Marlin 36 - light primer strikes

[uvausmc]

A buddy asked me to look at his Marlin 36 because it wouldn't fire. The rifle is fairly old and well worn but doesnt appear to have any major defects. I dry fired it a few times and the hammer was not hitting the firing pin to make it go all the way forward. I took the bolt apart and cleaned it and inspected the firing pin to make sure it wasnt bent. Everything looked fine and the firing pin moved freely through the bolt housing. I took it out to shoot it and 4 out of 5 rounds I had to recock the hammer and try it again to make it fire. My next idea is to replace the hammer spring to give it more "umpf" to strike the primer. Any other ideas?

 

[eastbank]

if the fireing pin is of proper lenth and moveing freely and the spring has the strenth and not weak,you may have head space problems and part of the force of the fireing pin going forward is being used to push the shell forward into the chamber. with tight head space the shell rim and shoulder just about touch the chamber and the full force of the fireing pin is dilivered to the primer,instead of being used to push the shell into the chamber. eastbank.

 

[Badlander]

Go to www.marlinowners.com All your answers are there.