Longer Ejector for 336 Marlin

[scottnc]

I just demo'd cycling three rounds through mine for a curious neighbor. An additional observation reinforcing my desire for a longer ejector . . . that when cycled slowly the extractor absolutely must hold the cartridge rim against the bolt face securely. Otherwise the round could drop down, into the receiver. Also, at the end of the ejection cycle, a little lever vigor is necessary for the same reason. Should have a scope on it tomorrow.

Texas by God, I'm still up for taking pictures if you can wait until I shoot the thing before taking it apart.

[Moleman-]

Is your extractor pushing the case against the far side of the bolt face and holding it there? If not is it a spring strength issue or reach issue? The 336 I converted to 357Max only needed the extractor slot in the bolt deepened slightly and it works with 38's-357Max case lengths.

[Texas by God]

Keep it coming- following this.


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[Gtek]

Stompin all over this gentleman's thread and his adventures into Marlin modding. Well there is a brand new 1894 38/357 barrel in the box with the rest of needed except the bag of time here. 250 new Starline Max cases, another 35 Rem bolt and a bunch of thoughts. Chamber for the long one and try to get it working, leave chamber and single shot with fixed rod in mag tube hole for hand guard attachment and floating barrel. Guess I am steering back into the Marlins this fall.

[scottnc]

Is your extractor pushing the case against the far side of the bolt face and holding it there? If not is it a spring strength issue or reach issue? The 336 I converted to 357Max only needed the extractor slot in the bolt deepened slightly and it works with 38's-357Max case lengths.

With the rifle held normally, the extractor allows a dummy cartridge to droop just a wee bit and pulls it in the direction of the ejection port. So, down and to the right. Nothing wrong with any of that as it works. But, to my mind it'd work better if the bullet didn't drag against the inside of the receiver until the case hit the ejector. I guess desiring earlier ejection is a personal preference thing. The bullet gets marked up after making a half dozen trips. I can see some scared up bullets a month into deer season loading and unloading the same rounds every trip to the woods.

Moved my loading bench to its new home against a newly erected basement wall yesterday. I found the stash of drawings and notes I acquired before stepping off on this project nearly a decade ago . . . in there is pictures of the Marlin 336 44Mag ejector and cartridge lifter/carrier. The ejector looks pretty much like Texas by God recommended. Rube Goldberg came to mind. You younger folks unfamiliar with Rube might want to do a search.

[Moleman-]

The cartridge shouldn't droop enough to cause an issue though. There is a slight rim thickness difference between 30-30 and 45 colt and if the reach of the extractor is too long the cartridge will droop more than normally. You might try removing the extractor and bending and arching it slighly inward to reduce that extractor/bolt face gap so the case is held more firmly to the bolt face. With the case drooping towards the ejection port that also means the left side of the rim has lifted off of the bolt face. There should be enough tension from the extractor pushing the rim up against the far side of the bolt face pocket to keep that from happening. If rebending the spring doesn't help, the extractor may be resting on the bottom of it's slot in the bolt and not on the case rim. I had to deepen the extractor slot in the bolt slightly on my 357Max 336 because it was doing the same thing.

You could make a new ejector and extend the ejection surface about 3/16" forward before you run out of ejector slot in the receiver and would need to lengthen the slot.

[scottnc]

Moleman, Plan was to shoot it enough today to get crono info and zero the scope - it rained. I did smoke over the extractor but it's been years ago, I've since forgotten what was done. I'll give it a good look when I take it apart for inspection and cleaning.

Talked to a fellow today, a gunsmith by trade who's either building or assembling a long ago disassembled parts pile 44-40 336 (old conversion? Dunno, didn't see it), he thinks he has a line on a longer ejector from scrounging for Marlin bits for the 44-40.

[Gtek]

What if you sourced another ejector and cut in center and added similar material at desired length and Mig/Tig and dress in. Would be controlled like original, maybe better with added length riding groove and everything same same front and rear. Might require a mill pass extending slot forward in receiver to allow added. I am going to go Marlin diving soon, thanks for the rattle.

[scottnc]

Finally scored a sunny day and time to play. Set-up the chronograph and bench mid-morning. I'd been the eye doctor so I got a late start. Anyway, needed to make sure the gun functioned with live ammo and get it hitting to point of aim. I picked a Primary Arm scope 610001,1-4X24 with an illuminated dot duplex reticle. The ocular lens end of this scope is inordinately long, when combined with a DNZ 12048 Game Reaper scope mount the scope ends up too far to the rear. I knew this but hadn't addressed it since putting the scope on more than a week ago. So, got all set up for the first shot, checked that the sky screens were gonna be safe, chambered a round and at the shot wound up with the first scope cut of my life, more correctly shooting glasses cut. I hadn't realized my eyes were still dilated and being all jazzed up to finally get to shoot this thing after nearly ten years - I ignored the fact that once positioned to where the reticle was focused - I was too dang close to the scope. The DNZ mount also has provisions for the 1894 Marlin and Henry Big Boy so there is an extra set of front mount holes that if used move the mount forward enough to be correct. Two new rear receiver holes would be required for this to work on a 336. I didn't have an 8-40 tap so the scope got left where it was. I ordered a pair of taps.

A single sample of a 335g lead WW load that averages just under 1200fps in my Ruger Bisley hit 1600 in the 22 1/2" barrel.

[beagle]

Owned a 336 Marlin in .44 Mag about 15 years ago. Had a saddle ring of all things and the ejector was definitely different. One reason I got rid of it was the anticipated shortage of spare parts. As I recall, it was fairly straighforward and could be made by a gunsmith. Finding one to copy may be the problem. It functioned all right but the barrel was on it's last legs and it didn't accomplish my goal of shooting 300 grain bullets reliably so it moved on./beagle

[scottnc]

The scope has been moved forward. Gun reassembled, so of course rain today. Wine grapes are coming on fast so getting the bench out again will need to wait until after harvest. Regarding the ejector, I'm looking for a spare generic caliber ejector to salvage only the base (the bit that sits in the receiver) and investigate installing on it a custom ejector (the bent springy part). According to my calibrated eye, a half inch more than the stock 30-30 ejector ought to do the trick. I think Brownell's sells blanks for making custom leaf springs.