Greetings, folks.

On an original Third Model 1873 Winchester, the loading gate tends to 'stick' : the bolt hangs down just a hair enough that the lower edge of it blocks the upper edge of the loading gate.

The weird thing is that it doesn't always happen - sometimes the bolt locks up tight and things function as they're supposed to.

I've found this problem on a couple of other 1873s at gunshows, too.

The links don't seem to be excessively worn, but the bolt extension feels like it's excessively binding when the action is cycled.

Anyone have any idea what the problem is?