Always a new mystery here.

Just a guess, but I think someone ground the hammer down to make cycling easier and they took too much off, and then added metal as a fix. I can't believe it came from the factory that way.

 

Yeah, looks weird to me. But I have read comments where people complained of the hammer interfering with the bolt and causing an anoying drag instead of the bolt riding free. Of couse, they didn't realise that's how the rifle gets cocked. Perhaps, as you said above, someone tried to get the bolt to ride back without the hammer dragging. At some point, I would think, removing too much metal would prevent the hammer from cocking at all and Bubba would have an "oh my garsh" moment.

 

As mentioned, I don't think it came from the factory like that. The firing pin appears normal to me from what I can see, or it was replaced. Someone did a repair/modification for some reason and it will probably remain a mystery. Seams like a hammer replacement would have been easier if there was a problem.

 

Since I'm in France and the spare parts are not easily available here, I think it can be a gunsmith repair for the importer.

 

Yep, I think Bubba did the grinding but had someone with more skill make the repair. I've never seen this repair before, but I've seen one hammer ground down so far that the bolt wouldn't catch the hammer to cock like Grenadier described.

A retired gunsmith once told me that the majority of the guns he repaired was because of Bubba, abuse, and neglect.

 

Bubba no doubt.

 

I will change this hammer with the Timney set.
I hope it is the only "modified" part, but everything else on the rifle seems right, like new.
That's why this repair looks so strange...

 

I would check to see if the firing pin has been replaced by a 1 piece pin. Hopefully the hammer is the only thing they "worked" on. And a crappy welding job to boot.

 

Definitely looks like that rifle met "Gunsmith Bubba" at some point. The repair definitely shows signs of being heated at some point after manufacturer. You would have thought that if happened at the factory, that it would have been much faster and easier to just replace the hammer, rather than welding/silver soldering it up. Also, being a 2001 model, it should have been made by the old craftsman at Marlin, not the Remington jokers from later production.

 

I am not certain....but alot of these parts are made from castings .... then cleaned up and finished machined.
It could be this particular Hammer did not "cast" correctly...and the factory decided to fix it by welding on that bead ?
I mention this because I have a 336 Lever that was poorly cast.....no attempt was made to repair this lever?
I don't know the history behind this lever, as I purchased it as a 336 parts kit sold by Gunbusters on gunbroker.

 

I doubt the factory would have spent the time and effort required to weld and grind a defective hammer. It would have been far cheaper and quicker to simply toss the defective hammer and grab another off the parts bin as a replacement. I think there is a Bubba loose in France.

In any event, Bubba should never be allowed to purchase tools.

 

It's pretty obvious what was done.

The hammer must be within a narrow set of dimensions at the top to be reset and cocked by the rearward movement of the bolt. If it is too short, the hammer is not pushed back far enough to reset the sear into the hammer notch.

Filing and rounding the top of the hammer is one of the things often done to "slick up" the action. However, the top of the hammer must be only polished, and no metal removed or the hammer will not be moved back enough to reset.

Your hammer looks as if it had too much metal removed to allow it to function. The owner had someone TIG weld a small bead of metal to restore its height. The discoloration you see is the result of the metal being heated during the weld.

How long this repair will continue to work is a function of which steel was used for the weld, and how hard the weld is. In other words, how well will it resist the wear of its motion against the bolt.

A proper repair would be to replace the hammer, if you can get one in France. It's a simple swap out exchange.

Failing that, it might be possible to polish the hammer (to remove the colored area) and cold blue it.

I would stone the edges of the weld--but not the top--to blend it into the top of the hammer. I would then polish the sides, top, and face of the hammer and cold blue it. I'm thinking you will be able to remove that discoloration. Again, you don't want to remove any metal from the top of the hammer where it contacts the bolt, or you will stop the hammer from resetting.

Ideal, would be to try to have the hammer re-heat treated by a metal worker. This could (if the weld metal was appropriate) harden the weld so that it would last longer. It would also remove the discoloration. The decision here, and I don't know the answer, would be whether the entire hammer needed to be heat treated, or just the top.

The heat treating process involves heating the part to "red hot" then quenching it. This makes the part very hard, but brittle. The part is then annealed by heating it again (the proper temperature and time depends upon the type of steel and ultimate hardness desired) and allowing it to cool. The problem here is the possibility of warping the hammer, and the possibility of altering the sear geometry and hardness. I fear that going this route would destroy the sear notches on the hammer.

If it were mine, I would try to find a replacement hammer. In the mean time I would polish the old one and cold blue it. Even the way it is, at the worst, it should hold up for several thousand cycles.

Good luck.

 

I may have a Dremel, but I would never grind the hump off the top of the hammer.

I prefer to polish the hump on the bottom side of the bolt until it just barely over-cooks the bolt.

 

Hold my beer...

 

Well, you’re convinced the seller is trueful, so I’ll tell you what happen to me. I bought a NIB 336XLR 308 express and in the bad lighted gun shop all looked good. At home about a day later I looked at it in the sunlight, it had a gouge in the side of receiver which broke my heart because I waited 40 years for a rifle like this one. I called Marlin service Department Immediately and was sent a shipping label. Well my 2008 336XLR 308 express came back in short time better than new. The old Connecticut Marlin company must have replaced the receiver because there was no way they could have fixed that gouge. One day at the club’s range I tried my luck at 150 yards with this rifle and put three Consecutive shots in 2-1/2” square paper, group the size of a quarter.
so, yes, these things do happen.
I collected a lifetime supply of new brass this season run so this rifle will be left to my son if he wants it.
Tony

 

Thank for all these explanations and your comments.
I think the "bad gunsmith customization" is the most likely scenario.

As I wrote, it is not really a problem for me, since I planned to install the Timney set.
But I really wondered why this hammer look like this!

 

 

100% filed on by some dummy

 

Maybe a previous owner wanted to make sure no one shot it ? safety for the kids ? Then later, another owner put it back in operation?

 

Interesting. When I looked at the first photo I thought it might be a casting defect, but upon seeing the side photo, no doubt it was ground down and then welded back up. I didn't know Timney made trigger and hammers for Marlins. Thanks for sharing and for the information.

 

All Marlin exposed hammer lever action rifles manufactured in New Haven/North Haven had forged hammers, not cast. In fact, the receiver, trigger plate, lever, bolt, trigger and hammer were all made from forgings. The few “Remlins” I have examined also had forged hammers. Not sure which process Ruger is using to manufacture hammers on the current Marlin rifles. As others have already noted, the OP’s hammer had a visit with The Gun Butcher. A hammer replacement is the best answer here.

 

Remlins had CNC machined receivers and bolts. That’s the main issue with them imo, the machine work is actually really precise but they left burrs and chips of metal in the action and a bunch of razor sharp edges.

 

I will say one thing that infamous gunsmith named bubba really got around. His work shows up everywhere.

 

Sorry if this has been asked... Is this the limited edition 35 SS guide gun?

Ss

 

Hi !
No, it is just the standard 336SS in .30-30 WCF.

 

Definitely in need of a new hammer.