Anyway, I'm having about 1 in 4 misfires and there is very little or no FP strike on the misfired case. Those that fire have a nice clean indent. To me this indicates the bolt is not returning fully to battery.
I have removed the fire control assembly and bolt and thoroughly cleaned and oiled everything. I cannot see any reason for it to be misfiring so suspect the recoil spring may be a bit weakened with age, This is a relatively early "new" model with the bolt release.
Is this even possible or is there something else that I am totally missing,
No, the spring is not kinked from improper reassembly.
I agree. Might be time to change out your recoil spring. even if the bolt is going into battery the only thing that keeps the bolt in battery is the recoil spring. So if the spring is weak it won't keep bolt locked up for the firing pin to get a good firm hit on the case head. maybe why you are getting some dents on rounds but they are not firing.
I agree with SaltH2O deprived. The most likely culprit is the ejector recesses are clogged with gunk. Get after these with a tooth pick or something similar. You will surprised how much can accumulate in there.
OK. For what it's worth I'll post what fixed this rifle, this time in hopes, if the topic comes up in the future, it may help someone.
After going through all the suggestions posted above, I decided to go ahead and buy a new recoil spring.
Discovered that the new spring was 3/8" longer than the old spring. I counted the coils and they were the same, so I assume the original spring took a bit of a set.
Installed it and ran a full magazine without any problem whereas before I could barely run 3-4 without a bobble.
I am not sure what caused your problem nor what fixed it. So my remarks are not to question your idea of how you cured the problem. I am glad that it is working well for you now.
I do offer some thoughts about things I have found after going through about 150 units. In regard to the length of the recoil spring, I have parted out many model 60's in the past three years, both quite old models and some new one's. Just to see how much a new gun recoil spring, which has been test fired at the factory, compares to a new spring ordered from Marlin parts I found that once they are fired they are all shortened by as much as 3/8 of an inch. Springs can lose their tinsel strength over time and in spite of the length be too weak to function properly.
Cleaning out the end of the barrel where the ejector mates is often overlooked and they really pack full of material. Also, I find that firing pins get a certain amount of material jammed along side of the channel the pin works in. The hammer also gets a channel pounded into it from continued use.
Totally cleaning a unit takes a little bit of effort, but produces great results. With a good set of punches and other simple tools, these guns can be totally disassembled, cleaned and reassembled. There are a good number of video's available on the Internet to assist a person in getting it done correctly. It takes patience and time. Just be ready to chase flying parts and keep a magnet handy if your eyes are old like mine.
OK. For what it's worth I'll post what fixed this rifle, this time in hopes, if the topic comes up in the future, it may help someone.
After going through all the suggestions posted above, I decided to go ahead and buy a new recoil spring.
Discovered that the new spring was 3/8" longer than the old spring. I counted the coils and they were the same, so I assume the original spring took a bit of a set.
Installed it and ran a full magazine without any problem whereas before I could barely run 3-4 without a bobble.
Much like a 50-yr old guy's knees, recoil springs take a beating
Also replace your Recoil Buffer when replacing your springs.
J&P Springs offers a kit that does the hammer spring as well.
They weren't kidding about the divots on each side of the chamber, either...
few clean those properly...and it can cause some interesting failures.
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