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Marlin 39A Failure To Fire

laboy
Marlin 39A mfg. 1956. Recently the rifle started to fail to fire if the end of the barrel is raised above the height or level of the stock (shooting up). If shooting with barrel below the height of the stock it will fire . If firing up the firing pin is sliding all the way to the rear of the bolt. If firing down the firing pin is to the rear of the bolt. The fore and aft movement of the firing pin is normal. Regardless of firing position, if the firing pin is to the rear it will not fire, if to the front it will fire. If shooting up and experience a failure to fire the case has a large dent on the rim but not a sharp indention as it has when shooting up and bullet fired. When compareing a fired case to one fire in another 22 they both have a sharp indention from the firing pin. I have cleaned action especially the firing pin groove, changed firing pin and changed mainspring. The new firing pin is a little different from the one it replaced. The new mainspring is one that is supposed to provide a lighter trigger pull weight. I noticed no burr in breach end of barrel and with rifle disassenbled a bullet can easily be hand inserted fully in breach of barrel with no resistance after pushing glently on the bullet guide. What is causing the failure to fire when the firing pin is to the rear before shhoting? Any assistance will be appreciated.
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Date Votes
  • dfletcher
    If the gun did not misfire before the new mainspring was installed I suspect that is the cause. The lighter trigger pull spring companies mention is had because the spring itself is not as strong as the factory original. That the misfire occurs when the pin is to the rear & has greater distance to travel is, I think, an indication it is not being struck hard enough - the firing pin is running out of energy by the time it travels front to rear

    Another cause, related to the mainspring, is if the mainspring body is "catching" on anything when the trigger is pulled. That would result in a softer hit. I'm at work and my 39 is at home, so I don't know if that's possible.

    If all else is the same I would return to the factory spring & see if that cures the problem.
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  • RCrosby
    Any chance that bad ammo is in cahoots with random circumstance?
    If it were mine, and if you haven't already, I'd try the following:
    1. Get some CCI MiniMag. (especially if its bulk Rem. that's been involved in the failures to fire)
    2. Install the longer of the two firing pins if there is any measurable difference.
    3. Put in the heavier mainspring.
    If that doesn't help, "I got nothin!"
    Good luck.
    Rob
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  • rufe-snow
    I would try different brands of ammo as a starter. Personally I shoot a lot of the bulk pack promotional ammo, from wally world. Have had problems in the past with both Federal and Remington, while the Winchester 555/333 stuff works great.
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  • spasmcreek
    first is cleanliness..second main spring..third i have ground a tiny bit off of firing pin front shoulder to let it hit deeper on case when light strike marks were shown
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  • laboy
    Thanks fellows. It FTF with both springs. However, I placed a spacer about 1/8" thick on the rod with the mainspring. This compressed the mainspring more and it fired in any position. It seems that I have a weak regular mainspring and a weak light mainspring. I will get a new regular mainspring and install. Again thanks for the response.
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