Interesting Delima

[ChristopherO]

Just picked up some 4570 reloading dies to finally get my Marlin Cowboy shooting. The dummy rounds had a jamb cycling one through. Took the receiver apart, cleared the jamb and only ran a couple dummies through the magazine tube at a time while testing. Seemed to function well, then. Last night my S-I-L was over which prompted us to try some light loads out. First two rounds fed perfectly. Number 3 became a major jamb. Hmmm, if I remembered correctly it was the third dummy case that was the problem the day before.
Took everything apart, all looked good except the red magazine follower was nowhere in sight. This called for straightening a wire coat hanger to find out the follower was bound up in the tube a little ways back. Off comes the the magazine tube. It was filthy inside. That was from the factory. A muzzleloader ramrod and some cleaning cloths spiffed it up right away. Still the red follower caught a hard bind in two areas down the tube. Two pinch points are keeping the spring from applying tension to the shell to be fed fully, causing it jamb the action terribly. Is this common?
Hopefully Marlin's customer service will work with me on this issue. I'm ready to conduct some serious site in work with this rifle.

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Push a tight fitting patch through the mag tube to see for yourself if it is the mag tube. I doubt it is. But there might be some dents.
Then still plan on buying or making a metal cartridge follower. Those plastic followers are trash. Oils soften the plastic (plastic is formed from petroleum) and they are prone to tilt or get sticky.
Those are my observations of plastic under stress especially in mag tubes.
Mike in Peru

[timspawn]

Another option is to slightly reduce the outside diameter of the follower with fine sandpaper. Make sure to do it evenly. It could be out of round or have some flashing left on it from the mold. As Mike said, get yourself a metal follower when you can.

http://www.brownells.com/magazines/rifle-magazines/magazine-parts/magazine-followers/marlin-aluminum-magazine-follower-1895-45-70--sku981-000-009-20768-45965.aspx

http://beartoothmercantile-2.myshopify.com/products/magazine-follower-stainless-steel-357

[ChristopherO]

It's the mag tube. Sighting through it shows the slight ripples in the tight spots. The follower sticks there everytime. Yes on the sandpaper. I did that this morning. Cleaned it up but didn't want to remove too much because it still needs to catch at the receiver.
My brother is a machinist, welder and pipe fitter. He is going to make up a tapered slug to slowly push through the tube to bring it back to round. Maybe he will fabricate a metal follower while he's at it?

[ChristopherO]

Problem solved. My brother fabricated a kenetic powered swag that would just slide down the tube and tapping it through to tight spots opened the pinches back to round. Follower falls through without a hitch and better yet a magazine full of rounds cycle flawlessly.
Quality control should be held to a higher standard at the factory but I am pleased to have taken care of this issue without involving Marlin. Much quicker.

[44man]

My better one bought a brass bed long ago that was dented badly. Of course she looked at me. I made wood balls to pound through. Darn if it didn't work like a charm. Balls were better to go around curves and they could not be pulled back. The perfect size ball bearing would also fix the tube.
I save ball bearings and even have some so small I replaced those in open sight detentes.

[flydoc]

My brother can't pronounce " kinetic powered swag" . Man, it pays to have talented relatives.