Jammed Marlin 336 30-30

[MikeS]

Hi All.

I had a neighbor come over with his Marlin 336 that was jammed. The lever is partially down, but won't move in either direction at all, it's locked tight. I don't know anything about Marlins, but I told him I would ask here, and see if anyone had any ideas. It's possible that it's rusted in place as he had it sitting in the back of his truck for a few months, and there's some rust patches on the barrel and other exterior parts. I gave him some triple O steel wool, and told him to clean it up, and that he shouldn't treat a gun the way he did, and he said he would clean it up. Should he take the wood off the gun, and then soak the action in penetrating oil in case it's rusted internally?

About the only good that came from this meeting is that I got him interested in reloading, and possibly casting, so it looks like I now have a student. We're going to start with pistol ammo, and I gave him a Lee Loader I had here in 45ACP that I'll probably never use again, and showed him how to use it. At the moment he's just decapping and recapping cases, and shooting them with some rubber bullets I gave him so he can practice in his garage. When he's ready to start really reloading he's going to come over here, as I told him he could use some of my powder and cast boolits.

Any help getting his 336 unstuck would be appreciated.

[ReloaderFred]

Remove the lever screw and see if you can get the lever out of the action. It should just pull straight out. That should free up the parts so you can get inside and see what's going on.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Thin Man]

One of the most common problems with the Marlin lever rifles arrives when the gate screw backs out a bit. This allows the gate to droop into the receiver. When the lever is cycled (or attempted) the carrier will bind against the gate. To correct the problem remove the lever screw, then the lever. This may or not free up the action a bit. If the carrier will drop away from the gate, tighten the gate screw. If the gate screw is tight and will not tighten, a full disassembly is the usual remedy. Once completely taken apart, inspect the arm of the gate to make sure it has not become bent or flattened (it must have an "arc" to pull it into the closed position when installed). Check also for binding of the gate against the side of the frame where it closes and correct this. Reassemble and cycle the action to be sure everything is in the right location and working order.

A loose gate screw does not always have to be a bad thing. About 6 years ago I was asked to inspect a M-336 (30/30) with the action frozen like your friend's rifle. However, this rifle was loaded (magazine and carrier, but not the chamber). The female owner explained that she and her husband were in a domestic uproar. The husband made threats to harm his wife, took hold of the Marlin and attempted to chamber a round from the magazine. That was when the rifle locked up. As he could not free up the rifle's action he threw down the rifle and left the residence. Talk about a lucky girl! My job was to photograph the rifle in its frozen condition, correct the mechanical problem, and draft a summary of my findings for the wife's attorney to use in obtaining a restraining order and the start of divorce proceedings. I submitted my summary to the attorney and that was the last I ever heard about that dispute.

Good luck with your Marlin.

Thin Man

[MikeS]

Thanks for the quick replies! I just printed them out, and will give them to my neighbor. I'm going to let him take apart his rifle, rather than doing it for him. I'm doing this for 2 reasons, first as it's his rifle, so it's good for him to get to know it, and secondly, I don't want the responsibility if I do it, and screw something up.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

i can tell you that if you reverse parts 72 and 73 , that 73 is just long enough to block the lever from closing
but 72 grabs plenty of threads to work just fine in 73's place

72 . . . . . Trigger Guard Plate Screw
73 . . . . . Trigger Guard Plate Support Screw

http://www.marlinfirearms.com/pdfs/manuals/MFC_Centerfire.pdf

72 is the the only large screw on the left side of the receiver there are 2 tiny ones up higher
back it out a few turns then the lever closes then swap it with the other

ask how i know this- they look just about a like sitting next to each other but one is a bit longer the longer one goes in the bottom not the side