New owner of a old 97 Deluxe with questions

[Brent]

Well, I will over my suggestions for cleaning with caution as that can be a hotly debated topic. Especially since this is an old barrel with "soft" steel, perhaps.

I would start with a loose patch on a jag or very worn brush, soaked in something like Bore Tech's rimfire blend. Let it sit with barrel level over night or swab a bit and then let it sit.

Then I would try a tight patch to see if any lead comes out. If not, and if the rifling looks strong, I might not do anything more.

If there was some sign of difficult to remove fouling or lead, I might try more soaking and either a nylon brush or a worn bronze brush (NO STAINLESS BRUSHES EVER). But I would do that pretty gently where needed to break stuff free - assuming there is something that needs to be broken free.

Gentle and with patience I think are the keys, but others will have good ideas too.

[vintagerifle]

OK, So I bought some Renaissance Wax. I decided to test it on a sword I have. Well, it was a lot harder than I expected. The blade is a nice smooth surface, and polishing off the wax was a real exercise. The first coat was OK. But after the second coat of wax dried, polishing that off was brutal. And this was on the flat surface of the blade. I wouldn't want to have to do it on all the nooks and crannies of the rifle.
I have some Eezox on order, will report on that later.
Carl

[vintagerifle]

- Is a snap cap really necessary with these old 97? I've heard rumor there is actually clearance between the pin and the end of the barrel without a bullet in the chamber? Seems like a rifle like this might regularly be fired until the magazine was empty...
- Any recommendation on a brand of snap cap that would feed through the tubular magazine? The plastic one I tried had to be fed into the barrel manually.

So I did some research and some checking out of the rifle myself (I'm an engineer and some of this stuff comes naturally to me.)

On dry firing the Marlin '97: Don't do it unnecessarily. It's imaginable that a perfectly cut and unworn firing pin could be set up to hit the stop on the bolt before hitting the end of the barrel... but mine will hit the end of the barrel and there is some wear there already. I may get a new replacement firing pit to see how it fits and to see if it is any different. But it looks like unless it's "perfect" the pin will hit the end of the barrel.

I tried a variety of snap caps in my rifle:
> A-ZOOM Action Proving Dummy Round: The ejector hook scraps bits of aluminum off the dummy round when you close the bolt. And the rounds will not easily feed from the magazine into the chamber on my rifle: It takes a bit of jiggling.
> Tipton 22 Rimfire Snap Cap: Thinness meant this snap cat did not feed from the magazine at all and was hard to get into the barrel however I tried.
> Hillman Ribbed Plastic Anchor 4-6-8 x 7/8" (100 pieces for $4 !) These fed through the magazine, chambered and went into the barrel perfectly. Fantastic.
(It's important to note, I haven't fed real ammunition through the rifle yet, it's hard to find around here.

Carl

[Regnier (gunrunner)]

Carl;

Thank you for sharing this information regarding the Snap Caps. I am sure there are others out there that will find this a good thing to know.
If you are looking for a good, new firing pin, go to www.wisnersinc.com They will have want you want.

[vintagerifle]

> A-ZOOM Action Proving Dummy Round: The ejector hook scraps bits of aluminum off the dummy round when you close the bolt. And the rounds will not easily feed from the magazine into the chamber on my rifle: It takes a bit of jiggling.

I misstated that above, It's not an ejector hook, its apparently called an extractor:
> A-ZOOM Action Proving Dummy Round: The EXTRACTOR hook scraps bits of aluminum off the dummy round when you close the bolt. And the rounds will not easily feed from the magazine into the chamber on my rifle: It takes a bit of jiggling.

[glock2240]

Congratulations on your purchase. I will be surprised if you don't feel the need to purchase a few more. As for as cleaning the barrel, you can really over do it. I seldom clean mine and after 100's or even 1000's of rounds don't see a problem with accuracy. When I do clean the barrel, I clean from the breach and use a brass brush dipped in a quality bore cleaner, then follow up with patches until they come out clean. Enjoy.

Tim

[Road King]

OK, So I bought some Renaissance Wax. I decided to test it on a sword I have. Well, it was a lot harder than I expected. The blade is a nice smooth surface, and polishing off the wax was a real exercise. The first coat was OK. But after the second coat of wax dried, polishing that off was brutal. And this was on the flat surface of the blade. I wouldn't want to have to do it on all the nooks and crannies of the rifle.
I have some Eezox on order, will report on that later.
Carl

Really don't understand the problem with the wax unless you are using really heavy coats. The majority of collectors that use this wax have never reported your problem. I have been using it for about 10 years on a collection of well over 100 guns. All that is really need is a light coat, let dry and lightly buff it off. Avery soft brush may help in the nooks and crannies.

[vintagerifle]

Road King: It was the second coat that was most of the problem. A quick google found this problem isn't completely uncommon (goggle renaissance wax streaks if you are curious). Some people recommend a bit of thinner on the buffing rag, but I wouldn't do that to my rifle. I do suspect the light color of the carbon steel sword I tried it on does show the streaks very easily. These might be much less visible on a rifle.
I should say I did find a way to remove the streaks: I heated the word with a hair drier until it was very warm to the hand and then polished it.
At any rate, I'm glad you have good results with it, but I don't think it is for me.