Marlin 60 and jamming from fouling - a modification

[Charles/NM]

I keep forgetting that most of y'all are shooting unmodified model 60 Marlin rifles.  I had three of them given to me, I gave one to a .22 rifle deprived cousin and kept the other two.  I ported all three to keep them from crudding up so fast with powder residue.  That got old real fast. Porting the action works well to let the residue blow out of the action rather than down into it gumming up the works.  My inspiration for milling the ejection port to the base of the barrel was my Ruger Standard auto that never jamms from fouling.   The two 1/8" holes on the left side were an idea garnered from my "Bird Cage" model 6A Savage rifle that also never jams from fouling.  Those changes along with minimal lubrication of the bolt keeps mine clean for a lot of shots, almost long as any other semi-auto I have.  They still need to be taken down and cleaned every 300 to 500 shots, but that's a lot longer than before.  I'm a bit embarrassed that this rifle looks so shabby in the pictures. It doesn't look that bad in real life.  This one has had around 250 shots thru it since it's last cleaning.
Sorry if I offended anyone with my reverse Midas comment below.  I removed it.

[jh45gun]

Good idea. Savage did that with the slots but their problems were the complicated spring system they had that when it got out of wack either jammed or went full auto and jamed as it could not cycle the shells fast enough. Them guns when they work are fine but they have a poor rep with gunsmiths and guys who have them. I had one that went full auto I dumped it at a gunshow for a pistol scope. It went full auto using standard lr ammo yet it shot shorts fine. Still I figured I better get rid of it. I bought it cheap as they said it was a parts gun and did not shoot well it shot just too fast at times :eek:  :eek:  :eek:

[Charles/NM]

Funny you should mention the Savage 6A.   I was out shooting mine yesterday.  It's one of my favorite rifles.  It's never missed a beat in all the years I've had it.  I've also worked on one from a local gun shop.  It  had broken the tip off it's firing pin because of the sheet metal feed lips were bent too far apart and the pin was glued in it's groove with old congealed gun oil.  Fixed that and replaced the firing pin and it's like new.  No more problems.
I have heard of full auto with these guns but find it hard to believe that one with correct parts would do that.  The way the rear sear catches the striker almost makes it impossible.  If it did the rear sear would obviously need to be looked at.
Here's me and the Savage 6A during yesterdays shooting session:

[jh45gun]

The Full auto happens mine did and when I told my gunsmith buddy I bought it he told me I could have problems and went into the full auto tales ect. I have a gunsmith book by JB Wood that he claims the same thing. Glad yours works good but they have  a bad rep that I am sure is earned and not just BS. Too bad otherwise they look like a nice gun. Mine was a version that did not have the bolt lock as it was made for high speed shorts, Longs and LR. I wish it would have had the bolt lock as then I would have kept it to shoot at least as a straight pull  manual repeater.

[Charles/NM]

I have that same book - good book BTW. Yes, you are right, it says that on page 154.  If mine ever goes full auto I'll post the fix.  J.B. Wood says it's in the spring tension balance.  I may find out some day.