More Marlin 39A trouble

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strat8

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I've about had it with my sons Marlin 39a we purchased just over a year ago. Multiple failure to extract issues time and time again. A case will fail to extract and the the rifle will try to feed another round, then you have a mess on your hands with a jammed up gun. I tried Armed Bears fix tweaking the extractor and it worked for a few months. Now the problem has surfaced again. I took it to our local gunsmith and they refit the extractor and said it functioned fine with CCI mini mags. We got home and had the same FTE issues again with Federal bulk and other brands. The chamber seems to look fine with no noticeable burrs or anything else out of the ordinary. I'm at a wits end as to what way to turn. I don't really want to send this gun to Marlin and wait months if I don't have to.

By the way I have a 39a a few years older and never had a problem. It eats anything, long rifle and shorts of any brand. You should not have to buy premium ammo to feed a $500+ lever gun.
 
I've sent several guns back to the factory for service. Turn around time in most cases was less than 2 weeks and in one case, less than a week. Save yourself more headache and send this one back.
 
I bought mine a couple years ago. It eats anything like yours. Send it back to the factory.

I had a similar fte issue with a Les Baer 9mm 1911 a while back. Constant troubles. My gun smith tuned the extractor and the problem was gone. The locator pad in back of the hook wasn't filed down far enough, so the hook couldn't get a good enough bite on the rims. My guess is that you have a bad extractor. I used my local smith on the 1911 because he is good with them. I would send it to the manufacturer if the local guy didn't cure the problem.
 
The Marlin 39 has been in production longer than any other gun made. If there were something wrong with the design we would know by now. There is something wrong that CAN be fixed.
 
I've about had it with my sons Marlin 39a we purchased just over a year ago. Multiple failure to extract issues time and time again. A case will fail to extract and the the rifle will try to feed another round, then you have a mess on your hands with a jammed up gun. I tried Armed Bears fix tweaking the extractor and it worked for a few months. Now the problem has surfaced again. I took it to our local gunsmith and they refit the extractor and said it functioned fine with CCI mini mags. We got home and had the same FTE issues again with Federal bulk and other brands. The chamber seems to look fine with no noticeable burrs or anything else out of the ordinary. I'm at a wits end as to what way to turn. I don't really want to send this gun to Marlin and wait months if I don't have to.
Click to expand...

I still think you are shooting dirty ammo. I remember your last post about this months ago. Even your gunsmith said that he had "functioned fine with CCI mini-mags". There is your answer. You look in the chamber and there are no burrs, but do you see any gunky buildup? I don't think Marlin is going to have any different results than your gunsmith did. They aren't going to feed dirty ammo into your rifle either when you send it in.

I had the exact same problem you did. Failures to extract when shooting bulk ammo, did great with CCI Mini-mags or any other plastic boxed .22 ammo. At first I thought it was because Mini-mag has a larger rim or something. As I looked closer I saw the waxy coating on the shell casings of the bulk .22's gunked up my chamber making it sticky when it got hot. I tried shooting bulk ammo again after cleaning the wax off the shells (NOT the bullets) and no more failuers to extract. Now I can feed it anything as long as I cleaned them up a little.

Buy a box of CCI mini-mags and see if you still have the problem.
 
I really don't think you should have to clean each individual shell to fire through a lever gun. I don't have to do that with my 39a. These guns should and do feed everything if you don't end up with a bad one. Just my .02 worth.
 
Cleaning the cases is not the issue. Some ammo burns powder that leaves a dirtier mess inside the chamber and barrel than other ammo. This is usually only an issue with some semi's and after many rounds. I think your Marlin should function with most any ammo. You may have to clean it more often, and it may be harder to clean up with the cheap ammo, but it should function in my opinion. Just call Marlin.
 
Do NOT send it to Marlin. I did. Twice. They have no idea how to fix it. Yes, they are really that stupid.

And no, it's not about cleaning. It's the extractor. But it's not a big deal.

It takes a few seconds and a set of needlenose pliers for a complete fix (total of a few minutes if you want to make sure it's perfect). My 39A has not had a single FTE since I did it. I posted instructions a while back, and everyone else who did as I described had no problems afterward, either.

Here are the instructions, with pictures: http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=450474
 
AB - please note that in his first post strat8 said he implemented your extractor tweak and it worked for about a month.

Now, the fact that the extractor re-forming did work for a while says that either his 39A has a weak extractor and is bending back out of the proper shape, or something else, probably ammo related, may be causing it to fail over time.
 
It might be weak.

If it doesn't hold that shape, it's probably because it's not proper spring steel, or not properly hardened. I'd just order one from Numrich or something, then. Sending it to Marlin is a waste of time.
 
Geno,

I took it to Dick Williams Gun Shop in Saginaw. They are very reputable smiths. I guess I need to take them a 550 bulk pack of Federal and tell them to call me when it will function flawlessly after shooting the whole box. This is BS to pay this kind money for a .22 and have this much trouble! My sons Henry has never had any kind of trouble for 1/3 the money. What gives?
 
I feel for you. My new Marlin 39A fails to fire every now and again. So, it has to go for repair. It's about 10 months old. Must be some kind of quality control issue going on. It ejects fantastic; the ejecting rounds fly literally 15 to 20 feet.

The shop where you took it may be reputable, but they missed something. I would take it to Williams. If they can't fix it under warranty, then have them ship it to Marlin on Marlin's dime.

It's no fun spending hard-earned money on long desired firearm, just to turn around and be without it for a month or two. Unfortunately, there is little alternative. I agree about the Henry, but in the long run, the Marlin will outlive the Henry. I like both my Henry and my Marlin. If one had to go, it would be the Henry. :) Hang in there.

Good luck,

Geno
 
Update...

My son and I tore this gun apart about 15 times today tweaking the extractor, polishing the chamber to no avail. Then we tried a box of Remington Golden Bullet bulk. Everything cycled and extracted fine (a little rough, but it extracted). Also tried some CCI Stingers and also functioned fine. My 39a will eat anything as I said, but his does not like Federal bulk for whatever reason. Hate to spend big bucks for plinking so I guess we'll stick with the Remington bulk for now and see if the problems arise again. Pray for us LOL. Thanks for all the tips folks.
 
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