I've had my 39 for about a year and a half now. It is a mid 60's rifle.

The action is very stiff and notchy. Is this normal or are they supposed to be smooth?

Thanks,
Rick

Have you taken it completely apart, cleaned it and lubed it?

Do that, and just shoot the daylights out of it.

If it is still rough after thorough cleaning and oiling, there is an old S&W revolver tuning trick that might help? You mix a 50:50 slurry of well-shaken Break-Free CLP and J-B Bore Compound and slather it into the works and work the action for awhile. It smooths the rough spots gently (J-B is not aggressive or embedding) and works the Teflon from the CLP into the metal. After the roughness is cleared, you clean it out and lube with more CLP. The result is a "butter smooth" action.

Thanks, all.

I just tightened the take-down screw real tight and it smoothed up. I just had it snug and it was "notchy" and stiff. The real tight screw seemed to do the trick.

I had it clean and oiled up from the previous take-down, just didn't finish the job properly.