Need a Gunsmith to work on a Marlin Model 81-DL 22 rifle

[bobby]

My Dads 22 rifle is not feeding its a bolt action tube feed 22 rifle. I need a real gunsmith not a parts swapper...

[TreyHouston]

My Dads 22 rifle is not feeding its a bolt action tube feed 22 rifle. I need a real gunsmith not a parts swapper...

Whats wrong with it?

[bobby]

not feeding. Shell is not coming up to be feed into the chamber.

[puma guy]

My Dads 22 rifle is not feeding its a bolt action tube feed 22 rifle. I need a real gunsmith not a parts swapper...

These rifles are pretty simple. If it all of a sudden quit feeding it's most likely the cartridge carrier spring and they run about $8 -14 dollars on Ebay and Gunbroker. Numrich also has them. Open the bolt and you should the carrier which has two ears on either side of a blade.



Make certain the gun is unloaded. Take the action out of the stock by loosening the single screw on the bottom of the stock until the action can be removed. The carrier lifts each cartridge as it is fed from the tube magazine. It has a spring that lifts the carrier and blade that lifts a new cartridge to be fed into the chamber. Here's a picture of the spring and what it looks like mounted on the rifle with the action removed from the stock.


If the spring is broken it is not difficult to replace.
If your magazine inner tube is good, I.E. the spring and follower are OK. If the carrier spring in not broken the only thing left is the carrier itself and they are difficult to find which makes them expensive.
if the carrier spring is broken replacing it with a new spring is not difficult. The loops go on either side of the carrier pivot pin and then the legs with right angles are crossed to put pressure on the carrier blade. Just be sure you put the short leg on top of the long one as shown in my photo. Changing the carrier is a little more difficult it's broken. If it's bent you can probably adjust it.

Does your dad's 81DL still have the peep sight.

[bobby]

Does your dad's 81DL still have the peep sight.

yes it does...

Ok too late tonight but will work on it this week.

Thanks
Bobby

[puma guy]

Does your dad's 81DL still have the peep sight.

yes it does...

Ok too late tonight but will work on it this week.

Thanks
Bobby

You're welcome. The one I photographed still has the original peep sight as well. I hope your fix is a simple one. I have about a dozen of these little rifles in both tube magazine and box magazine. They have changed a little from the original 1930's model, but are still basically the same. Minor bolt design, trigger and magazine changes. They are tack drivers. Let me know if it works out.

[puma guy]

Does your dad's 81DL still have the peep sight.

yes it does...

Ok too late tonight but will work on it this week.

Thanks
Bobby

Did you get your 81DL feed problem resolved? One other thing I meant to mention, though I don't think it's an issue with your rifle. There is a spring steel cartridge guide that is just above the chamber that sometimes breaks. The guide prevents the nose of the bullet from angling too steep to enter the chamber and the rifle will not feed properly if it is broken. The part is available and inexpensive, but requires removal of the barrel. I have replaced them, but it's critical to take precautions to prevent damage to the barrel retention pin in order to re-use it, which is almost impossible to find. The pin is slightly tapered and has to be driven out from the correct side.

[bobby]

Sorry Life has gotten in the way. I will post i hope this week'''