MGC Winchester: mechanism locks when reloading.

My full size Winchester locks when I move the charging handle to load the next cartridge from magazine to chamber.

It seems there is too much play between parts. If the handle is moved slowly, or in normal tempo, something gets stuck, as if it didn't move fully. If handle is moved very quickly, it works better, as if some part was moved further by inertia.

Does it sound familiar? :-/

I will add pictures later this week if figure out what gets blocked.

Hi. Hard to say, but I'd check the piece on the right side of the gun where you insert the cartridges. It has a screw on the back that secures it to the right side receiver plate/cover. The piece has a slotted opening in the spring, so it is adjustable. If you have it too far back, the next cartridge in the tube will come too far back and cause a jam. I'd check that out.
HTH.

Had a moment to test it more. Surprisingly problem is not related to cartridges (your theory seemed right) because mechanism locks even when model is empty :-/

There are two main moving parts in my Winchester mechanism: silver "carrier" that travels up and down to transport cartridges from tube magazine under barrel, and black bolt that pushes cartridge from carrier into the chamber and then extracts empty cartridge over carrier.

Lockage occurs when lever is moved down: carrier move down, while bolt moves back. It is near end of this cycle that problem occurs. As far as I can tell carrier does not reach bottom position, but stops about 1-2mm before reaching it. This means that front face of the bolt, which is wider, cannot clear top of carrier and gets locked on it.

Moving lever up/down does not necessarily help, as the carrier either does not move at all, or finishes in the same, slightly misaligned position. It seems that only when lever is moved very energetically, carrier goes all the way down giving enough clearance to bolt.

Next step: disassemble, check what pushes carrier down, see if it can be made to push it further. Maybe this part is worn, or carrier hits some obstruction on the way down...

I only just found this old thread.
I seemed to have solved an identical problem in my MGC Winchester by lubricating the elevator, elevator lever and bolt with Lithium grease and not just oil! It works perfect now!
Here's the post for anyone following this thread.