Just a quick question---My boss has a Marlin 75C, .22, tubular feed semi-auto----it works fine, in pretty good shape and I wanted to clean it for him. Iv'e never owned one and can not figure out how to lock the action open to clean the bore. It has the horizontal sliding safety in the back of the trigger guard and that's it. Does one of you know how this action can be safely locked open?-------------John R

An owner's manual can probably be found at the Marlin Site.

Try pulling the bolt completely to the rear and then push in on the bolt handle. To release, pull the bolt handle out and let go of the bolt.

The bolt lever is just a small hooked steel "finger", the means for stripping that first one from the clip. It's rigid with the internal bolt, does not push in or out, just moves forward and backward and of course, spring loaded. I don't see anything inside the ejection port that is moveable and could be used to hold the bolt back. I could always fabricate something to prop the action open, but I'm sure there is a proper way it's done. Thanks for your suggestions--------John

I have a Marlin 60, but I'm not terribly familiar with its brothers and cousins. The "hook" (if we're referring to the same projection sticking out horizontally from the bolt itself) - aka "charging handle" on my Model 60 pushes straight into the bolt once the bolt is pulled fully to the rear, thus locking the bolt in that position for cleaning, etc. When the bolt is forward, it does not move appreciably, and would give the impression that it's fixed. It does not, if I recall, hold the bolt open after the last round is fired as apparently do the post-1985 Marlin semi-autos. It may be that your rifle was manufactured before either the manual bolt hold-open or the last round hold-open was included as a feature.