Hi,

I recently bought a Winchester 1892. As I always do before loading a live rounds I load up 3 dummies. I hadn't paid much attention to the lifter or loading gate. I loaded 3 rounds into the magazine, and the final round would straighten, when I push in into alignment if sat normal, in position for the lifter raise it.

Next issue, on opening the lever fully, the lifter only raised up to the half way point and so I had a failure to feed!

I quickly figured the loading gate was causing the problem.



So I removed the screw that holds the loading gate in position and slid it back about 1/16".


Problem partially solved, the rounds now align as they should, and the rounds cycle, as long as I am firm with the lever (it seems if really needs to be a lot more of a definite motion than with my 1894, I guess that cause it a pistol round and the ramp in steeper?).

The issue I am left with now however is that the loading gate no either needs to move back 1/16" or get shortened by that amount at the front!

Elongating the screw hold in the receiver is really unthinkable to me; but I don't see how I can file the loading gate from the front without totally dissembling the rifle (the loading gate will only move forward about 3/8" with the rifle fully intact) and I would rather not do that.

The only explanation I can think of is that the previous owner installed a non original loading gate cover (this is the only part that seems to have any bluing on it) that is either 1/16" longer or has the hole tapped 1/16" further back!

Questions:

1) Any way to remove this parts without full receiver dis-assembly?

2) Would filing the front 1/16" off work or is the ramped tapered tabs' profile critical?

3) do they make more than one reproduction loading gate cover, and could this be for a different sub model of 1892?

I need to fix this or I just bought myself a single shot rifle, after all I cant just leave the screw out!
Thanks

A Winchester 1892 is and has been in production by several manufacturers... Winchester,
Rossi, Uberti and then folks like Cimmeron come to mind. It is quite possible that the loading gate cover you have is aftermarket and a bit out of tolerance for your gun. I would start by having someone who specializes in 92's look at it. The best in the cowboy action world is Nate Kiowa Jones. I do own a 92, but have never needed to take it apart and it runs just fine.
On the other hand, it could be something as simple as getting the screw hole lined up square and tight enough to fix the problem.

In your first photo it appears that the loading gate screw is loose compared to the other receiver screws. Normally all you have to do is tighten the loading gate screw to bring the gate into place.

the loading gate is nothing more than a flat piece of steel attached to flat spring..the flat spring could be the problem but not likey unless the gun has been in a fire. the attachment screw has to be tight. You say you took the holding screw out and slide the unit back 1/16 of an inch. You can not do that because the screw holes in the frame and the flat spring of the loading gate would not align???...The gun is well worn and probably been shot to death and needs some tender loving care.

The problem as you describe is that the lifter is worn and needs to be built (tigged) back up and ground to align properly to feed and function, or better yet replace it, parts are available..

Rifle looks like a good canidate for a little face lifting anyway, so I suggest you take it to a good gunsmith and have him do some parts replacements. It shouldn't cost much at all to fix it.