The Marlin 39 Club

[JustsayMo]

It will cycle endlessly when trying it without firing the gun.....only hangs up when
shooting.

I suspect Dfariswheel is on the right track. Resident genius here at the 39 club.

The only other thing I can think of is the magazine cutoff is loose, damaged or missing.

Try loading a single round and cycling it through the magazine. If it works, shoots, ejects normally take a close look at the barrel half at the end of the magazine tube. If it looks normal with the rifle apart load the magazine and make sure the cutoff retains the cartridges.

Next I'd make sure everything is snug on the barrel half.

Tough to diagnose without handling it. I'm leaning to Dfariswheel's remedy is the one though.

 

[CB900F]

Nematocyst;

IBD & I met each other at an event called MYGAWDS. This acronym stands for: Montana Yearly Gophershootin' And Winin' Dinin' Society. Several Marlin 39's were spotted at last year's event.

Other that that, it's disreputable crew of grumpy old men who make Lemon and Malden look like choir boys. Beer is drunk, aspersions are cast, brags are made, and surprisingly some verifiable actual Holy Cow! shots are made.

900F

 

[AStone]

Minor correction.

I suspect Dfariswheel is on the right track.
Resident technical genius here at the 39 club.

We have several geniuses here of different flavors,
he being one, you being another.

Beer is drunk, aspersions are cast, brags are made,
and surprisingly some verifiable actual Holy Cow! shots are made.

Sounds like my kinda gathering.

 

[Irish Bird Dog]

My first Marlin M39..Article II

This is the same M39 from post #3362....thanks for all the input.......I will reread all the posts and go back to see if I can make some necessary corrections.
1) part #27 in place & appears to be correct position per schematic
2) this gun does not have part #41...it is a 1971 version....I take it some M39's don't have this part.
3) part #24 cartridge stop is there and seems to be OK...
4) Cleaning (again) next on list
5) try some different ammo too....have various Winchester, Federal, Blazer, Rem golden, CCI mini mag, Aquilia, PMC....maybe more...result of ammo shortage last couple yrs so bought what was available and affordable

Will report back when I get caught up on all this homework from you guys.....thanks....If I can get this working can I stay in the "club"??????

Say, just who is the CB900F guy anyway????????.....sounds like he needs closer supervision.....

 

[JGPena]

Hi.
Modl 39-A owner here. I've been trying to determine the year of manufacture of my rifle, but I'm not getting results on th armscollectors.com page for my serial number and according to the marlin-collectors.com page it was made in 1949? but I have a hard time believing mine was made in 1949 due to it's good condition. The I raised the lever and the serial number on the lower tang says F53XX. Can someone tell me the date from this please? Thanks so much.

 

[Irish Bird Dog]

M39 ammo feeding test

related to post #3362...continued.....

The chart below didn't print like in the spread sheet, The blue line is the headings for the vertical chart..there are 8 colums but only 7 if no solution needed ie the 100% ammo...this may help in reading chart.

I cleaned inside again but this time polished the feed ramp with a felt tipped tool in the dremel....a bit of oil on the felt....then proceeded to run the function tests again with all the ammo listed below. Note can't get to regular range here at house (snow) so just stepped out the garage door and shot into a tree for function testing....off hand, no defined target so no accuracy results to post. A total of 193 rounds were fired in this test but many more were tried before this test but all those were Rem Thunderbolts and they just don't function in this rifle for some reason. Some Thunderbolts that managed to find the chamber failed to fire anyway.....typical of the ammo.

The OAL of cartridge measurement is only from one sample per ammo type so not very scientific but it shows the basic length relationship of the various ammo brands for this purpose.

The Remington ammo was the worst of the bunch by a long shot...even tho the Thunderbolt stuff was close to the good stuff in length.

It appears there is not a major feeding problem with some brands/types of ammo. Most of the 100% stuff was 40gr lead & nearly same length. There were a couple of 36gr HP's plated and lead that did well too.

So, any opinions/thoughts/suggestions regarding my new-to-me 1971 Article II M39 Marlin??

THANKS for "listening" and your previous input.

CHART

Reliability test of Marlin M39 Rifle to digest various types of .22LR ammo
BRAND WEIGHT TYPE COUNT PERFORMANCE PROBLEM SOLUTION OAL**
BLAZER 40GR LEAD 30 RDS 100.00% NONE 0.9805
CCI 40GR PLATED 20 RDS 95.00% 1 FTF Required takedown 0.9845
CENTURION 40GR LEAD 30 RDS 100.00% NONE 0.9750
FEDERAL 40GR LEAD 28 RDS 100.00% 2 ALMOSTFTF Reqd lever “bump” 0.9780
REM T'BOLT 40GR LEAD 50 RDS FTFNEARLY ALWAYS Required takedown 0.9850
REM GOLDEN* 36GR HP PLATED 20 RDS FTFNEARLY ALWAYS Required takedown 0.9610
WESTERN* 36GR HP LEAD 15+RDS 87.00% 2 ALMOSTFTF Adj bullet nose/lever bump 0.9620
WINCHESTER 36GR HP PLATED 20 RDS 100.00% NONE 0.9745

This test was AFTER buffing the bullet carrier plate area
*Bulk ammo
**1 sample/type

FTF = Fail to Feed

 

[flusher]

I have a 1961 Mountie
In my case, Remingtons cases were just about ejected, sometime smokestacking, while Winchester cases flew out.
I would like to know what the head thicknesses of each are.

 

[Irish Bird Dog]

Send an email to each company and ask them what the specs are for the brass & tell them just which of their ammo you used.

or just get a vernier caliper and measure them yourself

 

[dfariswheel]

Irish, I don't know what's going on here, but Marlin's usually aren't really very ammo sensitive on feeding.

Sorry, but without being able to actually see the rifle, all I can suggest is seeing a gunsmith.
With a used rifle, it's possible someone altered something and this is causing problems.

What NOT to do: Don't start altering or replacing parts unless and until you KNOW exact what the problem is. "Shooting blind" on gun repair almost always makes things worse, then it's really tough to find the problem when other issues have been introduced.

So, either buy only the ammo that feeds reliably, or see a gunsmith who can diagnose the problem.

 

[AStone]

I agree with DF, Irish.

The problem that you are experiencing is not normal,
in my limited experience, either online or in reality.

 

[dfariswheel]

JGPena

The "F" prefix does date to 1949.

A 1949 Marlin 39-A will still have standard 4 groove "Ballard" rifling, not the later Micro-Groove rifling. This rifling was cut the old fashioned way, one groove at a time.

The stock will have no white spacers on the butt plate, and will not have a flute on each top side where the comb meets the grip.

The fore end will be the old "fat" type, and the trigger will be blued, not gold plated.

The rear sight will be milled from a solid piece of steel, not stamped.
The front sight will be the unusual post-war type in which the entire front sight and ramp is machined from one piece of steel, and which slips into a dove tail on the barrel.

The hammer will not have the grooves on the underside of the thumb piece for an extension to bolt to so the hammer can be operated with a scope mounted.
There will be no scope mounting screw holes drilled in the top of the receiver.

 

[Irish Bird Dog]

follow up M39 FTF issue

Thanks guys...I appreciate your taking the time to review my problem & I know it's damned hard to make any kind of diagnosis over the net without hands on...

....Lever guns are not a new item with me as I shoot my 1866 & 1873 & 1892 regularly at the cowboy shoots for a number of years now...no problems with the Golden Boy or BL22 or 9422........I don't believe handling is any part of the problem.

......will have to work at finding a gunsmith around here who could look at it....I wonder how many rounds have actually been put thru the Marlin since 1971....I think I have felt smoother actions but have only cycled a very few M39's over the years, so no real comparison to be made that way.

I found a couple of AGI videos on youtube that are specific to the M39 lever so will check them out to see if any hints can be garnered from them.

 

[Irish Bird Dog]

Can your M39 handle shorts, longs and long rifles?

The bbl of my M39 suggests that it will accommodate .22 Short, Long and Long Rifle ammo....do any of you find this to be the case????

I saw a video from you tube the other night where a guy was discussing M39's and used both Long Rifle's and Shorts in his relatively current guns and he fired a magazine full of shorts with no malfunctions. Made me think that if that is the case, the OAL of the LR's should not come into play IF some function/feed well and others don't in my M39 which is a 1971 maunfacture date.

What say you guys?

 

[JustsayMo]

Mine will even cycle empty cases - both pre-CBS and rebounding hammer varieties.

I don't shoot many shorts anymore. Down to a box or two and they're too expensive to replace. Shoot a fair amount of CB longs, very quiet but accuracy is inconsistent.

 

[53ford]

Hello, Just found a great old 39 that I could use some information on how old and any other details any one has.
It is a model 39 with a very low 4 digit serial #12**. The serial number is located on the bottom of the receiver just behind the forearm.(normal?). Instead of being located under the lever like other 39'S that I have owned. It has a 24" octagon barrel and case hardened receiver that still shows some traces in it. I can't find any resource that shows me a age for this early of a gun.
Let me tell you though she shoots just as sweet as the modern 39's.
Thanks 53ford

 

[dfariswheel]

The actual Model 39 was made from 1922 to 1938.
Serial number 12** would be an early rifle in that era.
I don't know what's with the serial number on the receiver bottom, unless the very early versions had it there before switching to the lower tang.

Unless the rifle has a HS prefix to the serial number it's NOT SAFE to shoot high speed ammo.
The non-HS versions will break the bolt if fired with modern High Speed ammo, so shoot ONLY Standard Velocity ammo.

 

[tmr612]

I also have one of those earlier model 39s with the S prefix to the serial #. I've read that you can shoot high-speed ammo if you swap in a late model bolt. Has anyone on THR tried that or have any opinions about that idea?

 

[53ford]

Thanks for the information.
53ford

 

[gunplumber]

Here is a pic of mine. Let a good friend talk me out of it.......

 

[dfariswheel]

I also have one of those earlier model 39s with the S prefix to the serial #. I've read that you can shoot high-speed ammo if you swap in a late model bolt. Has anyone on THR tried that or have any opinions about that idea?

Marlin bolts are expensive, and hard to find. Also due to slight manufacturing differences, a different bolt may not fit well or operate smoothly.

As for shooting High Speed ammo....Why?
Standard Velocity ammo isn't all that much slower or less powerful and Standard Velocity is almost always more accurate.
Target grade .22 ammo is loaded to Standard Velocity specs.

 

[A&PMechanic]

Hello I am a brand new new member. I bought a used original golden-39a this past thursday for $100.00. It is in 90% condition. When I took it out today to fire for the first time I noticed the action was very stiff and sometimes the spring in the magazine seemed a little weak and ti would not advance a shell into the chamber without loosening the ramrod and retightening. I cannot retract the lever now, any advice would be appreciated. When I first examined the gun it didn't look as if a full box of ammo had been shot through it.

 

[AStone]

A&P, welcome to the club & THR.

39 mechanics will be along shortly to help you.

 

[Irish Bird Dog]

A&PMechanic

Go back to post #3364 to see what the inards look like.....

Lever won't retract?????..meaning it won't Open or won't Close?????..

.....there is a take down screw, the large screw on the right side that allows the action to be split by backing it out (it won't come all the way out of the action tho).....careful now cuz the bolt will drop out when it pops apart..& the firing pin may fall out of the bolt...not to worry, easy to put back in.....just tap the stock on the Left side to pop it apart to the Right side of gun, if it is a bit stubborn. That will get you back in business, unless something is radically wrong....from here on the "experts" will take over...

 

[A&PMechanic]

I could not close the lever. I didn't have a breakdown manual and the video I watched said the lever had to be closed to breakdown the rifle. I opened the rifle and the screw holding the lever was loose. I tightened it up and the gun functioned fine.

 

[Fast Frank]

I'm bummed.

The weather is nice, and I want to go shoot.

And it just isn't gonna happen.

That is all.

Hope you guys have a better weekend!