39a Failure to extract

[strat8]

Anyone have any ideas as to why my brand new 39a is failing to extract the spent round in the chamber? It will be fine for a few rounds and then lock up when it tries to feed another round and can't because the previous shell was not extracted from the chamber. I've tried 2 different types of ammo with the same results. I've also cleaned and scrubbed the bolt, extractor, chamber etc. I really don't want to have to send this back to Marlin as I believe it is something simple and maybe an adjustment could be made with the extractor?

Thanks for the help.

strat8

 

[Shear_stress]

I've had the same problem if I work the lever too slowly. The Marlins were made to be used with some gusto.

 

[MrBorland]

Just a guess, but check the chamber carefully, as it may have gotten peened by the firing pin during, say, a dry fire. If so, the chamber may be out of round, causing the case to stick. If so, there's a tool to fix it yourself. I believe Midway sells it.

 

[Rollis R. Karvellis]

I have the same problem with mine, after 4 deep cleaning's by my smith and a new extractor it went back to Marlin, and that has been a fun experiance so far.

 

[ArmedBear]

I have had this problem.

I sent it to Marlin twice and they didn't fix it.

I then fixed it myself, for free, with needlnose pliers, in a minute and a half.

I will post pictures of how. Don't send the gun anywhere until you look at my pictures.

 

[SGW42]

I only had it happen once, when I dropped the hammer on an empty case.

 

[Malamute]

My first thought was a burr on the edge of the chamber from dry fring. There is a stop on the friing pin to limit the protrusion, but it can be broken, or not fitted quite right.


I'm curious to see Bears fix.


The 39 should function perfectly no matter how fast or slow it's cycled. If it doesn't, there are other problems.

 

[rcmodel]

+1

A burred chamber from dry firing would be very unlikely, unless something was out of spec to allow it.

Dry-fire FP stikes are not possible if everything is as it should be.

rc

 

[vicdotcom]

How I solved that EXACT problem

I used to have the EXACT problem. And after some work, I found out what was going on and took care of it.

Here is what I saw and you can see if you find the same thing in your 39a. When shooting bulk .22 or even .22's that were packed into a smaller box, some of that waxy coating would get on the shells of each round making them pretty dirty.

After shooting a while, the chamber of my 39a would stop ejecting shells after every few shots. After keeping track I noticed that it was happening more with certain ammo and never with others. The last time it happened, I had to disassemble and take the shell out of the chamber. But it was pretty tight in there like glue.

After getting it out, I noticed this "tacky" gunk in the chamber and stuck to the shell casing. It turned out to be that waxy stuff that coats some .22 rounds. It transfers onto the chamber from the shell, gets hot and dirty from the shooting and gunks up. This caused the extraction problems.

My answer was to shoot only CCI rounds or any other rounds that are packaged in those containers that make sure the rounds dont touch each other.

Ever since then NOT ONE PROBLEM! I even used that bulk stuff again that used to fail to extract before, but I cleaned the wax off every round. And no extraction problems. Just dirty/waxy shells. But cleaning that many rounds of bulk was a lot of work LOL But it proved the theory at least in my situation.

See if this is the case with your rifle. Hope it helps.

In the end it was the bullets, not the rifle.
Vic

 

[offthepaper]

You guys are giving me some concern here. I just ordered a new 39A yesterday. Kind of a pricey 22, but I've wanted one for a long time. I'm sure hoping not to have extraction problems righth out of t he box. What does Marlin do to theae rifles when they're sent in for extraction problems?

 

[MrBorland]

I bought mine new about 2 years ago, and didn't have any trouble with mine, until I tried the Poor Man's Trigger Job I read about on-line: Stick an empty case in the chamber, cock the hammer, then push on it a bit while pulling the trigger. I was skeptical, but yep, the experts were right...it did do something. Peened the chamber, with subsequent FTEs.

 

[wickedsprint]

I bought one before I left, mine does the same thing.

 

[vicdotcom]

You guys are giving me some concern here. I just ordered a new 39A yesterday. Kind of a pricey 22, but I've wanted one for a long time. I'm sure hoping not to have extraction problems righth out of t he box. What does Marlin do to theae rifles when they're sent in for extraction problems?

I wouldnt worry a bit about it. They are great rifles. Pricey but you will see why when you shoot one. Like any rifle, your individual rifle will like eating certain rounds over another. Enjoy it!

 

[krs]

Assuming that the extractor notch is clean so that the extractor can get under the case rim, right?

And this is not an EJECTOR problem caused by inadvertently catching the ejector under the screw head that's there to hold the ejector arm down for cleaning the bore?

Just tossing ideas into the mix - there isn't a whole lot that CAN go wrong with a Marlin 39 unless the new models are substantially changed from the older ones.

 

[strat8]

KRS

No I don't have the ejector screwed down. I know what you mean though. Thanks for everyones help so far .I ordered another extractor from Midway today. I'll see how that works. If that fails to solve the problem I'll know it is the chamber or something else. Process of elimination. Thanks again all, and I'll let you know how I make out with a different extractor.

strat8

 

[ArmedBear]

I WILL post pics showing how to fix the problem. It's easy to do, but not easy to figure out.

Sorry, I spent all day on my roof fixing a broken skylight.

Anyway, to fix the problem, all you have to do is bend the extractor to add a bit of a back-bend near the front.

The new one from Marlin may be no better. Pics tomorrow, I promise.

It's likely not a burred chamber; it's most likely the exact shape of the extractor. You can fix it with needlenose pliers; all you need is a picture of what it's supposed to look like. I solved the problem because I had a second Model 39 that worked fine.

Got to go to bed right now, though.

 

[CZguy]

Anyway, to fix the problem, all you have to do is bend the extractor to add a bit of a back-bend near the front.

I had the same problem with mine when it was new.

I took the bolt out of the rifle and put a .22 shell on the front of the bolt and noticed that the extractor wasn't seated over the rim of the cartridge. I "adjusted" the extractor with needle nosed pliers, and have never had a problem since.

 

[ArmedBear]

Here you go.

This is a working 39A extractor. It used to have the same problem you have all described. Now it's 100% reliable, after a few minutes with needlenose pliers and a .22LR cartridge.

The solution was to open up the hook that goes around the cartridge rim (right side in the picture), then add the little "backbend" I referred to. The bend should start right where I put the arrow.

You may have to experiment a little. Obviously, we're not looking at stretching out the front "hook" TOO much, or making a really severe bend at the arrow. It's just that this precise shape is very important so that the extractor grabs the cartridge rim.

One way to bench-test it is to bend the extractor how you think it should go, stick it in the bolt, and stick a cartridge against the bolt face. See if and how the extractor grabs it. Remove the extractor and re-bend if you don't think it's just right. Do all of this with the bolt loose on your bench, not in the rifle.

You should be able to push the cartridge straight back against the bolt face, and the extractor should grab it SOLIDLY. You shouldn't be able to just pull the cartridge back out, unless you actively push the extractor away from the rim with another finger.

Also, mine would shoot 50+ times before it had a failure to extract. I had to shoot a few hundred rounds to be sure I'd really fixed it. For this, I recommend a glove or a lever wrap. Shooting a 39A a few hundred times (when it's working right) is a lot of fun...

 

[wickedsprint]

Thanks for posting that, I look forward to tearing mine down to make it match.

 

[sweet45]

Boosting the hammer is what MrBorland speaks of. With the hammer cocked, apply forward pressure on the hammer and pull the trigger, but don't let the hammer slam down. After doing that several times the grit and creep are usually gone. Follow that with clipping about a 1/4 of a coil off the hammer spring and lube the hammer and trigger, and there you have a sweet trigger pull. Don't clip too much off the spring or you'll get misfires. A little goes a long way. This works great with the pre-safety 39a, but the 39as rebounders are a little more tricky.

 

[strat8]

Thanks armed bear I'll give it a try this weekend and let all know how I make out.

strat8

 

[ArmedBear]

Here are a couple more. These are big, but that way you can see detail.

They show what a working extractor looks like in the bolt, and what it looks like with a cartridge in it. Note that the end of the extractor snaps all the way over the rim and holds it.

It's easy once you see how it's supposed to be.

 

[Mal H]

Thanks ArmedBear! I also had the FTE problem with my 39A, but only with one particular brand of ammo - Lapua Multi-Match. I found a workaround was to use a clean dry cloth and wipe off the case of each bullet before using it. I think the wax they use was turning hard upon firing in the chamber. The FTE's went to just about zero, but there was still one every now and then. I've had no problems with all other ammo, but I really like the Lapua for performance reasons.

I have made the bend in the extractor, and see how it can definitely help. For lack of a better term, it latches onto the rim at a more acute angle. I cycled 10 unwiped Lapua's and they fed flawlessly, but the proof is in the shooting which I plan to do in a few days. I'll let you know if it works.

 

[ArmedBear]

Mal- What seems to make it work is that, when the rim pushes against the extractor this way, it actually pushes straight back against the spring, opens up the hook at the end, and increases the spring tension against the rim. The way my extractor was bent before, force against the rim could actually push in the perpendicular direction and displace the extractor away from the rim.

I'm not sure if that explanation makes sense to anyone but me -- that's why I took pictures instead.

What's interesting is that Marlin does not appear to know about this. My 1973-vintage 39M is bent this way, though. SOMEONE knew about it at some point in history.

I sent my recent-production 39A back to Marlin TWICE and they didn't fix it. They shot some rounds through it and I guess it didn't fail (which is why I'd told them that it would take a good number of rounds to test it).

Perhaps that's one problem with a gun that's been essentially the same since 1897. Whoever came up with the exact design hasn't been around the Marlin offices for a very long time.

Still, you'd think that their gunsmith (and apparently they passed it up the food chain the second time, too) would know about this...

Should I send Marlin these pictures, too?

 

[vicdotcom]

I also had the FTE problem with my 39A, but only with one particular brand of ammo - Lapua Multi-Match. I found a workaround was to use a clean dry cloth and wipe off the case of each bullet before using it. I think the wax they use was turning hard upon firing in the chamber.

That is exactly what I saw when using bulk ammo also. And it worked perfect when I cleaned the shells before shooting. That coating gunks up the chamber pretty good. Let us know how the bend in the extractor works out! I will certainly try it if works also, though I would still clean the gunk from the chamber after any outing with waxy ammo.