To expand on Post #4 !894 Winchesters are meant to be run hard. Work the lever with force. You won't hurt it.

 

[Malamute]

To expand on Post #4 !894 Winchesters are meant to be run hard.

I'm curious what the source of this knowledge is. I dont agree with it. None of the couple dozen 94's I've had required them to be run hard, they would all function fine as slow as I cared to work them. I believe if it has to be run hard to function, something is wrong with it and needs to be fixed. A stiff new gun from a period when they may not have done as nice of work, perhaps it will be a bit stiff working when new, but it still should function when run at any speed.