I have a 336 Texan that had seen some hard use in the past, with damaged screw heads on nearly all screws, so I decided to order a bunch of new screws, a new extractor, new follower and follower spring, and give the old girl a bit of a refurbish. Well upon re-assembly, I realized that the lever would open about 0.5", and then hit a wall. I believe the locking bolt is not coming down far enough to release the lever, or something similar. I'm very new to the 336, so I wondered if I had re-assembled it incorrectly. I've watched a bunch of assembly videos, all screws are in the correct locations, etc. The rifle functioned smoothly and flawlessly before I dis-assembled it, so I'm not sure what could be causing this. It seems like if I put lateral pressure on the lever to the left, I can sometimes get the lever to open all the way. Any tips or pointers? I'll try to get a vid up showing the behaviour.
Maybe the ejector? Is the little pin sticking out the top hole on the left side, and can you push it in against the spring tension when the action is closed?
I don’t know if that means anything, but I think I might’ve had that problem before with my 39 when I disassembled it and put the ejector back in incorrectly.
Two screws that hold the trigger assembly in place. one is on the bottom at the front of the receiver and the other is on the left side of the receiver just above the lever pivot. Exchange places with those two screws and your problem will go away. You will note that one is slightly longer than the other. The longer one goes in the bottom position.
Tried all the old parts, except the old extractor, same problem. The issue is slowly resolving itself, as I believe the new extractor is slowly breaking in.
I didn't know you had lever guns Jordan, thought you were a bolt action guy lol. I imagine you figured it out by now, when they work right lever guns are a lot of fun to have around.