Hi Everyone,

I recently bought a new 336A, it is my first lever action gun. The lever on the gun does not want to stay in the up position. If I put the lever up, the slightest bump of the stock causes it open about 3/8 of an inch. It does this if the gun is cocked or uncocked. I don't know a lot about the operation of all the safety systems on the gun, so I don't know if the gun is supposed to perform this way. If this isn't normal gun operation, what steps do I need to take to fix the problem?

Thanks in advance for any help.

It's not the way my old 336 behaves. It could be caused by two things, one or the other or both. The trigger safety block spring could be too stiff. Open the lever and find the little projection behind the trigger. Push it in with your finger. If your finger hurts, it's stiff. The fix is to pull the trigger guard plate off the receiver and bend the right arm back until you've reduced the uncocked trigger pull to 1 lb. Then bend the left arm of the spring back the same amount.

The other possibility is the finger lever plunger in the top of the lever, over where your trigger finger goes. Push it in. The spring is too weak if your finger doesn't hurt. Also, someone mentioned that the bevel on the plunger wasn't right on a rifle he inspected. The tip of the plunger has about a 90° corner on it, with the top side about 30° to the face of the lever, and the bottom side 60° to the face. In other words, it's ramped so it slides up easier than down.

I've written up some disassembly instructions here. They could be better.
http://www.shootersforum.com/showthread.htm?t=2168&highlight=disassembly

If you don't have a parts diagram, go here. Oops, seems there's a problem with GunNuts.

Also: http://www.shootersforum.com/attachment.htm?attachmentid=3089

Bye
Jack

GunNuts is back online. Here's the 336 parts diagram.
http://www.gunuts.com/view.php?view=details&model_id=40&type=2

Clicking on the GunNuts tab at the top of this page gets you many parts diagrams.

Bye
Jack

bullfrog,

nope, that's not normal... I have 2 marlin lever guns, and neither of them have that problem.

unless you're more skilled at repairs than I am, have a gunsmith take a look at it; probably an easy fix...