this thing has me puzzled somewhat. The lever is kind of hard to work, takes some pressure to open it. When you release or lossen the reciever screw on the right side that holds the two part together it seems to help. Opening it up, i can see some wear marks on the inside. Anybody familar with these and what could be going wrong. I would think it should open and close without any issues.

oops, sticky keyboard.

The Marlin 38a does puzzle me as well.

The two halves can be a bit difficult to get together.

Make sure the bolt is fully forward before assembling.

Try leaving the lever open just a bit when putting the two pieces together.

You can also use a slight hammer cock while assembling.

Was the 38A a predecessor to the much more famous 39A?
If so, then what Fair Chase suggests.
The wear marks on the inside of the receiver are normal, from what I have seen.

by open and close, don't have a problem with assembling it. It seems as if the lever is stiff on cocking it more so than i would expect. I do see some play in the lever left to right, or sideways.
sorry about the 38a, called sticky keyboard and not editing.

IMO...... the lever is stiff to operate because it is binding somewhere, meaning it is not assembled correctly.

Hard to diagnose with handling it, but my guess would be to remove the lever and put it on a granite flat or piece of flat glass and use a feeler gauge to see if it is bent. I'd also inspect the lever pivot to see if it has a burr that is allowing the lever to ride high on one side.

I can't see incorrect assembling causing the lever to rub, if anything it would be a sloppy fit. Something is out of wack to cause parts to rub.

Unfortunately more than one mountie has seen it's fair share of abuse. My 39a had a broken firing pin and missing cartridge guide so took some fiddling, hand fitting of the firing pin and thorough cleaning before it would feed and fire reliably.