OT Winchester

Hey all I got my uncles Winchester Model 1890 when he passed away. It is a pump style 22 W.R.F with a tublar magazine. The problem is I can't get the tube to open. The knob is pretty chewed up, like it was sticking and someone used pliers on it. Any suggestions on how to get it open. It must be stuck from years of sitting, but I don't want to break anything. Does the tube twist out? Hope this makes sense.

Maybe put some good penetrating oil on it and tap it a little and keep it soaking for a few days. That should help a lot.

thats pretty chewed up, if i remember from my youth, that tube should rotate about 1/4 turn ccw and pull out, there should be a little pin in the slot behing the knob on the end, my guess is that pin is either jambed in there or rusted in place, try some penatrating oil there for a few days and then a good set of pliers since its chewed up already and see if you can get it to move

Yes it is pushed in and turned about a 1/4 turn and then pulled out. Your best bet is to get your favorite juice and stand it in the corner and let it soak just keep adding till it lets loose. DO NOT TRY TO FORCE ANYTHING. HTH
Bob

Good Advice below.. In addition to using some penetrating oil.. Try tapping the end of the plunger,a few times a day, with a piece of wood or plastic... Shock should free it up, and let the oil loosen things up.. Might take a week or more...

I would soak it with penetrating oil for a few days and then make a saddle wrench to clamp on so as to not damage the rod any more.

can you stand it on it's muzzle and put penetrating oil in from the chamber end?

Stand the gun (barrel end down) in a 5 gallon buck of oil for a day or 2 and see what happens.
I would like to get a octagon barrel .30-30 Winchester like that.

Thats a nice piece. Its just rusted up in the tube and could be all the way down the tube. I would soak it in penetrating oil and use the shock method. And re-soak. Once you get it to move a little your on your way of getting it out. But keep working it little by little. Dont get in a hurry.

I have a 1890 winchester in .22 with the tapered barrle.

Sure brings back a lot of memories. I grew up with a model 90 in .22 short. !0 boys and 7 girls in our family and we all stsrted on this rifle. Get paid on Friday and stop by the local store and buy 3 boxes of shells and visit the trash pile. Wasn't a tin can on the place that wasn't riddled with bullet holes. Shot my first pheasant with that gun. Bet it had over 100,000 rounds fired through it.

Gene

use 1/2 automatic trans fluid and 1/2 acetone for penetrating oil

Soak it in penetrating fluid and take it out every now and then and put a solid support under it like oak, brass or alum and tap tap tap tap away in as much of a circle around the tube to vibrate it. Then soak some more, then tap away again. Paul

Those are great old guns and valuable as well. The problem you have is the old grease on the tube magazine is acting like a glue. Get some kind of penetrating fluid down into that brass magazine to loosen up the grease. I'd use PB blaster or even brake clean. Once you get it out you can clean it properly. My buddy has two of these in similar shape.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I"ll post a photo when I get it cleaned up and working. This and a Buck knife are all I have from my uncle. They will be cherished.

first look for dents in the tube all the way down,any dents will cause it to stick of course and are very common on these.try penetrating fluid on it ,but be warned, blueing is just rust,some will remove the blueing.Heat is the way to go if possible,just slowly apply heat with propane torch up and down tube ,do it slowly and evenly and it wont hurt blueing.Whole tube can be removed if needs be by driving out cross pin thats located @ where your arrow is pointing ,but be very carefull not to mess up dovetail in barrel .You'll have to use support under front bracket.To remove dents in tube,slide a rod inside as close to inside diameter as possible ,that has a gently tapered end on it.when it reaches dent tap it in lightly ,tap around the tube GENTLY and the tap end of rod again slowly working it through.if you take your time you can work nearly every dent out.Save the tube if possible,it can be replaced,but it will never look right or match the rest of gun. If its just stuck with rust pliers are not going to hurt,its already messed up! After you get magazine tube out and get it working and sliding in and out correctly, then fix end. file it smooth as it takes with a good file,to remove marks from plier jaws.Once its fairly cleaned up, recut knurling with either a triangle needle file or a metal checkering file.DONT reblue,or use a good cold blue. Again it wont match.but cold blue will wear off fairly quickly so it wont be as noticable. SIMPLE HUH?better yet, take it to a gunsmith that does restorations .LOL

A lot of those WRFs were converted by gunsmiths to .22LR because the WRF was hard to find and expensive. When you do get it working try both wrf and LR to see which one works.
Or a good gunsmith can just point out the mod if it's been done.

Gordo

oh, one other thing,inside tube is most likely brass.Brass does not rust,what it does do is corrode.lots of times when this happens to one you will find inside tube is corroded causing it to stick.thats caused more often than not by using penetrating oils,or the worst of all,gun cleaning solvent on rod!solvents for guns are made to remove copper,Brass is a mix of copper, once you get it out and clean make sure you get every bit of solvents such as hoppes or spray penetrants out of tube.never use solvent on a brass magazine tube(or anything brass). you see the result.very lighly coat it with oil if anything,and never let solvent touch it. Remember more firearms are destroyed by overzealous cleaning than any other thing.dollar to a doughnut ,someone wiped solvent on that rod when it started sticking, instead of cleaning inside of tube,and didnt get it cleaned off good. nothing in mag tube ever needs solvent ,theres no powder or copper residue there.this is simply the biggest problem with a tube magazine,99.9 % of the time if you pin a guy down when you find a stuck one you will find he cleans it with solvent.

i saw someone mention using heat...better make damm sure theres no ammo jammed in that tube too before ya get things hot.
i had a old Stevens tube fed my great uncle left me...it had 2 pins on the end knob that locked into notches on tube...cant tell for sure but pic looks like knob is away from tube and unlocked...if so a small brass drift on edge of knob and some tapping with a small hammer will remove it...using your favorite snake oil in a can will help.