Ok, I have fixed many many guns over my decades, but this one has me stumped and I am looking for ideas.
The rifle is a Marlin 980 stainless.
Real nice shape. I do not know what the history was.
It will not ####.
When you close the bolt, the striker cam pin first makes a very pronounced click as it moves from it's little indent on the side of the bolt housing into what is supposed to be a cocked position.
The sear does not catch (or something happens) to allow the cocking to occur.
The trigger housing is tight to the action. The original plastic trigger looked a bit funky around the sear, so I lightly squared it off.
That helped only marginally.
I changed the trigger return spring to a much stiffer one, it cocked, and it got the release to about a 1 pound break.
I added another heavier spring to the sear spring and got it to about 2 pounds, but it was variable in weight and that striker cam pin still "clicked" loudly when you first go to close the bolt on cocking.
I disassembled the bolt, everything looks fine and in the correct place there.
I than ordered a Basix trigger; the correct one for that style of Marlin trigger.
Went back to the correct sear spring only, and used the Basix trigger spring and trigger. The sears looked real nice and square to each other. I worked the action and it worked fine! I worked it about 10 times, adjusting the weight to about 2.5 lbs. Had the creep set screw set so it did nothing to the sear.
I was pleased and was about to reassemble the rifle, when I tested it one more time, and .....the bolt would not #### again. It just kept slipping past the sear. It was like that striker cam pin "shook" the thing out of #### or something when the cam pin slid out of its resting indent. I lubed that part a bit.
I adjusted the spring up and own, lubed the sears, cleaned it all, changed the springs again.... until I got frustrated.
Any suggestions as to what i am missing?
The rifle is a Marlin 980 stainless.
Real nice shape. I do not know what the history was.
It will not ####.
When you close the bolt, the striker cam pin first makes a very pronounced click as it moves from it's little indent on the side of the bolt housing into what is supposed to be a cocked position.
The sear does not catch (or something happens) to allow the cocking to occur.
The trigger housing is tight to the action. The original plastic trigger looked a bit funky around the sear, so I lightly squared it off.
That helped only marginally.
I changed the trigger return spring to a much stiffer one, it cocked, and it got the release to about a 1 pound break.
I added another heavier spring to the sear spring and got it to about 2 pounds, but it was variable in weight and that striker cam pin still "clicked" loudly when you first go to close the bolt on cocking.
I disassembled the bolt, everything looks fine and in the correct place there.
I than ordered a Basix trigger; the correct one for that style of Marlin trigger.
Went back to the correct sear spring only, and used the Basix trigger spring and trigger. The sears looked real nice and square to each other. I worked the action and it worked fine! I worked it about 10 times, adjusting the weight to about 2.5 lbs. Had the creep set screw set so it did nothing to the sear.
I was pleased and was about to reassemble the rifle, when I tested it one more time, and .....the bolt would not #### again. It just kept slipping past the sear. It was like that striker cam pin "shook" the thing out of #### or something when the cam pin slid out of its resting indent. I lubed that part a bit.
I adjusted the spring up and own, lubed the sears, cleaned it all, changed the springs again.... until I got frustrated.
Any suggestions as to what i am missing?
