Anyone replace the crossbolt safety in a Marlin lever

dogzilla

dogzilla

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
130   0   0
Had my Marlin SBL for about a month now, and am thinking about replacing the safety with a dummy screw with saddle ring. Anyone done this? Its a simple enough job, and the safety is a pain in the ass (yes I know the implications)
 
Yup, bought my used Marlin with the cross-bolt safety removed and I'm glad the original owners did so. I have the stock cross-bolt safety if ever I have to sell the rifle but I'll never use it.
 
Take off the stock and there should be a set screw in there that when tightened will hold the safety. This can go both ways if you want to render the gun useless for some reason just set the gun to safe.
 
Yup....remove the butt stock, on the left side of the tang you'll see a hole and there will probably be some thread locker gunk in there.Dig out the thread locker with a small nail or dental pick and if I recall correctly there is a small hex head set screw in there .... (you can also tighten the screw to keep the cross bolt from being engaged or disengaged) when you remove the set screw be careful that the spring and detent ball doesn't get lost as you'll need them to install the delete kit.
 
I happen to have a Marlin with the safety.
I would not change it for the world.
REMEMBER IT IS A [SAFETY].
YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE IT!!!!
WHEN THE SAFETY IS ON YOU CAN'T SHOOT IT ACCIDENTALLY.
ACCIDENTS DO HAPPEN.
A LONG TIME AGO, [I'M 69 YEARS OLD].
I DAMN NEAR BLEW MY FOOT OFF WITH A 30-30 WINCHESTER THAT DID NOT HAVE A SAFETY.
IT WAS SOLD NOT LONG AFTER.
 
I don't quite understand the urgency to get rid of the cross-safety? I have an 1895M, carried it for years in the bush, shot 1000's and 1000's of rounds through it and never had an issue with having a cross-safety on it. Am I missing something here?
 
I purchased a Marlin with one of them fang-daggled side to side things.
After taking the rifle to the range and adding a round to the mag tube to see if my reloads
would cycle, I felt pretty safe with the .....cawf.......cawf.......safe awn.

Don't see the urgency in altering or removing such a gizzmoe.

If you were born with a third nut, would you git thuh saw bonzs tuh remoowf it?
 
For those who don't understand the hate:

The Marlin cross bolt safety is easy to accidentally apply if you are traversing rough terrain. It just has to press against your body. Note that you should be on half-#### as well, so this in itself is not unsafe.

The problem lies in that if you have it OFF (because many of us hate the things), and you accidentally put in ON without noticing.

Senario:

You see him... the buck you've been waiting for after weeks of sitting in the cold. You raise your rifle, thumb the hammer to full ####, and... ***CLICK***. No bang, just a loud mechanical click. The buck looks right at you and then streaks off at a full clip. Opportunity lost.

The very next day, you do what almost everyone does, and you disable the cross bolt.

You don;t even have to remove the safety. Set it to "fire" and then righten the set screw all the way down. It will jam the cross bolt in the neutered position. Nicer "false screw" delete kits are also available.
 
Do the new Henry's have an extra safety or just half ####?
had marlin used a tang safety or something a little more user friendly and less likely to be accidently engaged or dissengaged
users might not hate it as much....
I'm not against safety by any stretch but I have many firearms with nothing but half #### ... old single shot guns,.22's and such.
Safety is good but no substitute for muzzle control.
 
Last edited:
colombe said:
I happen to have a Marlin with the safety.
I would not change it for the world.
REMEMBER IT IS A [SAFETY].
YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE IT!!!!
WHEN THE SAFETY IS ON YOU CAN'T SHOOT IT ACCIDENTALLY.
ACCIDENTS DO HAPPEN.
A LONG TIME AGO, [I'M 69 YEARS OLD].
I DAMN NEAR BLEW MY FOOT OFF WITH A 30-30 WINCHESTER THAT DID NOT HAVE A SAFETY.
IT WAS SOLD NOT LONG AFTER.
Click to expand...

so you have been hopping around on one foot since then.:p
 
colombe said:
I happen to have a Marlin with the safety.
I would not change it for the world.
REMEMBER IT IS A [SAFETY].
YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE IT!!!!
WHEN THE SAFETY IS ON YOU CAN'T SHOOT IT ACCIDENTALLY.
ACCIDENTS DO HAPPEN.
A LONG TIME AGO, [I'M 69 YEARS OLD].
I DAMN NEAR BLEW MY FOOT OFF WITH A 30-30 WINCHESTER THAT DID NOT HAVE A SAFETY.
IT WAS SOLD NOT LONG AFTER.
Click to expand...

Forgive me, but it sounds to me like you have poor muzzle control and general all-round firearm handling skills. Nobody should EVER rely on a safety as the only thing preventing us from shooting ourselves.

And for the record, all Lever action Winchesters and Marlins in good repair have a safety built into the hammers already - it's called a half ####.
 
Last summer I was sitting on my cabin deck reading a book and looking out at the scenery, when a bear walks up and pees on my wood pile and looks me in the eye. Bears are the reason I keep a Marlin .44 mag rifle behind the cabin door with chamber empty and magazine loaded ( yes, it's legal in remote areas) So I grabbed the rifle and proceeded to put a bullet in the ground near his hind foot as a territorial gesture. No boom, just Click. It seems that when one is preoccupied with the presence of an animal, 30 years of muscle memory will take over, and so I forgot that this is the only rifle among several lever actions in my collection that has a cross bolt safety. It made me realize what a handicap the safety might be if I was in an actual defensive situation, The safety is coming out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom