Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin 336 Lever Actions 336 issue

I posted this in the hunters forum also but thought i might get some more info here. I kinda new to the levers so bare with me on the terminology. I picked up a Marlin 336 in .35 Rem and it shoots great, but it has recently started haveing issues with the lifter that raises the next round to the chamber. Basically it works fine unloaded, but with rounds in the tube it won't pick them up. I know the gun has been sitting a while and is DIRTY, which is where im starting, but am not real sure about taking it apart. I did as good of job cleaning as I could without dropping the lever or anything so any tips or tricks on disessembly and reassembly would be great. Thanks in advance.

A 336 is pretty easy to field strip and clean. Just remove the screw that holds the lever in place. Then remove the lever, depress the hammer slightly and slide out the bold. There is a little spring keeper that the bolt slides against that will also drop out. I will also remove the magazine tube spring and plunger at this time for cleaning.
It's easy to get a toothbrush into to receiver for scrubbing, oiled patches pushed around with a wood stick, and a can of compressed air. I then run a 410 bore swab wrapped with oiled cotton patch down through the magazine tube, (you'd be surprised at the crap you'll clean out of there) I clean and oil the plunger and spring and reassemble.
To put the receiver back together first replace the spring keeper for the bolt. You'll see where there is a little knob that fits into a hole, you can see if it's in correctly by looking at the outside of the receiver. Slide the bolt back in about half way, reinsert the lever, close the bolt all the way and replace the lever screw. That will clean the part of the gun that gets most of the dirt.
Good luck.

http://stevespages.com/pdf/marlin_336_444_1895.pdf and go to page 9.

Hey thanks guys. I got it cleaned and all put back together. That little spring keeper thing was kind of a pain, well it wasn't too bad after I found out where the heck it went after it fell out without me knowing! Again thanks and now I know where to come for all my 336 problems!

That hole on the side is a pretty good clue on that spring location as long as it falls out and not down into the action without you knowing it.

The little spring keeper is really the ejector .

God bless
Wyr

Be sure and check all the screws to see if they are tight .

And give the chamber & bore a good cleaning , now that you have the bolt out of the way .

If you have been using copper jacket ammo , use a good copper remover bore cleaner & patches . If you get blue green on the patch , you still have copper in the barrel . Repeat untill you tire out . Then run a wet patch of Hoppies # 9 through the barrel to neutralize the copper cleaner .

Repeat this every nite untill you no longer get the stain on the patch , usually about 5 - 7 nites .

Now lube everything up and put the rifle back together .

God bless
Wyr