Dilligas wrote on Sep 28
th, 2017 at 5:01pm:
I have a Browning B78 in 30-06 I acquired about 10 years ago, the metal has obviously been refinished but the rifle seems solid. The only issue is that it will not eject the cartridge, is this a common issue? I would like to get the rifle where I could shoot it.
Thanks!
From your description it sounds like the extractor is not engaging the case rim. When you load a cartridge or empty case and close the action a click shoud be hear as the extractor moves forward & pops over the rim of the case.
One possibility is the extractor spring and/or the extractor plunger may be broken or missing. The parts are quite small, hidden in a small hole in the extractor & can fall out unnoticed if the action has ever been disassembled.
But 1st do a good cleaning of the action as others have suggested, and remove the forearm (fore-end) and check out the ejector system which is attached to the fore-end hanger, assuming it has an ejector system which may have been removed or disabled. It may need a good cleaning also or possibly the ejector spring is broken, but I doubt that based on your description. When the lever is lowered the extractor is powered by the ejector system, aggressively kicking the case out of the chamber. Although the deflector can be positioned to stop the case from being thrown out of the receiver, I know that some shooters (especially reloaders) that did not like the ejector system at all, disabled it resulting in the extractor just pushing the cartridge back a bit to be hand removed.
The deflector position does not disable the ejector. Depending on it's rotational position it will deflect the case either right or left or stop the case from being fully ejected out the the receiver. Below is an exploded drawing of the B-78
Wayne