I have a problem with my 39; after 5 to 10 shots it jams when I try to lever in a new round. It jams on the up stroke, I removed the take down bolt and two shells were in the action so I'm thinking it's the spring loaded retainer arm at the bottom of the feed tube.

any ideas

The carrier rises and drops as you swing the lever back and forth, and actuates a small part called the cartridge cutoff which is located in the left half of the receiver, below the ejection port. First thing, make sure that its clean and the screw is tight. Make sure it moves freely in and out of it's slot. If the gun were jaming every time, then I would suspect a broken, worn or loose part. But it sounds like it functions properly for 5-10 rounds before jaming so it could be operator error. Or, maybe not.

Lever guns, auto loaders and pumps, rely on the precise movement (timing) of certain pieces to operate shell stops, or, cartridge cutoffs (same thing) as in this case. If you short stroke the action, sometimes it will not fully trigger the blocking function of the cutoff and you end up with more rounds than you wanted.

With the gun broken down, put a couple of rounds in the magazine and manually operate the cutoff and watch how it works. Check the part of the carrier that trips the cutoff and make sure it looks undamaged. Check the screw and then fire and cycle the action "COMPLETELY" and look carefully to see what happens.

Malm,

Is it good pratice to put loctite on these screws?

thanks for the advice

I wouldn't unless it becomes a problem.

Any sugestions on lever drop?

When the lever is in it's locked position it is still a little loose and drops back down 1/2 inch or so.

Check the finger lever spring and it's screw. The screw is the one on the bottom of the action.

Thanks for the help!