Winchester Bolt Disassembly

I have a friend who has a very nice Winchester 1917. He has never taken his bolt apart and I was demonstrating "how easy" it was when I found out it wasn't so easy. I was doing the nickle coin trick in the gap like I do on my Eddystone and Remington, but when I pushed in on the bolt to create the gap, it would fall safe like I had pulled the trigger. He then mentioned that is how he un-cocks it as well without having to pull the trigger. On the 3 1917's I have owned, that is not how they behaved. I tried with the safety on, and off, with the same results. Having never owned a Winchester (although I am looking so feel free to send me your offers lol), is this normal, and if so, how do you create the gap to get the coin in there?

Thanks
Pat

pdawg1911, use this Link: Collecting and Shooting the United States Rifle, Caliber .30, M1917

Regards

Gunner

I have two winchesters and they work like the other makers. Something does not sound right with the bolt or safety lever.
john

I have a Rem and a Win. They were heavily laden in cosmoline when I got them and to properly remove all the preservative, I totally disassembled them. I remember no difference between them. The fun part was in reassembling the safeties. Luckily, I was able to recover small pieces as they flew all over my basement. Some posters here gave hints on how to do work on the M1917s.

I also have a Winchester 1917 and I disassemble the bolt the same way as any other 1917. There must be something worn or chipped to allow the sear to slip.

"it would fall safe like I had pulled the trigger" I don't understand the use of the word "safe" in this context. So maybe the following interpretation is also off beam, but here goes:

If it was a Mauser, I would say that the rifle has a "safety off fire and/or impact fire" fault. Which would be extremely dangerous to anyone close to your friend if he performed his "uncocking" trick with a loaded rifle. Easy enough to check out the "safety off fire" fault: cock the rifle (WITHOUT a cartridge in the chamber!!!), set the safety to "ON". You should feel some resistance as the safety lever takes the load off the sear. If not, you can start to worry.

Press the trigger. If your hear a little click or see the cocking piece move forwards, that's bad news! It means that the cocking piece has slipped past the sear and is being held ONLY by the notch on the safety.

Now set the safety lever back to the firing/off position. If you have a "safety off fire" fault, the rifle will fire!

Without actually dismantling my Eddy to work it out, just going by the photos I have available, I would guess that the fault pattern on the M1917 is similar, and is caused by badly worn or bubba'ed safety lever and cocking piece notches. Or, conceivably, if the rifle was assembled as a "Mixmaster" from badly worn rifles.

Of course, I may be utterly wrong, but that rifle appears to have a serious safety-related fault and should be fixed a.s.a.p. before it "uncocks" itself in a dangerous fashion.

Patrick

Thanks all - it sounds like a consensus that the operational behavior for the Winchester is exactly like the Remington and Eddystone.

rifle that was converted to cock on opening not theon closing as normal.


Try a 10" loop of nylon cord, hold rifle muzzle down, and catch bottom of loop, on the underside of bolt knob and pull back, then drop the nickle/washer in the gap.