Snakeoil
Well-Known Member
I have a Browning 1885 High Wall in .38-55 and several of my shooting buddies have the Winchester version in .32-40. When Miroku built these, the completely changed the trigger mechanism. Heaven knows why. The originals were pretty bullet proof. Don Hamilton called the Miroku trigger assembly a 7th grade shop project. Anyway, in addition to the trigger mods, they added an ejector. The centerfire High Walls never had an ejector. Only the .22 rifles had ejectors.
The ejector shoots the empty case out of the action like it was launched with a slingshot. That may be fine for somebody hunting with modern calibers. But anyone shooting old straight wall cases is sure not going to eject them on the ground and leave them. They probably would not want to even drop them on the ground for fear of damaging the case.
The original Browning BPCR rifles did not have the ejector, only an extractor. But it appears that the extractor, which is the same piece used in the ejector, was designed to be held down after the action is open to allow a new cartridges to slip over it. It then slips under the rim because it is spring loaded when the action is closed. With just the extractor feature, that extractor does not have spring pushing it down and the rim hits it when you chamber a round.
If you breech seat, this becomes somewhat of a juggling act because you have to either push the extractor down or push the case home as you start to close the lever. For my 86 year old shooting partner, this is a bit of a struggle. What I did with my .38-55 was replace the orginal ejector spring with a much lighter one I had in my stash of springs. It kept the ejector functioning as designed, but now does not kick the case out of the chamber more than an inch or so. It also keeps the extractor all the way down so you can insert a case all the way without the rim catching on the extractor.
I went to the hardware store and checked their spring assortment. They had a spring that looks like it was made for this. I picked up 2, put one in my partner's rifle, which I have hear and will install the other in my buddy's rifle at the match on Sunday.
If you would like to do this mod, it's a 2 minute job.
Remove the forearm. Ejector assembly is on the left side just ahead of the action.
While compressing the spring plunger, rotate the release arm down and then take it off its pivot pin. You can now remove the spring, plunger and spring block. Put the new spring on the plunger, insert it into the spring block and put it back in place over the ejector rod.
Now compress the spring and plunger while you put the release arm back onto the pivot pin.
Rotate the arm so it enters the spring block and then make sure the nose of the plunger enters the mating hole in the upper short arm of the release arm.
You are done.
The terms to describe the parts are mine. So, if you look at a parts diagram, they are probably going to be different. But the system is so damn simple that nomenclature should not cause confusion.
If anyone struggles with this, I'll take my rifle apart and take some pics.
The ejector shoots the empty case out of the action like it was launched with a slingshot. That may be fine for somebody hunting with modern calibers. But anyone shooting old straight wall cases is sure not going to eject them on the ground and leave them. They probably would not want to even drop them on the ground for fear of damaging the case.
The original Browning BPCR rifles did not have the ejector, only an extractor. But it appears that the extractor, which is the same piece used in the ejector, was designed to be held down after the action is open to allow a new cartridges to slip over it. It then slips under the rim because it is spring loaded when the action is closed. With just the extractor feature, that extractor does not have spring pushing it down and the rim hits it when you chamber a round.
If you breech seat, this becomes somewhat of a juggling act because you have to either push the extractor down or push the case home as you start to close the lever. For my 86 year old shooting partner, this is a bit of a struggle. What I did with my .38-55 was replace the orginal ejector spring with a much lighter one I had in my stash of springs. It kept the ejector functioning as designed, but now does not kick the case out of the chamber more than an inch or so. It also keeps the extractor all the way down so you can insert a case all the way without the rim catching on the extractor.
I went to the hardware store and checked their spring assortment. They had a spring that looks like it was made for this. I picked up 2, put one in my partner's rifle, which I have hear and will install the other in my buddy's rifle at the match on Sunday.
If you would like to do this mod, it's a 2 minute job.
Remove the forearm. Ejector assembly is on the left side just ahead of the action.
While compressing the spring plunger, rotate the release arm down and then take it off its pivot pin. You can now remove the spring, plunger and spring block. Put the new spring on the plunger, insert it into the spring block and put it back in place over the ejector rod.
Now compress the spring and plunger while you put the release arm back onto the pivot pin.
Rotate the arm so it enters the spring block and then make sure the nose of the plunger enters the mating hole in the upper short arm of the release arm.
You are done.
The terms to describe the parts are mine. So, if you look at a parts diagram, they are probably going to be different. But the system is so damn simple that nomenclature should not cause confusion.
If anyone struggles with this, I'll take my rifle apart and take some pics.
