Question for Nate Kiowa Jones *UPDATE*

[abcollector]

Sir, I have a question about a Browning B92 .44 magnum lift lever. Mine, and I'm sure all of them are "block like" and flat a cross the area the cartridge rests as it's being lifted up to the chamber. I am shooting LFN or WFN bullets and when they are being lifted up to the chamber, the meplat hit's the top of the chamber and won't chamber. I was wondering if by creating a shallow groove or "saddle" on the upmost part of the lift lever so the cartridge would sit lower, it that would allow me to feed some of these larger meplat bullets without messing up the rest of the lever cycle? Part of this same question, if this works, why didn't they come for the factory that way? My B92 .357 magnum one has one and that's what get me to thinking it would help the .44 magnum. I do have a spare lift lever for the .44 magnum but would hate to mess it up grinding on it if it won't work.

Thank you for your time, much appreciated.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

Sir, I have a question about a Browning B92 .44 magnum lift lever. Mine, and I'm sure all of them are "block like" and flat a cross the area the cartridge rests as it's being lifted up to the chamber. I am shooting LFN or WFN bullets and when they are being lifted up to the chamber, the meplat hit's the top of the chamber and won't chamber. I was wondering if by creating a shallow groove or "saddle" on the upmost part of the lift lever so the cartridge would sit lower, it that would allow me to feed some of these larger meplat bullets without messing up the rest of the lever cycle? Part of this same question, if this works, why didn't they come for the factory that way? My B92 .357 magnum one has one and that's what get me to thinking it would help the .44 magnum. I do have a spare lift lever for the .44 magnum but would hate to mess it up grinding on it if it won't work.

Thank you for your time, much appreciated.

Before you do that you might want to ramp the chamber some. This will lower the front maybe enough to make the turn. If that doesn't then try the carrier mod but go easy. Too much and the cart stop may not work correctly. You can also try loading the bullet a bit shorter in the brass. Be sure and adjust the powder charge accordingly.

[abcollector]

Thanks for the reply, Sir. I will look at the chamber area for the possibility of ramping but I do believe that would be outta my "comfort" area. May have another question or two later. Thanks again.

[abcollector]

I had some time this afternoon to look into this issue with the ideas Nate Kiowa Jones suggested. Loading some 255gr WFN cartridges into the magazine and slowing running them through the action, I noted a couple of things. First off, there was no way they where going to cycle the normal way without some sort of modification. I could see that at the most forward throw of the lever, which put the cartridge carrier in the most upright position, these WFN cartridges were hitting the top of the chamber right at the extractor cut in the barrel. I tried slowly cycling the action again just to the point of the end of the cycle so the cartridge would sit lower on the carrier but that was about impossible to do let alone trying to do that out shooting. I played with just a single cartridge by reversing the cycle operation. I slide a cartridge into the chamber and holding the carrier down a little with a wooden q-tip, slid the cartridge down unto the carrier. Worked like a charm! I did that a few times and saw that I only needed to depress the carrier about a eighth inch.
I decided I wanted to give this a try in modifying the carrier and see what happened. I disassembled the B92 and removed the carrier. Examining the carrier I just removed and the spare I had gotten just for this purpose, I could see there was going to be a little more work involved. For starters, the spare carrier I had wasn't complete. I needed to salvage the de-dent, spring and retaining pin. That wasn't difficult removing them from the original carrier but they didn't drop into the spare one. One thing was that the retaining pin hole didn't got all the way through like the one they came from. This had allowed me to remove them so I would need to drill the hole through the new carrier. That, and the de-dent pin wouldn't go but half way into the hole it needed to go into. So I figured I needed to re-do two holes and then modify the front tip/top of the carrier to feed the WFN bullets.
The little hole for the retaining pin wasn't a huge deal once I had it lined up and just drilled through. However, the de-dent pin hole was a little bugger, at least it turned out to be one for me. I didn't have a working depth stop gauge on the drill press so I had to keep checking fit. I finally got it to where I thought it would work and cleaned up my mess. I then started to modify the top edge of the carrier that I started out to do. At first I tried using a large "dermel" power tool but I had a hard time judging the cutting under the burr. I went and got a rather big rat tail file and roughed the cut with that. I finished up the cut with a 3M de-burring wheel and buffer.

I cleaned the inside of the action since it was apart and proceeded to re-assemble. I got it back together and tried cycling the action. No joy! Looking at and thinking about it, I could see the carrier wasn't moving. And the more I thought about it, I realized the de-dent hole wasn't deep enough to allow the pin to go in far enough to allow the carrier to raise. So I disassembled the action again and took the carrier out and went down to my "shop" and proceeded to line everything up to drill a bit deeper. I made sure everything was good to go and started drilling just a bit, added a drop or two of oil and got a sickening feeling when the drill just suddenly dropped down into the hole further. I brought the bit out and there on the tip of it was my de-dent spring! All wrapped around the bit! It was too late as far as the spring was concerned. I said a few choice words and removed the spring and finished drilling the hole a tick deeper. I came up to the house and tried calling the place in Canada that I had gotten the spare carrier from but they where closed for the day and the message said they'd be closed July 1st & 2nd for the holiday of July 4th. (Glad to see that Canada celebrates the 4th of July too) but in the mean time I was without a spring for several extra days. After I hang up, I'm sitting at the desk mad as hell at myself for doing something stupid, thinking where can I get a spring that would fit/work. I happen to pick up a push-pen and got to thinking, hey, maybe this spring would work. I take the pen apart and start getting excited. The diameter is close but the strength is lacking. I start looking for more pens and taking them apart. Finally I find one that may work! I guesstimate on the length and cut it in half, put it in the carrier and try it out. It worked!! Not as good as what it should have been but close enough. I re-assemble the action and test it out. It cycles almost like pre-accident! I'm starting to get happy. Now come the real test. I load a single 255 gr WFN into the magazine and cycle the action. Up comes the cartridge on the carrier and into the chamber it goes as I close the action!!!! Now I load five cartridges into the magazine and all five come flying out. Fast, slow, it doesn't matter, it works about perfect!
Next week I'll call Canada and get a couple of new de-dent springs and parts to put the original carrier back together for a (mistake) spare.

Here's a couple of pictures of the two carriers-

[pokey]

improvise, adapt and overcome.

good show.

[AJMD429]

Despite all the political posts, and threads on welding, fishing rods, and tractors, THIS is the kind of stuff that really keeps us all anchored here as a 'leverguns' topic.

Thanks for posting...!!!!!

[Glenn]

Nice job!
Glenn