win 1897 slide action "locks- up"

[McCrower]

Newbie question: I have finally gotten my hands on a original Winchester 1897 pump action rifle from 1909. I have just dry fired it so far with snap caps. I notice when I don't slide the action slide hard enough forward, the whole mechanism locks up. I can not take the the slide action backwards again before I dry fire again, and push the slide action a little bit forward (and a small "click" sound appears..

 Is this normal? Will this problem come up when live firing this weapon?

(Excuse my poor english, I am from Norway)

[Abilene]

Actually, yes, this is normal operation.  With live fire recoil will take care of the "click" at the forward end of the slide operation.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

The only "jam" I ever had with my old '97 was similar to this;- IN A MATCH!  I looked up, and couldn't figure out what happened. I studied the breach from a jaw-dropped, eye-glazed position, but then noticed that the lug at the back of the bolt seemed to stand out a bit. I reached up and thumbed it forward, flush with the rear of the bolt;... And it started working again! 

It never happened again, as I realized that the slide must be operated with authority.

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