tight pulling bolt out of 444?

[Jerry/PA]

Hi fellows,

I have a 444S Marlin.  When I pull the bolt out for bore cleaning and reinstall it afterwards, it's very difficult to get it reinserted.  It seems like the brass extractor is a little "high".  (When you eye along the side of the bolt, you can see that the tip of the extractor sticks out past the side of the bolt.)  The extractor tip rubs against the receiver frame and it takes a bit of wiggling and pushing to get the bolt back in place.

I've reinstalled a round bolt on a 336 35 Remington and it didn't take anywhere near this amount of effort.  It just slid right in!

Is installing the bolt on a 444S just a more difficult job, or is my extractor bad?  Or, perhaps there is a little trick to doing this?

 I bought the rifle used, so I don't know the level of care it's had.  Maybe the extractor is bent?

Thanks in advance,

Jerry.

[VTDW]

Jerry/PA,

I am certainly no expert and this won't help you but it does sound like the extractor may be bent as you say.  When you remove the bolt have you pressed or inspected the extractor to see if there is a little play in it?

444 - my favorite rifle.

Dave

[Leverdude]

I dont have a 444, lemme start with that.  :-)  But I believe that all the Marlin bolts are the same dia. If thats true then it may well be that the 444 extractor sticks out a bit more than a 336. I'm thinking that the head of a 444 case is bigger than the head of a 30/30, if this is right it makes sense that the ejector would stick out more. I'v got a Guide gun in 45/70 & I know that more of the bolt face is machined off to accept the bigger rim of the 45/70. I may have to take it apart & look at the extractor on account of your question, but I can say I never noticed any trouble getting the bolt back in. The only hinderence I'v ever encountered n reassembly of any marlin is the hammer & the ejector if its not sitting right. The hammer just needs to be pushed out of the way a bit & I only mention it because sometimes people dont notice that its whats causing interference.