Ressurecting an old 22

[Creedmoor]

Gentlemen,

I recently picked up an old (1907-1920) Marlin 20-A pump 22 rifle at a local gun show.  The seller assured me it was in working order.  However, upon getting it home and dismantling it for a thorough cleaning I discovered that it was missing the magazine spring and follower (tube magazine).  I was able to locate a replacement spring and follower through egunparts.com.  When attempting to reassemble the magazine I ran into some problems.  It seems that the replacement spring may be too long ? but I?m not sure.  The total length of the magazine tube is 22 inches with 16 and a half inches allowed for ammo and 5 and a half inches for the compressed spring and follower.  The spring I received measures 40 inches and the follower 1 and a half inches.  When assembled, and moved into loading position, the spring tends to bind up with itself and requires removal and untangling.  Is this spring way too long as I?m guessing, or is there another problem?  If too long, what should the length be?

I was also wondering what it might cost to have an insert installed in the barrel as it looks pretty rough.

Any thoughts and/or suggestions are most welcome.  I?d really like to get this old gal shooting again.

Thanks.

Creedmoor

[gunnut69]

Does the magazine spring fit the tube too loose?  How does it get bound up?  I believe that what gunparts sent was a generic spring.  that is a spring which will fit several rifles..  Slide the spring onto a dowel rod marked with the length of tube left after subtracting the length of the number of rounds the rifle is supposed to carry and the length of the follower.  Be certain you allow for the part of the follower that fits into the magazine spring as that part won't use up tube space.  Then mark the needed length on the dowel and compress the spring onto the dowel until that length is reached.  This is the amount of spring needed for that magazine and tube assembly..  Sounds worse than it is...  hope this helps..

[Creedmoor]

Gunnut69,
Thanks.  I'll give that a try.  I was going to attempt something similar but it's good to have the corect procedure to work with.  Th spring may be a bit smaller in diameter than it should.  Ho wtightly should it fit the inside of the tube?

Creedmoor

[gunnut69]

It should be a fairly tight fit although the spring will expand as it's compressed...  One doesn't need a tremendous amount of pressure to ensure feeding..  Too much pressure is apt to cause problems as the action tries to feed the ammo..  As long as the spring tension is sufficient to move the last round into the carrier assembly reliably all should be well.