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Marlin XT22 Barrel Removal/Reinstall?

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29 March 2023, 23:03
DannoBoone
Marlin XT22 Barrel Removal/Reinstall?
Have had this clip fed rifle for a number of years, but it has always bothered me that the barrel is canted to one side, meaning that the iron sites are not in line with the receiver. It is accurate with a scope, but the stud which the front take-down screw goes through is also canted. It cannot be tightened without pulling the forearm to that side of the barrel. At the time, Remlington owned Marlin and I sent it in. They did nothing to it other than give it an accuracy test.

Seems as though if I want the problem corrected, it's up to me, so my questions are:

How difficult is it to drive the barrel retaining pin out? Should that pin be replaced with a new? If so, where to get?
Once the barrel is reinstalled, will the rifle still be accurate?


************************

Our independence is dying.
29 March 2023, 23:34
dpcd
This is a $200 rifle. You can quickly get under water at gunsmith labor rates, with projects like this. Either live with it, because it sounds like it is accurate, or dump it and get something else.
Those barrels are not threaded; they are just pinned in, so if it is canted now, replacing the pin won't accomplish anything. And you risk having a loose barrel; a worse situation.
30 March 2023, 02:00
eagle27
Drive the pin out and remove the barrel, thoroughly clean the barrel shank and receiver then high strength loctite the barrel into the receiver lining up the barrel correctly. Give a day or two for the loctite to come to full strength then carefully drill the pin hole oversize to accommodate a new roll pin.
Roll pin selections are available from any good hardware store.
30 March 2023, 04:52
2152hq
Before you go and rotate the bbl to have the sights line up at 12 o'clock,,,
Check the extractor cuts on the breech face of the bbl.
IF the extractor cuts are in the correct position and are NOT mis-aligned as well, then leave the bbl right where it is.

Rotating the bbl to make the sights look good will put the extractor cuts out of position on the breech and you will have feed, bolt closing & extraction problems.


Some of the bbl/recv'r assemblys will come apart rather easily after the pin is driven out. Others are quite tightly fitted and need the bbl to be pressed or otherwise tapped out of the recv'r.

Place a piece of brass or copper over the breech face to avoid damage there when pushing/tapping against it.

I've had good results with using a small set screw thru the bottom of the recv'r to re-set the slip fit style bbls such as this.
D&T and use a common #6 or #8 set screw works well.

Or redrill the hole to a larger size as above and use a RollPin. But be sure to Loctite first before drilling to secure the new positioning of the two parts.

I've Soft Soldered these type of bbl attachments together in the past as well.
Sweat solder, done right isn't coming apart and won't harm the bluing.
30 March 2023, 23:05
TomP
I have same problem with a Marlin 60. The plan is to drill a couple of new holes right at the end, and cover the old holes with the new sight.
I won't use the open sights that are on the barrel, I'll put on a Williams 5D taken off of another Marlin 60 I had smithed some 50 years ago.

A more interesting job (for an hobbyist like myself) will be putting an unused Remington 511X barrel on an ancient 510 receiver.
The barrel doesn't have the holes for the pins yet, they'll have to be cut to fit. The pins on the 510 are stuck, might need PB Blaster.


TomP

Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right, when wrong to be put right.

Carl Schurz (1829 - 1906)
02 April 2023, 01:36
DannoBoone
quote:
Originally posted by 2152hq:
Before you go and rotate the bbl to have the sights line up at 12 o'clock,,,
Check the extractor cuts on the breech face of the bbl.
IF the extractor cuts are in the correct position and are NOT mis-aligned as well, then leave the bbl right where it is.

Rotating the bbl to make the sights look good will put the extractor cuts out of position on the breech and you will have feed, bolt closing & extraction problems.


Yikes! Never considered the extractor cuts, and they ARE in the correct position. I'll leave the barrel where it is
since it is scoped and shooting more accurately than a couple of my other .22lr's. Thanks for the heads up before me
making a very serious mistake!


************************

Our independence is dying.
02 April 2023, 01:58
dpcd
Which is what I said to do on day one.
02 April 2023, 02:03
eagle27
Rolling the barrel to get the sights and front takedown screw stud correctly positioned is not going to alter the accuracy of the rifle. Once the barrel is removed it wouldn't be difficult to widen the extractor cut.
I'm afraid I couldn't put up with the misalignment, things like that bug me.
02 April 2023, 19:02
Bobster
We see a number of Rem/Marlin guns in with the same problem. Most were made in the 2013-2015 timeframe. Barrel fitment seemed correct, but they milled the sight dovetails off a degree or two. I remember an entire shipment of ten Marlin 336's. They all hade canted sights and the receiver plug screws were all cross threaded. Had to drill them all out and re-tap. Hard to make a profit when you invest that kind of shop time.