[red ryder]

recently inherited a 39A "Golden" from my grandfather, it always had a butter smooth action when shooting.

I went out shooting with it yesterday and it felt VERY labored to load rounds in comparison to the Winchester we were also shooting.

even while cycling the action with no rounds it felt labored. Any ideas on what i should look for? I miss the almost effortless action that it used to have.

TIA

[30-30remchester]

Sounds like your large takedown screw it over tightened. While I love the Marlin and also have a 9422 I have to admit the Winchester is a smoother action but you cant go wrong with the Marlin.

[red ryder]

got it. i had actually worked itself too loose, which explains why it got worse the longer we shot.

tightened it back down and its nice and smooth again.

feel alittle dumb, but relieved that it was a simple fix.

[Win73]

Originally Posted by red ryder

recently inherited a 39A "Golden" from my grandfather, it always had a butter smooth action when shooting.

I went out shooting with it yesterday and it felt VERY labored to load rounds in comparison to the Winchester we were also shooting.

even while cycling the action with no rounds it felt labored. Any ideas on what i should look for? I miss the almost effortless action that it used to have.

TIA

I have a 1967 vintage Marlin 39A Golden Mountie. It is a sweet gun. I can't tell you how many thousand rounds I have put through that rifle. It's action is butter smooth. I don't think there has ever been a better .22 rifle. But you do have to keep that takedown screw tight.

[willfully armed]

My first 39 was a 1965, the one I have now is a 1978. Mine too didnt like feeding properly when I bought it, and after adjusting the takedown, all is well. I would love to find a 1952 and 1953 rifle. 53 was the first year for Microgroove rifling.

Do you know what year yours is REDRYDER?

Marlin year of manufacture maybe determined from the following list of letter/numeral prefixs to the serial number; this coding only applies to serialized rifles:

1946-C
1947-D
1948-E
1949-F
1950-G
1951-H
1952-J
1953-K
1954-L
1955-M
1956-N
1957-P
1958-R
1959-S
1960 (August)-1961-U
1961 (August)-1962-V
1963-W
1964-Y,-Z
1965-AA
1966-AB
1967-AC
1968-AD, -68
1969-69
1970-70
1971-71
1972-72

Starting in 1973, the year of manufacture maybe determined by subtracting the first two digits of the serial number from 100:
Example: SN 2512345 would have been made in 1975 [100 - 25 = 75] and SN 94365295 would have been made in 2006 [ 100 - 94 = 06 (2006) ].

[red ryder]

according to your chart it has a letter Z which puts it at a 1964 manufacture date.

love this gun, i go out in the back yard and plink cans whenever i can.

[Clem]

Congratulations on your acquisition. My 39A is 1962. My 39M is 1969.

[red ryder]

here is mine. doesn't have the hood over the rear sight, but you get the idea.

[18481512]

My NEW Marlin 39A misfires about 1 out of 10. ?

[red ryder]

my take down screw was too loose causing the hammer to bind in the ejection slide.

have you tried different ammunition?