Troubleshooting your Marlin 60 or Marlin 795

If you have an intermittent failure to cycle with your semi automatic Marlin 60 or Marlin 795, determine if it is failure to load (FTL), failure to fire (FTF), or failure to eject (FTE).

***If you have a bent recoil spring and can't immediately replace it, straighten it best you can with needle nose pliers. Then when refitting bolt ensure spring is compressed inside bolt hole as you fit this into receiver. This saves bending springs further. Oil this spring if needed.***

Marlin 60 Failure To Load (Marlin 60 FTL):
(1.) Give rifle action a thorough clean and dissolve powder residue from parts especially feed-throat.
(2.) Clean out extractor indents either side of chamber
(3.) Check for full bolt movement
(4.) Check for burrs at chamber entrance
(5.) Check for worn and weak recoil spring. Replace as needed.
(6.) Clean off all excess oil from action. 22lr is a dirty round and the excess oil will work against you.
(7.) If a magazine model rifle, slide off bottom plate and clean out magazine with White Spirit/Fuelite periodically to ensure bridge in mag is lifting smoothly (not jerky), and rounds coming up correctly. You can also take bottom off mags to sand edges of mag bridge a bit for optimum movement, but make sure you put spring back in the right way. Keep mag lubed.
(8.) If a tube model, keep tube lubed.

***Note recoil spring affects bolt movement and reloading only - not firing pin/striking power. Light striking is generally due to worn firing pin or worn/shortened hammer springs. Gunsmiths have often clipped a coil or two off hammer springs to help lighten triggers but it can end up causing light strikes. See FTF below.

Marlin 60 Failure To Fire (Marlin 60 FTF):

(1.) May be bad cartridges with primer gel missing round bottom edge of case - common with Power-Points at the moment - or if you're carrying rounds loose in gun pouch.
(2.) Can be worn down or damaged firing pin due to dry firing. Take pin out and check out - should have a chiseled end. Check for consistent strike depth on cartridge cases. Get a new pin if needed.
(3.) Could be light striking which is normally worn hammer spring due to age, or people taking 1-2 coils off to lighten trigger, or leaving action open and cocked during long term storage weakening spring.
(4.) Could also be wear in small slot where a pin holds the firing pin into bolt.
(5.) Occasionally new semis have a recoil spring that is too strong and will not cycle lower powered subs reliably. Possible solutions: swap in an older spring, or run in with CCI minimag hv for a brick or two, or leave action open for few days or week to soften spring - then repeat this as necessary till it cycles the subs well. ***It’s recommended that you break in Marlins with CCI mini-mags. After a hundred or so rounds, you should be able to see the wear marks left on the bolt and the inside of the receiver. Cleaning the inside of the receiver w/ something strong to remove the paint overspray from when it was painted at the factory, seems to smooth things out well. Then I move your attention to the bolt. A piece of glass w/ a fine (500) grit piece of sandpaper oiled up while moving the bolt in a figure 8 motion, will get rid of any high marks left over from the factory. Cleaning the bolt w/ brake clean and a drop of CLP finishes off the job. We have had great success using this method to make the Marlin 60 and Marlin 795 action function better.***

Marlin 60 Failure To Eject (Marlin 60 FTE):

(1.) Clean action thoroughly and on reassembly put max one drop of oil on bolt surfaces only. They don't operate oiled up. Or use a proven dry lube.
(2.) Check position of ejector wire
(3.) Strip bolt and clean and check condition of extractors. Replace if needed.

Marlin 60 & Marlin 795 Additional Notes:

(1.) All semis are picky and will cycle some rounds well and others poorly. Marlin semis generally like all things CCI, and some also like Winchester HV. For range accuracy CCI standard Velocity solids and CCI subs usually shoot very well.
(2.) Marlin semis must be run clean and dry. Don't spray oil everywhere - that kills them. Dirty actions and excess of oil is the main cause of problems. There are a couple of points in action which need an occasional dot of oil or grease.
(3.) Don't generally leave your action open when rifle in cupboard. Wears out recoil spring, and can weaken hammer spring if left cocked - and this causes light striking.
(4.) Don't over-tighten front bedding screw - but experiment with different pressures to improve accuracy
(5.) Don't over-tighten rear of trigger guard screw - breaks with too much pressure and when over-tightened can pressure receiver which may hinder proper cycling
(6.) If trigger guard breaks - buy new or take to auto repair shop for plastic welding - cheap and very effective solution.
These basic guidelines will solve most marlin problems. They are very reliable rifles and with a little set up prep and maintenance they should last a very long time.