Marlin 336SS cycles so hard -> I am such an idiot!

P

Para Bellum

New member
Hi Folks,

just to make you smile and maybe to help some more fools like me out:

I shoot since I'm a kid and made 40 this year. I own several rifles form Blaser (R8) Mauser (98) Mannlicher (Schönauer 1908) and Steyr (AUG). And I compete an do pretty well at shooting, esp at ISPC.

So, I thought, I know about guns. :rolleyes:

I always liked the look and feel of the Marlin 336, especially the stainless model. So, at every gunshow, I put my hands on one. But I always thought, gee this cycle goes so damn hard, how can you stay on target with this? Especially compared to my formidable Blaser R8.

Finally I couldn't be stopped and bought a 336SS anyway. Tomorow I'll take it to the range for the first time. And a few minutes ago, when I boresnaked the barrel and checked the new Skinner ("Tactical") Sight, I tried to practice cycling fast. Again, so damn hard. These cowboys must be way stronger than me (btw I practice martial arts and spent a lot of time in the woods with my chainsaw. Can't say I'm weak really...)

And then the penny dropped: I was being such a FOOL! I didn't cock the rifle first and just cycled over and over again against the resistance of the hammerspring. I feel like an ox. :p

I might be forgiven because I am european and in all our eurpean made rifles the cocking (if manually possible at all) doesn't influence cycling resistance.

Now I know. Aaahhhhhhh. Not so bad after all, my litte 336SS :)

Have a good one,
PB
 
And here I thought you were going to say that it still had a zip-tie wrapped around the lever to keep it from being opened at the gun-show... :eek:

Marlins shouldn't be too hard to cycle, even with the hammer down. You should be able to do it with 3 or 4 fingers through the lever loop. If that's too difficult, there may actually be something amiss inside the action... :confused:

Of course, you ARE correct.... we cowboys ARE pretty tough...:p
 
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I would remove the bolt and inspect the raceway ceiling, in case one of the mounting screws on the Skinner sight is overly long and is protruding into the raceway and rubbing on the bolt.


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My wife's new 336C was tight and stiff... lots of gun oil, and then cycling the action about 100 times really improved it...

Clean the gun thoroughly. Then oil liberally.... then cycle over and over and over again... then clean the gun again to get rid of the now dirty gun oil. It worked for me.
 
I put in a Wild West Guns extractor and it smoothed out my 336 action considerably. Gone is that bump to get the bolt past the extractor.

I also put in a Wild West Guns trigger (Happy Trigger) and it improved the trigger pull from 7 lbs to 2 1/2 lbs. I shoot a lot more accurately with the new trigger.
 
Re Post #5, you might try backing out the screws holding the sight in place and see if that helps. If it does, you can shorten the screws a bit. Should be easier than taking out the bolt. I had some long screws on a scope mount that caused a very stiff action cycle, and I was able to find some shorter screws.
 
Take that thing apart and polish the internal contact surfaces. It will give you a better appreciation and understanding of how the action works and it will smooth things out significantly. Lots of information and videos on the internet about the parts that benefit from a little or a lot of polishing.

Someone else mentioned the extractor, after polishing the guts of both of our 336 rifles I think the majority of the resistance on the closing stroke is because of the extractor. Otherwise a bit of work with some Emory cloth smoothed things out a lot.
 
You didn't see the Rifleman pre-cock the hammer.
Just cycle that lever with authority.
Show it who's boss, dadgummit.
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You also didn't see the screw in the trigger guard that helped him shoot that fast. :D Don't feel bad. I thought the slide lock on my XD was broken when I got it. I had a 1911 before that. You guessed it. I was riding the slide lock and it was "not staying open for some reason." Most people cock the hammer on the 1st shot and then cycle it for follow-up shots. That's one of the reasons I love guns. It's always a learning experience.
 
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Marlins shouldn't be too hard to cycle, even with the hammer down. You should be able to do it with 3 or 4 fingers through the lever loop. If that's too difficult, there may actually be something amiss inside the action...
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The hammer will be down after firing ..... or do you plan on thumbing the hammer back before ejecting each spent case? That is not the way it was designed to work, methinks .......

Should be easier than taking out the bolt.
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Taking the bolt out of these guns is not rocket science, or even difficult- you should be taking them out to clean from the breech anyhow ....

My teenage daughter can flick the lever to run her Marlin 30A while the gun is on her shoulder and her eyes are on the target .... that is the way these guns are supposed to be run. If the action is stiff, that is not going to work.

After making sure nothing is hanging up inside (sight screws or somesuch), get some dummy rounds and work it. It should smooth out.
 
Get yourself a Moto-Tool with a rubberized polishing wheel and use it to smooth the contact surfaces on both the rear of the bolt and front of the hammer as well as several parts inside, but don't over-do it enough to change angles and stay away from trigger/sear areas. Sharp edges on the bolt can also be polished. The ejector, may be dragging on the bolt slot. Smooth it and the bolt slot on the edges, but be careful not to change the ejector angle.

The bolt and lever contact surfaces and lifter wear points may also be polished. Look for rough areas inside the receiver and use a pieces of fine emery paper glued to a flat stick to smooth out any rough tool mark areas.

When finished, use a good gun grease, preferably a moly-low temperature grease to lubricate the moving parts. I don't oil my actions, but place a thin layer of good gun grease, because it has better load-bearing qualities than gun oil. Oils tend to migrate into stocks and have ruined many lever-action buttstocks.
 
I didn't cock the rifle first and just cycled over and over again against the resistance of the hammerspring. I feel like an ox.
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That (hammer down) is what it is designed to do. The only time you cock the hammer (unless you actually use those obnoxious new safetys), is when you are hunting and prepare to shoot. After shooting, the hammer is down, and you do not cock it...you allow cycling the action to do the cocking for another (more), shot(s).
 
As mentioned, you're supposed to run the gun as it ends up after firing a round, which means you cycle it with the hammer down.

Marlins are not hard to cycle, IF there's nothing wrong with the action.
We have several here, my wife (5'2") used to use a pair of Marlins for her Cowboy Action Shooting.

If you're having a difficult time cycling yours correctly, either there's something wrong with it or you (frankly) have very little upper body strength.

You CAN cock the hammer each time before working the lever, but I've never in over 40 years of shooting heard of anybody having to do that because of it being too difficult to work the lever with the hammer down.

It simply should not be that hard.
Denis
 
Thanks folks. I feel so weak ;-)

Maybe I had expected to much ease comeing from my all-day hunting rifle, the Blaser R8.

At the range the problem improved, that Remlin just needs polish and lubrication. And even using it helps.

Strengthwise I'm on the safe side. I'm only 5'10.5" (178cm) and 168lbs (76Kg), but outperform fit buddies of 6'6 and 220lbs in the gym. At least I should be able to handle a Remlin 336 well.

So, I'll keep on using and moving it. Wasn't so bad at the range after all...
 
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