Marlin 39AS Hammer Spring Replacement

[Capo]

Hi Folks,

I just ordered a Wolff reduced power hammer spring for my Marlin 39AS lever .22.

This spring looks like it will be hard to remove and replace without special tools. Does anyone have any tips / suggestions on how to remove the spring without damaging the rifle?

Thanks ... Mike

 

[mtngunr]

39AS hammer/mainspring replacement....

I know it's an old thread, but just in case.....needs one tool, a common flat-tip screwdriver to remove the buttstock attachment screw through the tangs....otherwise, simply rotate the upper end of the "hammer spring adjusting plate", otherwise known as the strut seat, until it clears the upper tang, then slide the lower end out of the milled cross-slot in the lower tang, being careful to not let stuff kersproing in your face....assembly is exact opposite, slide lower end into cross-slot, then compress spring by rocking the upper end of the the plate/seat forward and down until it fits under the upper tang....center everything, and you're done....this comes in handy if your 39AS misfires due to the rebounding hammer, cured by shortening the lower nub of the hammer strut wishbone until reliable ignition is obtained...please keep the lower nub radius, for looks, if nothing else....whack the entire thing off, and you are on your own......

 

[Capo]

Hi mtngunr

Thanks for the reply and tips and sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

I played around with it for awhile and finally figured out how to remove the spring without scratching things up. I tried the reduced power spring to lighten up the trigger pull a bit.

It felt great with the new spring but I was getting close to a 50 percent misfire rate – very frustrating. So I put the old spring back in and I'll try some trigger work in the near future. Hope that works cause the stock setup is way too stiff. Kind of hard to shoot well if you know what I mean.

Thank you much ..... Mike

 

[Pweller]

I also tried the Wolff springs in my newer Marlin 39, and I got the same 50% misfire rate.

You can try to shorten the original spring some, that will help a bit.

I played around with mine for quite a while, and polished a lot of the sliding surfaces. I got about a 30% improvement in the action overall, but basically the design of the thing very much limits how smooth it will ever be.

In trying to isolate the 'crunchy' areas, I found it useful to remove some parts so you can feel each components contribution to the problem. I found that the ejector spring causes a lot of drag on the bolt, so I flattened that out slightly. (if you remove your ejector assembly and then reassemble everything, you will see the difference in how well it cycles.)

I think I also rounded/polished the bottom side of the bolt, where it contacts and slides against the hammer. This was also causing a lot of stiffness.

In the end, it will never be smooth as butter, but you can improve it over stock. I thought the finish work of the internals was pretty unimpressive, whereas the outside finish looks very nice.