Not a rifle question, but a double nonetheless. . .

My dad is not a gun guy. He recently purchased a Spanish made Florida 12 gauge sxs at an auction. Mainly for nostalgia. He's always wanted a side by side, because they had one growing up back in the 50s and 60s. It's in pretty good shape. It's nothing fancy at all.

He'll probably never shoot it. But I couldn't resist. I shot some 2 3/4 light game loads out of it, and it opens and shuts fine empty, but that thing did not want to open up after firing. Like it was frozen shut. Took a lot of force to open it.

What do the experts say? Unsafe? Something wrong?

My dad won't shell out the coin to take it to a good smith. He'll just never shoot it. But I'd like to correct the problem if I can.

Thanks!

Did you scrub the chambers before firing?
Not trying to be sarcastic. I have black-powder vintage guns, that after more than about two shots, they are so filthy that the brass sticks in the chambers HARD! And, because the extractor is worked off of the hinge hinge pin, I just about broke the extractor while trying to force it open.
Another possibility; did you check the chamber size before shooting? Many (most) of these old vintage guns were chambered for 2 1/2" shells. Could be a bit of back-pressure swelling the brass on the hulls.

I was worried about pressure swelling the hulls. It's actually chambered for 3 inch shells.

I didn't scrub the thing down. I just wanted to put a couple shots through it. It wasn't filthy by any means though

I did shoot the first two shots one handed holding away from my head, with my head turned away I'm not sure what I'd do without my right hand, but at least I'd still be pretty

A question: After firing is the difficult part of opening the pushing of the lever to the side to unlock the action, or is it the twisting of the barrels on the pivot?

The twisting of the barrels to pivot is the difficult part. The lever is thrown easily, but it doesn't want to break open.

What do the primers look like? Does it look like the firing pins were dragged out of the primers?

Unfortunately, I shot it before dinner, and guests showed up, so I didn't take the time to look closely at the hulls.

They'll still be there. I'll try to grab them some evening when I'm at their place, and take a look.

My guess is that the firing pins are not retracting. Some guns were made without springs to withdraw them. They get old and sticky and stay in the fired primers when you try to open them. Others were made with springs to retract them. But the springs can become weak and break.

When you open the gun are the firing pins sticking out a little? With the action open, do the firing pins move in and out of the holes as you rock or shake the gun? Does it not happen when you fire snap caps?

If that's the problem a good cleaning and/or spring replacement should fix it. To clean it properly will require disassembly with the right tools and some knowledge. If you don't have those a gunsmith familiar with double guns will.

Some people will have springs installed in a gun made without springs to keep it from happening again.

You guys are good. Firing pins aren't retracting. You can see where the pins are dragging on the primer after firing. One worse than the other.

Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by bakerb:
You guys are good. Firing pins aren't retracting. You can see where the pins are dragging on the primer after firing. One worse than the other.

Thanks!

AR is the place to come for information on any kind of firearm.
.............................................................A little break-free soaked in the firing pin holes may help. Old guns often have been over soaked with improper oils that become GUM after a time in storage. Take the barrels off the action and prop the butt stock and action against a wall and apply the break-free and let it set for a day or two.

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