Cottonseed Posted September 17, 2012 Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 I've recently bought a Browning BL22 lever action and tried it out with a number of brands of ammunition at the weekend. The gun is designed to shoot shorts, long and long rifle. Winchester subs worked fine, but RWS shorts wouldn't cycle. Not too bothered about that, but when I switched to Eley subs I got 15 duds from 20 cartridges. The hammer was making a slightlysmaller (width-wise) indentation on the rim of the Eleys, but no detonation. Under a magnifying glass I examined the rim thickness of Winchester and Eley, but could find no apparent difference. I've used Eley rounds from the same batch in a bolt action .22 without any problems. I've yet to try the rifle with RWS LR and CCI subsonics. Has anyone experienced these problems with ammo in a lever action? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
39TDS Posted September 17, 2012 Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 Yes, and if it was a Marlin I could tell you how to fix it. FTF (fail to fire) can be cured by reducing the area of the firing pin. File a bit off so there is less metal towards the centre of the round ie. it hits more on the rim. Marlins have a rebound system as an extra safety feature, there is a spring pushing the hammer back into place. Reducing this spring lets the firing pin hit the round harder. Sometimes the firing pin can be a bit peened over where it hits a stop if excessively dry fired. This lip can hinder the pins travel, stopping it hitting the round hard enough. Not sure what cycling problems you had but fail to eject is usually caused by the claw not engaging with the edge of the round. Can be "sharpened" with a file. All the above is how to cure a Marlin and I have done all of them with great success. Changed a gun from rarely firing or ejecting to being pretty much 100%. I have never looked inside a Browning (or at the outside either for that matter) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cottonseed Posted September 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 I'm not as technically proficient as you obviously are, but the problem with cycling the shorts was that they wouldn't present themselves to be chambered in the 'carrier.' In other words, they seemed to be too short (!) and just fell into the action. No ejection problems--I didn't get that far.... The rifle is second-hand and I suppose a previous ownerr could've played dryfire cowboys with it. My problem is that although I have a manual I can not find any information on disassembling this rifle. Indeed, the manual says it should not be disassembled. Are you a gunsmith? he asked casually..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dukeboy Posted September 17, 2012 Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 Hi. I have a Henry golden boy lever action and have shot eley subs, Winchester subs, cci subs, cb longs, aguila shorts, rws longs all fired fine but found cci didn't cycle as smoothly. Actually found eleys to be the best Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cottonseed Posted September 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 Yes, I've heard the Henry will shoot just about anything and very smoothly. I think what TDS39 implied is right--that mine's possibly had a bit of rough treatment/wear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
39TDS Posted September 18, 2012 Report Share Posted September 18, 2012 Nope, not a gunsmith. Just had the misfortune of falling for the hype the Americans give out for Marlins and mistakenly buying into it. Sold now but I had a lot of work to do to fix it first. By the by, but I bought it off a dealer in South Yorkshire who told me it was "a nice little gun that he had had a go with and it shot quite nicely". I believe this to have been a lie because it didn't work. I wish I had taken it straight back but it was 130 miles away, I also wished I had fired it first (because I wouldn't have bought it then). Still, I guess it taught me something, Americans have a misplaced fanatasism about Marlin underlevers, gun dealers don't always tell the truth and gunsmithing isn't so difficult to pick up if you are desperate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cottonseed Posted September 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2012 TDS--Does the 39 bit come from the Marlin model? --thanks. I bought mine in Yorkshire, too, but didn't try it first! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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