Guys I picked up my 3rd levergun this one in 45-70 gov. went to the range first shell in seemed to bind, extracted find 2nd shell bound also instead of firing i ejected it the side of the shell is bent. it seems to me the part that catches the base of the shell is to small for the caliber. is this a possibility? I am truly perplexed.

I own 2 Marlins, a 336 and and the 1895 and both have fairly slick actions. First thing I would suspect is if you are shooting handloads that they are possibly too long. If that is not the case then I would remove the lever and bolt and ejector clip and give the inside of the receiver a good cleaning and reassemble. If you still have the same problem after checking these 2 scenerios then I would suggest sending the rifle back to Marlin to look over.

I bought a new marlin 45-70 about 18 months ago and it wouldn't cycle shell's. Had to send it back to marlin and they fixed it. I think it was a problem with the extractor.