[Radar 1]

I was fiddling with my '47 this past weekend. Took her all apart and removed a bunch of grit and grime, including some brass shavings that had accumulated in a few spots. Well, she wouldn't feed or cycle without some hitching afterward. I got all that straightened out with a few adjustments, then the hammer wouldn't stay at full cock. I looked at the trigger/hammer engagement and that was good. I gave the trigger spring a little more tension, still no go. I figured it was just getting worn out. The last resort was to check all the stuff I had messed with again.
What fixed it was a little tighter turn on the tang screw, who'd have thought...running as good as new.

 

[Fast Frank]

Interesting.

Because I've never had a reason to fiddle with that tang screw and note what happens with varying torque, I had never bothered to think about what might be going on inside there when you turn that screw.

But now that you mention it...

And now that I've thought about it a bit...

Turning that screw "Clamps" the upper and lower tang extensions against the stock.

To do that, it MUST move them in relation to each other.

Doing so obviously affects the workings of the moving parts in there.

Makes perfect sense to me. Thanks for pointing that out! I will certainly keep that in mind whenever fiddling with a marlin in the future.

(Obviously, this applies to ALL Marlin lever rifles because they ALL use a similar tang screw setup.)

 

[swany]

Does the 47 have a flat mainspring? That might explain it. If it does I would check to make sure the retainer for that spring is not loose or the spring binding on the wood.

 

[Radar 1]

Sorry for the late response...it's a coil spring. A side note, I had this same problem with this rifle many years ago. While adjusting the trigger spring, it flew away. It was lost for months. One day while watering the house plants, there it was floating in the soil. For all I know the tang screw may have been the issue then as well. Live and learn...