New to me 336 w/lever problem

[Eli Chaps]

Did you fully disassemble it? If so, you may have gotten the trigger plate screws mixed up. Just another thought.

[repairman]

if you put the long one in the side of receiver the action ill not close at all, been there done that.if tour lever is a touch long it could be grabbing the top of the receiver also. there are a ton of things that could be wrong with it.

[Eli Chaps]

Yeah it shouldn't function but just tossing out ideas.

Again, I'd start with the plunger. Always hard to diagnose such things when you aren't feeling it yourself.

[repairman]

lever may need to be tweaked also,prob ann easy fix if i had it in my hands

[lcgrant]

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the thought put into this. FWIW, I didn't fully disassemble - just a field strip. Can the surface of the plunger make that much of a difference? And, at the risk of sounding ignorant, what is the mortice of the plunger? One other thing. How do you drift out that plunger pin? I have a few tools but I'm sure I don't have a punch that slender.

[Gordy]

it does take a small punch to drift the pin out. The best way is to drill a good size hole in a 2 x 4 and lay the lever over the hole so the pin drops in the hole. I have the same problem right now with my 336sc, and it is not the plunger. If I switch levers from a different rifle the lever in question will not cycle at all, and the good lever will work fine, and run smooth, but doesnt quite close totally. enough for the gun to fire, but its close. I believe my Lever is bent or very worn as could be yours. Easiest thing for you to do is start eliminating problems, and the plunger is the 1st step. Please update this post as you go along as I will be following closely to maybe solve my problem.

[lcgrant]

I got a 1/8" drift punch last night and applied it to my lever. Boy, that sucker was in there tight! I did manage to get the plunger out and took a stone to it, smoothing out the flat surfaces and taking the sharpness out of the angle. Because the pin was in there so tight I didn't want to risk bending it by drifting it out and back in repeatedly. I only wanted to do this once. So, to be on the safe side, I also clipped 1/2 coil out of the spring.
The result? That part of the lever cycle is much improved. Especially the release. The lock-up still requires conscious effort sometimes but it is better. It certainly is positive. Next, I plan on taking the whole thing down and smoothing out the action per Eli's sticky in the gunsmithing section.
My school term ends this week, so I'm looking forward to taking this out and seeing which loads are the most accurate through this rifle. I've got 150 gr and 170 gr loads from all three Fed/Win/Rem. I can't wait to get out to the range to see what this rifle will do!

[Eli Chaps]

Glad you got it on the right path.

[CJ-5]

Wonder if it had a scope removed and the long (scope) screws placed back in the top of the receiver rather than a short (dummy) screw that the rifle came with. this will bind or lock up the bolt.

[lcgrant]

That's an interesting thought, CJ. If I back those screws out, how will I know the difference? Do you know the lengths of those different screws?