I'm going to take a chance on putting this here instead of under gunsmithing. Maybe someone can answer or maybe not.

I have this Parker shotgun .30-30 conversion piece. It's a real nice looking little gun which I'm fond of. It's based on a 20 ga Trojan grade, an extractor model, and the barrel breeches are sleeved.

Anyway, when I fire the right barrel the gun sticks and won't open easily. The left barrel doesn't do that. It does seem to loosen up given a couple of minutes and then will open but still needs some force applied. More than I want to give it.

I don't see any signs of over pressure on the brass from either barrel.

This is with Win factory ammo.

Any ideas as to what's going on?

What does the primer look like.

Is it extruding into the firing pin hole??

Does it look like the firing pin is dragging on the primer?

Are there wear marks where the back of the barrels and face of the action meet?

I would take a look at the firing pin on the right barrel. Sometimes the firing pins get a bit gunked up and don't float away as they should.
I did have that problem with my double rifle.

The primer and pin imprint look normal. Same on both barrels. The bushings look OK. And the sleeves are tight and smooth surfaced.

I assume the pins are not spring loaded to pull them back after firing, although I don't know. I think maybe handling the gun a bit seems to help get it open. My first thought was something heat related, but maybe it's what Rusty said.

Like Rusty said the fireing pins somtimes get gunked up and are slow to retract, or stick in the forward position and stay there.
One other thing you might look into is the head space on the barrel! If the head space is too far in the go position, this allows the case to stretch when fired, and can jam the action closed. This could be over pressure in the barrel as well, and the signs of over pressure in a double rifle are not as easy to see as in a bolt rifle. The classic signs of overpressure are not usually visible in a double rifle, and the most notable sign of pressure being too high in a double rifle is the action sticking closed after fireing.

Fire two rounds in you rifle, keeping track which come from the sticking barrel(in this case the right barrel) then stand the fired cases side by side, and compare where the shoulder is on each. If the shoulder is farther forward on the case from the right barrel, then it is either a open head space problem in that barrel, or the load is too hot for that barrel.
Very few double rifles will lock on just one barrel only from pressure. Try fireing the left barrel, then see if it opens easy, then close it back, and fire the right barrel, and if it sticks which it most likely will from what you say, then first check the fireing pin's retraction. If the fireing pin is retracting and the opening is still sticky, the you likely have a head space problem in the right barrel.

........Let us know what you find!

All of the above are good ideas.

Try firing empty cases with just the primers
in them and then see if the gun opens.

I was afraid someone was going to mention headspace...that just sounds expensive. But thanks Mac, and everyone else.

Tried several rounds, with each barrel first and the left barrel is definitely OK. I thought about checking the pin position after firing, but that doesn't work because it's stuck and can't be opened at all to see anything. After it eventually gets unstuck, it's already cocked again. The only way I can see the pins seems to be to dry fire it, which tells us nothing.

I'm going to return to the range and test fire again and compare the brass as suggested. But unfortunately I don't have the proper tools to do anything but a visual.

I'll also try 500N's idea, although when loaded the case heads both look the same and all is nice and flush.

I'm also going to try firing the right barrel and then bouncing the recoil pad down on a hard surface in hopes that will prove the pin just needs to be shaken loose, which in turn ought to explain things. I hope anyway.

As far as the load being too hot for the barrel, I don't know what to do with that. Maybe a chronograph would help, although I don't have one.

Thanks for those who've responded here and in PMs. I think what I've learned here is if you're buying a double that's old or custom built or something of that nature, best to insist on shooting it first or obtain documentary proof that it's been test fired sucessfully. And don't take someone's word for it no matter how authoritative sounding.

Anyway, I just tried dry firing on the empty brass with the right barrel and didn't get very far. It locked up again and this time I could only get it loose by really jacking it. It was exactly like when firing live ammo.

I tried dry firing the left barrel and it did better but still was real stiff in the mid part of the opening and I could feel the forearm try to move.

Btw, on this gun the forearm is the snap on splinter type common on Trojan grade Parkers. To remove it you insert your finger at the end and pull down.

Wasn't able to make it to the range today due to bad weather.

Have you contacted the builder? That should have been your first step.

Mike, I've been doing some looking into that and so far I'd say it's probably not a viable option. Among other reasons, I didn't buy it from the builder, the gun has no name on it, and the seller is vague about who built it.

It now appears that the malfunction in the right barrel is the same with dry firing with spent brass as with live ammo. However, with some pieces of spent brass it's OK. It's mixed results in other words.

I tried comparing visually two empty cases, one from each barrel. I wasn't able to see any difference in their shoulders.

And it appears that really jacking it open for the most part overcomes the problem although I hate to be doing that. Forcing it open cocks it before any chance to see if the pin's back.

Two other tests - it opens and closes and locks tight OK with no ammo in it. And I tried opening and closing on live ammo. Two different bullet weights, 150 and 170 grain. It did fine.

While this is going on there's another problem present in the left barrel. I'm noticing it with some but not all spent brass. It is very rough on opening. That doesn't seem to be the pin, because it's open enough to see that the pin's withdrawn. I presume the extractor is having trouble lifting certain pieces of brass.

One thing for sure however, I don't want to get into a total re-build with this gun.

I'd still check OAL on the brass. See if the cases that the rifle sticks on are longer than the ones that don't.

Hi,
If you shot and take the forearm before opening you can check strikers.
Have you tried your empty cases in the other barrel? Can you close the gun with right case on left barrel?
Thanks
Martin

Hi Try removing the extractor and then firing the rifle and see how it opens (take a rod along to get the cases out). Sounds like your extractor may be the problem. Should also be able to see how easy it is to remove fired cases could have bad chambers, burrs or swollen from someones hot loads which could happen if the barrels where not installed correctly. Dale

I measured the overall length of brass of all fired and unfired cases (excluding the bullets) and they appear visually the same. As best I could re-measure using a carpenter's level, same results.

Anyway, I think I may have spotted the problem in the right barrel and maybe those here can tell me what you think. I clicked each trigger on empty chambers while holding the gun sideways to a strong light, then very slowly opened it. I did this several times and believe I saw something abnormal on the right side.

The pins slowly retracted each time for both barrels as far as that's concerned, but the right one is positioned lower than the left.

This means when it retracts it must clear the brass and extractor lower or later than the left. Maybe that's stopping it from opening easily.

Does this sound like the explanation?

The primers fired in the right barrel show lower pin strikes than those fired in the left barrel.

It could be a timing issue. I would find a gunsmith who does work on double rifles and double shotguns.

Thanks Rusty, I'm looking into that.

There are bushings for the firing pins. Each about 1/4" to 5/16". They don't have the three holes set in triangle fashion like on other guns, which I presume are for inserting a tool for removal.

The pin hole is well-centered on the bushing for the left barrel. But the hole on the right side is down low on the bushing. That's what is causing the low primer strikes and just maybe the whole right side barrel issue.

I don't know if the bushings were like that in its previous life as a shotgun. And I don't have another Parker to compare it with. If they were added as part of the conversion, it's logical there must have been some reason for positioning the firing pin like that.

Does anyone know if there are any good reasons why it would be built that way?

The more I dry fire a particular case the better it opens in that right barrel. The pin strikes eventually hammer out a large impact hole in the spent primer which I think allows it to clear the pin easier when opening the action.

Also try this.

After shooting, break the double down, and see how easy the empty from the right barrel, goes back into the right barrel and the left in the left.

Tried that too. Seems OK with the right chamber. You have to pry spent brass out of the left however. Live ammo OK with both.

Anyway, you know the old saying, "if you think about something long enough you'll eventually figure it out"? Well, following through on what I discovered with the right side pin being lower than the left, I believe I've now got it.

On the right barrel issue I'm pretty much convinced now it's a timing issue based on the position of the pin.

I think it works like this. The pin bushings are original shotgun equipment and that pin hole is where it was then. It didn't do any harm then because of the difference between a rifle and shotgun primer. The 30-30 rifle primers are flat which allow the pin to hang up in the indent the pin strike causes. However, a shotgun primer has more an oval, convex or rounded surface with depressed sides just slightly lower than the primer rim. So it doesn't fill out as much and "surround" or hamper the pin after the strike, and thus cause the failure to open. In other words, you can get away with the pin hole in the bushing and pin strike on the primer being lower with a shotgun primer.

If I'm right about all that, then I see two possible fixes. One would be to shorten the pin by about 1/64" or even 1/32" and see if that allows it to clear. But to "fix it right" would require a new bushing with the pin hole well centered. And it would unfortunately require a total re-work of the internal parts to raise the pin's overall level within the gun. And that I don't know if could even be done within any reasonable cost.

That's just how I'm thinking it through at the moment. Today I'm going to examine another old Parker Trojan grade, a 16 ga shotgun and see how its firing pins are set up. I'm also going to try other brands of ammo. And at some point I think a sit-down with the seller is indicated. I'm kinda looking forward to that.

There's also the matter of that roughness with the left barrel on opening as well..

Mr. Shack; Send it to a competent gunsmith double rifle maker like B. Searcy for a diagnostic, before chose a wrong solution that will cost more time a money, maybe is a minor problem. My best wishes , thanks for sharing and I hope You solve the issue, keep us informed, Good Luck; Guille.

Thanks Guillermo for the advice. For anyone who may have been following this, I've now gotten the opinion of a gunsmith who knows double rifles and he says the right barrel issue is almost certainly just as Rusty and Mac suggested, a stuck pin. He referred to it as a timing issue and said it's a minor repair.

He also said my idea of the issue having to do with the pin being lower on the right than the left is not the way this works and added that the bushings were not there when it was a shotgun and that the current pins are different also. He says the original shotgun pins were wider than what is used on a rifle. In other words, you guys were right.

He also said the problem with brass sticking going in and out of the left barrel should be easily correctable. He said even a couple thousandths of an inch somewhere will do this and talked in terms of maybe running the reamer back through again and doing some polishing.

I also met with the seller, and the work is not going to cost me anything.

Love that little Parker double and looking forward to having it back in good working order.

Btw, one final word of advice - if you buy a gun of this general type I'd go ahead and test fire right away and not allow a whole lot of time to go by before getting around to that. I was lucky here, but I think if enough time goes by things could get problematic on returns.

That sounds like a nice rifle. Please post pictures. Just as a comment it would be helpful if you had your location in your profile it makes it easier to make recommendations /who to send it to as we have people from all over.
Bill