I have a 1917 action in 35 whelen. Hope this makes sense. When running bolt in on the round that is on left side of mag,(2nd & 4th round loaded) the bottom of the round kicks under the bolt allowing the bolt to catch the round about the middle, bullet is headed toward the chamber. Doesn't always happen, and never to the right hand round (1st and 3rd rd loaded)....can someone make sense of this for me??

If I’m understanding you correctly, the bolt face is overriding the cartridge head and jamming into the middle of the case?

If that is correct, then you might start by seeing if the mag box/spring and follower are binding, or slightly cocked at an angle in any way. I would lean in that direction since you say that it doesn’t always happen. Sometimes a cockeyed box/spring/follower temporarily “fixes†itself through recoil, then pops right back out of line after another shot or two.

This may, or may not be your problem, but its a good place to start your investigation.

Lost oki,
Usually this is an easy feeding conversion, Does it do the same thing with 30-06 rounds?

It sounds like either the magazine spring is too weak(allowing the case head to remain too far down), or that the left rail is burred and not polished off well. Make sure that the follower's spring tabs are well secured to the W spring & equally leveled (not bent out) & that the follower is a Rem - Eddystone - Win same as the receiver as some were difficult to interchange.

Have you already 45°chamfered the lower edge of the bolt face with a diamond file? as it helps to feed rounds up the bolt face out of the magazine.

Can you tell if the feed rails have been altered at all?

As a last resort, the follower may need lightly milled off on the left side to bring the head of the round towards centerline.

Hope this helps,
Hotshot
(Found Okie)

I think Hotshot is correct when he mentioned the left rail being burred. I have seen several actions where the mill work on the left rear part of the magazine opening was left quite rough. this resulted in rounds on the left side of the magazine not comming up as high in the magazine as they should and the bolt pops over the head of that round. A dremel tool will fix that problem pretty quick.

Lost Okie,

Not to say that either of the other posters is wrong...but do yourself a favor before you crank up the grinding tools and check to see if your mag box/ spring and follower are all lined up and opertaing properly. If you have some dummy rounds you can do this very easily and very quickly and at least you will have eliminated the most common culprit of feeding problems, and can then move on to other areas like the feed rails.

Since your problem is not a constant one it tends to show me that something other than the feed rail is at work in producing this erratic feeding problem.

Thanks for the guidance. This forum never fails to provide me with answers. I bought the rifle used and its in a fiberglass stock. I know the box has been shortened about 1/4 inch on the front end. I was leaning toward the follower and spring but had not thought about checking the bottom of the feed rail. I do have dummy rounds in both 35 and 06 and will try feeding them to see what happens. As luck has it, my 06 is also a 1917. Think I will swap springs and followers to see if that helps. Thanks again for the help.

quote:

Originally posted by Lost Oki:
Thanks for the guidance. This forum never fails to provide me with answers. I bought the rifle used and its in a fiberglass stock. I know the box has been shortened about 1/4 inch on the front end. I was leaning toward the follower and spring but had not thought about checking the bottom of the feed rail. I do have dummy rounds in both 35 and 06 and will try feeding them to see what happens. As luck has it, my 06 is also a 1917. Think I will swap springs and followers to see if that helps. Thanks again for the help.

Ah Ha!!! I just knew there was a rat in the house.

I will bet you that the cut down mag box is at the heart of your problem. You may find that under certain conditions that the spring and follower are getting cocked at an angle and are not keeping upward force on the left side rounds. Check to see if the box is inletted slightly off to one side and not square with the opening in the receiver.

I pulled the 06 spring and follower and moved it to the 35, tried 5 times to get the bolt to jam in both guns, no luck. Will have a better feel for it after a trip to the range this weekend. Need to double check the slug gun, the muzzleloader and will play with the Whelen. Quick fix (I hope) and should have thought of that myself...duh. Rick, the box lines up. Think I will order new springs for both this fall. Hunting in Indiana only this year and all that takes is my NEF Ultra slug hunter in 20ga. and my .54. Thanks again for the info.