I had a great time shooting Cowboy Lever Action Pistol Cartridge silhouette today at the Hat Creek Rifle & Pistol Club near Burney, California. That is until I got started on my last group of targets, which was the Chickens. I was using my Cimarron Deluxe 1873 in 32-20, and after taking my third shot, I opened the lever and the rifle jammed up tight. I looked down to see that the fired case was still stuck in the chamber! The extractor had slipped off the cartridge rim as the bolt retracted and the cartridge carrier had already raised the next live round into position, jamming the bullet nose against the spent round in the chamber. The carrier was stuck in the up position, the fired round in the chamber couldn't be backed out and the live round in the carrier couldn't go forward. The rifle was disabled, so i had to call for an alibi.
Fortunately I had taken along my recently acquired 1929 vintage 1892 Winchester 32-20 as a back-up gun, and with it I finished up the twelve remaining chickens without a miss.
When I got home, it took me a while to clear the jammed 1873. The sideplates, toggle links, lever, and carrier lever were removed, and by holding back on the bolt, I was able to relieve enough pressure on the live round to allow the carrier to be tapped back down with a small brass hammer. Once the carrier had dropped low enough, the live round popped right out. The fired round was picked out with my knife and it looked normal. So what caused the problem in the first place? Well, it was pretty obvious. Shortly after the match started, I had to open a fresh box of my reloaded ammunition. I shoot homemade cast lead bullets from a Lyman 311008 mould. As the lubed bullets are seated in the case, excess lube is sometimes left around the case mouth, and I just wipe it away with a cloth before boxing the ammo. But somehow with this box I had neglected to wipe off that excess lube, and since I was now shooting in a match I chose to just ignore it and shoot. Every round with excess lube I fed into the chamber was putting lube into the extractor groove at the top of the chamber entrance and fouling the chamber itself. All that grease was attracting powder fouling, and the rifle had not been cleaned recently. Pretty soon, the chamber was extremely dirty and the extractor groove was so packed full of gunk the extractor could not ride over the case rim far enough to pull the fired case out, and the jam resulted. Yep, I'm going to clean it a lot more often from now on!
SHASTA
Cimarron 1873 Failed To Extract Fired Round
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- Shasta
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Cimarron 1873 Failed To Extract Fired Round
Last edited by Shasta on Wed Jul 01, 2020 3:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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avatar pic is Shasta Dam, Shasta Lake, & Mt. Shasta
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Re: Cimarron 1873 Failed To Extract Fired Round
Very pleased to hear everything ended up OK with no accidents. My 1873 Uberti in 44WCF is cleaned after every outing, probably a good habit to get into.
The extractor recess is easily cleaned with a bristle brush and solvent. Good shooting and rgds.
The extractor recess is easily cleaned with a bristle brush and solvent. Good shooting and rgds.
GUN CONTROL IS HITTING YOUR TARGET
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Re: Cimarron 1873 Failed To Extract Fired Round
Another way to clear this type of malfunction is to use a small screwdriver to lift the extractor up and off of the rim of the cartridge on the carrier, and free of the bolt face. This will allow the carrier to be pushed down without any force. Tapping could possibly break the cartridge rim support on the bottom edge of the bolt face.Shasta wrote:
When I got home, it took me a while to clear the jammed 1873. The sideplates, toggle links, lever, and carrier lever were removed, and by holding back on the bolt, I was able to relieve enough pressure on the live round to allow the carrier to be tapped back down with a small brass hammer.
SHASTA
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in English, thank a Vet!
COMNAVFORV, Vietnam 68-70
NRA Life, SASS Life, Banjo picking done cheap!
Quyana cekneq, Neva
COMNAVFORV, Vietnam 68-70
NRA Life, SASS Life, Banjo picking done cheap!
Quyana cekneq, Neva
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Re: Cimarron 1873 Failed To Extract Fired Round
Glad it all worked out... Make sure, if you are not doing it already, that pesky lube isn't building up in your seating die.. Bad things can happen...
"IT IS MY OPINION, AND I AM CORRECT SO DON'T ARGUE, THE 99 SAVAGE IS THE FINEST RIFLE EVER MADE IN AMERICA."
WIL TERRY
WIL TERRY
Re: Cimarron 1873 Failed To Extract Fired Round
I'm not a CAS participant and I'm not trying to make a statement reflecting anything other than "HOLY COW", but I've cleaned some guns that I'm positive haven't seen a patch in 20 years, and I've never seen anything like this.Shasta wrote:
Government office attracts the power-mad, yet it's people who just want to be left alone to live life on their own terms who are considered dangerous.
History teaches that it's a small window in which people can fight back before it is too dangerous to fight back.
History teaches that it's a small window in which people can fight back before it is too dangerous to fight back.