Repairing the Remington Model 34

Of the posts we share that seem to get the most attention, the ones with heirloom status or family story seem to stand out. A few weeks back I shared that my dad had just passed down HIS grandfather’s old squirrel hunting rifle, the ubiquitous (and recently repaired) Remington Model 34 capable of firing .22 Short, Long, and Long Rifle cartridges.

Well, this weekend we had a question in our comments from a gentleman with the exact same rifle and the EXACT same malfunction problem we had with ours dating a couple of years back. Here is his question:

I inheritated the same rifle.. I encountered all the same you have gone over here. The safety literally had to be pried to switch from safe to fire. It was given to my stepdad from his father and then to me from there. It is the most accurate rifle I have fired. I love this piece to death and have taken time and pride in cleaning and making this a weapon to admire. I have however encountered a problem that sounds similar to yours. My rifle wont cycle rounds through the feed tube anymore. I was thinking maybe the spring has just lost tension due to how old it is. How did you know that the shell carrier arm was broken? Was it visably obvious or did it take some tearing into? Any feedback is helpful.
Thanks
SEMPER FI

Well, since Dad was the one who originally helped formulate the solution to find the parts we needed to fix it, I asked him to share a response to Aaron’s original question. Here’s what he had to say…

Aaron, Eric gave me a ring and ask me to try and help you out. When our problem first occurred it was not initially obvious, but after close inspection I saw a small part down inside the bullet carrier assembly that looked out of place. This part looks like a 1″ long tuning fork made from sheet metal. I thought to be the part that we needed. I spent lots of internet time on Numrich and Brownells looking for that part. Nobody carries such an obscure little part for a relatively obscure rifle. So I placed it in the gun cabinet and every so often I would do a search on Gunbroker but no luck. Then I had the idea to buy an ugly model 34 for my own parts and to my surprise a guy on Gunbroker.com had cannibalized a 34. I bought the whole carrier assembly for about $50 with shipping and as you can tell from Ebb’s posts it was worth every penny. Of course I can’t guarantee what part you actually need but I just did the search on GB and auction #290459107 is the same part that fixed mine. Actually lots of parts on there now for the model 34. Hope this helps. Old Ebbs

Here’s the link to the original comment thread if you wish to go back in time rather than take our word for it…