1866 winchester disassembly question

[coyote nose]

Well, I'm retired now, as of last July. Thought things would slow down but frankly I am busier now than I have ever been. Thus the projects I have been 'saving' for spare time just need to be put on the front burner! The first will be fixing up an original 1866 Carbine. Nothing too drastic (just make a few screws that are not right. etc) and I need to make a new extractor for it (the original has a busted tip), also, the firing pin is frozen in position. So..... I am real familiar with the 1873 having at one time or another owned a total of 10 before 'The Great 1873 Winchester Sell-Off' occurred to my collection. The 1866 is quite similar except for the firing pin tip, the 'striker' as Winchester called it screws onto the front. How in the world can I attempt to unscrew this and remove the firing pin if the pin is frozen? Kind of a catch-22. The pin is frozen in place so I need to remove the striker but to remove the striker I need to free up the pin! My plan is to get all the guts out, machine what I need to machine, then make a second striker with a center fire tip so I can shoot a group with this thing using .220 Swift cases suitably modified, then take that out and put the original rimfire striker back in. Anybody out here ever work on original 1866s??

[Malamute]

I would start soaking it in penetrating oil.

I believe the bolt comes apart very similar to the 73, the extractor pin is driven out, the extractor removed, that then allows the rear part of the firing pin to unscrew from the rear.

Exploded view of the 1860 and 1866 action.

http://www.rarewinchesters.com/images/E ... 20View.jpg

[coyote nose]

Thanks malamute, can the extractor pin be accessed without getting the bolt out? On the 1873 I drive out the front toggle pin, remove the firing pin extractor, and the firing pin slides out the back (the extractor pin does not hold it in, the retractor does). Then the bolt can be taken out. Very easy. There is no retractor to hold the firing pin on the Model 1866. I dont believe the bolt will come out until the back half of the firing pin is removed which I cannot do since it is frozen in place, but I am not home right now to verify this. Already soaking in my homemade kroil solution. I'd hate to start trying to unscrew the pin while it is still in the receiver...I can see much damage happening that way! Then again, maybe thats how it was designed to come apart.....