Well.... this thing was not with out issues.
Being a consignment rifle there was no dickering, it was a take it or leave it type deal. I knew I was also dealing with an almost 70 year old semiauto, owned by who knows how many people, eating who knows how many rounds..
I tried it twice over the past few weeks, little did I know it was missing a trigger return spring, I knew the sights were some screwed up aftermarket hoopty stuff. Shooting it was, lets say frustrating, sometimes it would fire, sometimes not, when it did it usually hit 4 inches high and usually to the right 2 inches at 50 yards. It started out 7 inches high, I bottomed out the rear sight to get it to 4 inches high. Groups were palm sized at best, I wish I would have taken pictures of the before targets, but, they were awful, trust me.
So........ before I utterly beat it into non firing submission, I released my inner retard Jimmy on it. Some of the stuff I have done to it, I'm kinda ashamed of, but, before you pass judgment
complete reading everything...
The missing trigger return spring, I figured out a piece of cardboard worked to return it.. after 170rounds, the trigger operation hasn't missed a beat yet. I adjusted the magazine tube, now when you load it, and cock it, that first round pops right in the chamber, before, it was a hair too close, the rounds would usually wedge up at the top between the barrel and receiver.......when it did actually fire.
I found when I tightened the action screw down, the whole action kinda bowed just a hair, so I stuck a washer in the only mounting screw hole, no more bowing I can detect, and it still fits tight.
The barrel crown looked questionable... so I said screw it, I took a ball bearing and a gob of valve grinding compound and went to town on the crown.. Also, I changed the front sight(see above, it had a blade style made by someone, I found it was too short for the rear sight). This front sight is now a cheapie plastic globe sight off of a Crosman model 3100 break action pellet rifle that I had probably before I started high school(dammed if I know why I still have it, I don't even have the rifle anymore). The cheapie globe sight sits high enough to allow for some rear elevation adjustment, instead of it just barely hanging on the bottom of the sight. After some work to the base of the sight, which I basically bored the base out .020 inch, just enough to fit the Winchester barrel, the mounting screw fit right through the empty dovetail left by the blade sight. It fits very tight, with the screw installed, it will not move.
It looks like this now, kinda has the commie rimfire trainer look to it, but overall, not a real big change. I discovered in an earlier session, the rear sight loosed during firing, also it didn't quite fit the radius of the receiver. So....I lapped it to fit the receiver with really fine sandpaper, then used threadlock on the base of the Williams sight peep and threadlocked the mounting bolt.
I guess this is the fruits of my labor. I ain't a great shot, I don't claim to be, I was using an old arse box of CCI Minimags I dusted off that I found that was laying in the barn for a few years. Anyways, this was the 2 final targets of the day at 50 yards, 5 shots each.
So all of it cost me nothing, my problem child now works flawless and shoots where I point it. The difference in the front sight made a world of difference, much quicker target acquisition and much easier to draw it up and point and shoot. I'm now much happier with it. I might try some good ammo in it and tweak it just a hair more.