# 30-30 Lever Action Stuck



## getaff

I was unloading my rifle yesterday and my lever jammed and would not close.  Does anyone know how to fix this or a gunsmith near Lamar or Spalding County.


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## Sharps40

If its a marlin or marlin designed action check for;

Case stuck in lifter

Broken ejector


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## Dana Young

I had an old marlin 30-30 that would do that sometimes, and I found that if I umped the lever with the palm of my hand a little further open it would close just fine. This only happened when unloading the weapon and then only a very few times. The above procedure worked every time.


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## TrailBlazinMan

Is it a Marlin, Winchester, or Henry?


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## jmoser

You should be able to remove the Lever pivot screw [on a Marlin anyway] and pull out the lever.  That may let the bolt wiggle enough to free up what's jamming it so you can slide the bolt out.

Ejector sounds like a good suspect but then again once at the range I had a guy with a cleaning patch down in the action .  .  .


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## Anvil Head

Shooting reloads? Sounds like a case sticking to me as well. Either that or she needs some serious cleaning and not with WD40.


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## getaff

Good news.  It was jammed and wedged in there.  Thanks to you guys and a gunsmith friend of mine I got the lever taken off unjammed and put back to tgether.  I did have to check out youtube to figure out one part.


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## rosewood

Glad you got it unjammed.

So, did you find out why it jammed and fix it so it doesn't do that again?

Rosewood


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## Capt Quirk

I have a Winchester 1873 model, and occasionally the lever alo sticks after ejecting. With a little wiggling, it goes back to working. It seems like it is just too loose, but a "gunsmith" said it was fine.


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## MattyIce

I ran into the same problem with my old 35 marlin, a guy on a marlin forum told me to check 2 little screws on the right hand side by the lever. Tightened them about a 1/4 turn, never had any more problems


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## getaff

took it apart the lever and pulled the "Bolt" out cleaned everything in there put it back together and works like a dream


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## Capt Quirk

getaff said:


> took it apart the lever and pulled the "Bolt" out cleaned everything in there put it back together and works like a dream



You never did mention which rifle it was...


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## Lukikus2

Capt Quirk said:


> I have a Winchester 1873 model, and occasionally the lever alo sticks after ejecting. With a little wiggling, it goes back to working. It seems like it is just too loose, but a "gunsmith" said it was fine.



Those guns are a work of art and meant to last forever. Wish I had taken pics when I had one torn halfway down. Built like a swiss watch but do need a tapping every now and again. The slides for the cocking mechanism in the gun is totally way before it's time.


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## getaff

Capt Quirk said:


> You never did mention which rifle it was...



It is a Marlin 30-30.


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## Apex Predator

Check that all the screws in the receiver are tight now.  My Marlins would sometimes get a loose screw that would jam the lever.


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## getaff

Will do thanks for the heads up.


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## jmoser

Apex Predator said:


> My Marlins would sometimes get a loose screw that would jam the lever.



Sometimes I find the problem is a loose nut behind the trigger .  .  .


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## holton27596

had that happen with my 444. researched it and it is a problem with marlin rifles, does not happen very often, but it does on some. happened to mine, i undid the lever screw, pulled the bolt back a little and then everything went right back like it was supposed to.


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## Capt Quirk

I refuse to take any more screws out of my Winchester. I took 2 screws out of the forestock, to clean some rust off the barrel. Was never able to get the one screw back in, and neither has anybody else.


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## EAGLE EYE 444

I'm glad that you got your lever unstuck and your rifle cycles correctly again.

The problem that you have described has affected many Marlin owners over the years including me back in the early 1990's.  I loaded my rifle (Model 30A, 30-30 Marlin/Glenfield) when I left my truck and as I arrived at my deer stand, I attempted to unload it before climbing up into the stand.  As I tried to cycle the lever, it became wedged tightly sort of out-of-position with one round ejected with the bolt locked into position awkwardly and the rest of the rounds stuck in the tubular magazine and it seemed that nothing would budge at all.  I had to go back to my truck and ultimately found the right tools and then took the tubular magazine end cap off complete with the coil spring assembly as well before I could at least get the remaining 6 rounds out of my rifle.  It took an hour or so to complete that task and I was mad as fire because it screwed up my hunting that morning for sure.

Please be advised that the real culprit in this problem was because of ONE LITTLE SCREW that controls the actual "loading gate" for your bullets on the right side of your rifle.  That one screw MUST be tight at all times because if it gets a little loose, it can allow the loading gate to become wedged very tightly against the lever as it is cycled and it will NOT return to the normal position.  It will lock it down super tight and ruin your hunting as a result.

Please see the photo below and I have circled this little screw for reference.  Since that fiasco, I have always kept this screw very tight and many years ago, I even applied a small amount of "locktite" to it and since then I have never had any more problems.

Also this same problem has been discussed numerous times over the years over on the Marlinowners.com website as well.  It really is such an easy fix to prevent it to begin with.  The truth is that it made me cuss a "blue streak" that morning as I still remember it very well as the temperature was below freezing that morning too. 

My rifle was manufactured in 1981 and I bought two of them in early 1982 and I have been hunting with them for all of these years and I love the Marlin Lever guns.  Just this morning, when I made this photo, I noticed that the Brownell's Quick-Set Latigo Sling that I installed originally way back then does have several small cracks in the actual leather and appears to be really worn now.  I actually have one brand new one still sealed in the package from Brownell from back then, and I am installing it right now and I know that it will out-last me for sure based on it's previous performance.  I put that same type sling on four of my Marlins back then as I bought all of them that Mr. Sander's had at his Gun Shop here in Augusta had back then.

It is the very best sling and so easy to handle etc that I have ever seen.  I edited this post to go ahead and show the actual Brownell Latigo Sling as well.  I need to see if I can find a duplicate of this product available as I would like to purchase some more for sure.


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## The black stick of death

Mine has jammed twice before always with an empty case but both times a little wiggling got it out


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## Handgunner 45-70

Eagle Eye 444 hit  it on the head. That loading gate screw will lock it up every time.


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