Reassemble action-metal prep

[Jdeere1]

Greetings,

I had to takedown the action on my Great Grandfather's 1936 Marlin 32 special and now need to know about prepping the metal before reassembly. It was very dirty
with old oil and the parts are somewhat rough. Question: Do I lightly oil the action and receiver, put light grease on the moving parts or what? Is polishing the metal of any real value?

Regards

 

[Marcel B.]

I would just clean the parts, not polish.

A bit of quality oil should be all that's needed.

Sounds like a cool gun with some history and sentimental value!

 

[BCRider]

For bigger parts that slide against each other I prefer a LIGHT film of grease just because it stays where it was put and won't migrate away.

Definitely do NOT polish anything with anything that smacks of metal polish. Metal polishes are ALL abrasive to some degree or other. That is how they make the metal shiny after all. So when it comes to any sort of action internals polishes should be avoided unless there is a reason to alter the metal. And if that's the case then it's better to use other methods than a polish which knows no boundaries and wears at all the areas at the same time.

 

[Jdeere1]

Thank you MarcelB and BCrider.