Marlin 1895 woes, things to consider?

[bikemutt]

My 1895 45/70 Govt is acting up. After not shooting it for a couple months it now mostly fails to ignite on a lever-action chambered round. Then, 99%, will ignite if the hammer is manually cocked. If I eject the unfired round and re-chamber it using the lever, fail. Re-cock manually, bang.

This occurred with both Black Hills 405 gr and Hornady 325 gr Leverlution.

I posted about this on marlinowners.com but figured I'd cast to a wider audience to see if anyone else has seen this issue.

Thanks as always

 

[rcmodel]

Check to see if the lever is coming in contact with the tang or the stock when it is closed?

If the lever got bent, and isn't closing all the way, the two-piece firing pin will not align and it will misfire.

rc

 

[jeepnik]

Clean it thoroughly! Step one in any trouble shooting scenario.

 

[eastbank]

+1 on giving the whole bolt assembly a good cleaning and take the firing pin assemble out and check for burrs on it,its a two part system. the front part is the firing pin proper and the rear part is what keeps the gun from firing out of batterery and is only in line when the the lever is complety closed. good luck,eastbank.

 

[jeepnik]

Mention of the two part firing pin reminded me.

There are three things you can do to a Marlin that will make a pretty good difference. Wild West Guns has a "Bear Proof Ejector" and their "Happy Trigger".

The third is to install a one piece firing pin. All are very simple, and are pretty effective at doing what they are intended to do.