Clearing a tube fed lever-action rimfire prior to cleaning. It was shot "empty" at the range. I cycled the lever 3 times and no rounds ejected. Pointed it across my garage at the ground and was going to pull the trigger, but something told me to check again, I cycled the lever and a round popped out of the chamber. Don't know where it was hiding. Didn't see it in the chamber, maybe hung up in the tube and jostled loose when I cycled the action the 3rd time?

This is my only lever action/tube fed gun and I may just be doing something wrong, any advice/comments/suggestions from the lever action experts?

Get a red aluminum anodized follower and replace the factory one. That way when you empty the rifle you can visually check and see that the magazine tube is in fact empty.

ETA: didn’t realize it was for a 22, and you prolly can’t see into it

I did this for my lever gun(357) and my shotgun.

Example
https://www.brownells.com/rifl...lower-prod20768.aspx

https://www.brownells.com/shot...0-126757-233467.aspx

This message has been edited. Last edited by: MikeinNC,

Thanks Chief!

The advice about the follower is good pertaining to shotguns, but I don’t believe it is of any use for the Marlin 39A. As I recall, it’s not possible to really see the end of the magazine follower (inner magazine assembly) when the rifle is assembled, and the Brownells references are for shotguns. I’ve never seen anything similar for a .22 RF tubular magazine.

Because the 39A magazine follower can be removed entirely, I’d get in the habit of running a cleaning rod through the magazine tube to ensure that the mag is clear. Mark the rod to show how far it can be inserted when the magazine is empty. With the inner assembly removed, check to ensure you can see the follower.

As for rounds hanging up in tubular magazines, that happened to me with a Remington 870 that a deputy turned in for servicing. When I looked at the end of the magazine I didn’t see a shell head and that meant it was empty—right? No, as I cycled the action several times more, all of a sudden a live shell was ejected. I disassembled and inspected everything fully, and never could determine why the shell got stuck in the magazine (no, not a deformed shell either).

That taught me: look for the follower, not the shell, but obviously only if you can see the follower.

I had a similar experience with a Marlin 60. The Marlin manual specifically states to cycle the action several times, then look for the orange follower.
I then remove the follower, cycle the action while tapping the tube. Muzzle is directed down to allow gravity to clear the tube. Since the follower holds the bullets like a magazine- it makes sense to remove the follower to ensure the rifle is safe to clean.

I think something similar happened here, it’s an old gun, and the spring on the follower is pretty weak. The tube was a bit gunky and gritty as well. I’ve cleaned it all thoroughly now. I like the suggestion about the cleaning rod. I’m not really sure why I was going to pull the trigger with the action closed anyway. Bad Glock habit maybe? Anyway, now that I know to check it every time, and shake it out with the follower removed, I think I can avoid a repeat.

Thanks for this post in case I do eventually get a lever action gun in the future as something to look for.

"Always treat every firearm as if it's loaded" saves another idiot (me) from shooting a hole in his pickup truck.

The tube mags can get gummy inside from the lube used on .22 ammo. I clean the inside of mine using a cleaning rod.

I just checked my 39A. It has a red follower but I cannot see it thorugh the ejection port.