I picked up a somewhat beat 39a for what seemed like a good deal at $175. The first attempt to fire it resulted in a click not a bang, a quick inspection showed a broken firing pin. No problem, order two from brownells. I finally managed to find some time to put the new firing pin in, and made it to the range. The upside is the gun goes bang, the downside is it doesn't do it every time, it's about a 50% thing with no rime nor reason as to where rounds are in the magazine.

The hammer doesn't seem to be hanging up on it's travel, so I'm thinking perhaps the hammer spring is week. Any other thoughts on the matter are appreciated.

In addition to the hammer spring, you might want to check the firing pin. There is a limiter on the pin to prevent too much protrusion. There could be a slight incompatibility between the bolt and the new pin. Your headspace could also be just a tad large, or the previous owner could have dry fired the gun enough to peen a dent in the chamber resulting in the case head not being properly supported at the point of firing pin impact. The broken firing pin was probably a result of dry firing.

I'll have to check the chamber, but I think it does have a slight peen to it. I'll also measure the protrusion of the pin from the bolt.

Thanks for the ideas.

If it is the cross-bolt safety model with the rebounding hammer it probably needs a stronger hammer spring.

I forgot to mention that Marlin has gone through a couple of firing pin designs over the years. You might want to check that you have the right pin for the year group of your rifle. In my misspent youth I broke several firing pins due to dry firing.

I stoned the new hammer a bit so that it protrudes a bit further out. So far testing with 1/2 dozen cb shorts was 100% reliable, but I need a range session to ring it out and dial in the scope.

Glad to hear that things are working out.

I put an old beater scope on the rifle which is perhaps why I haven't been overly motivated to head to the range. Well I made the mistake of looking for used leupolds on ebay I put in a last minute, er last seconds bid that I figured was likely too low but at a price I couldn't pass up and now have a vx-III 1.5-5 coming my way Now I'll really have an excuse to get to the range with the 39a, if it ever stops snowing.

I have a 2x7 Weaver rimfire scope that I mounted in Warne QD mounts. I use it for the test scope on a bunch of my rifles, including my 39A and 39M. I was using this scope when I clued myself in to the accuracy issues with my old 39A and I used it again when I got it back with a new barrel. I have a Leopold 1.75x5 on my rebarreled Mini-14 where it has been working nicely for 20 yrs. or so.