tighten up manual safety

15 May 2011, 04:53

Who could tighten up the safety on a Merkel 470 manual safety? I have shot two Merkels one in 500 and the other a 470. The way I hold them to control the recoil while firing the manual safeties came back on by enertia.

Mike

15 May 2011, 17:55

ROSCOE

Wouldn't the recoil cause the safety to be pushed forward, or the off position?

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15 May 2011, 18:28

DoubleDon

J.J. at Champlins.

15 May 2011, 21:13

surestrike

quote:
Wouldn't the recoil cause the safety to be pushed forward, or the off position?

ROSCOE,

I've had the same issue on a double before. It must be that the safety rebounds from the fire position back towards the safe position in recoil. In any case it's a dangerous nuisance on a DG rifle and is very simple for a qualified smith to fix.

I know how to do it on my Searcy rifles but won't venture to claim any knowledge of any other make.

16 May 2011, 00:18

MacD37

quote:
Originally posted by retreever:
Who could tighten up the safety on a Merkel 470 manual safety? I have shot two Merkels one in 500 and the other a 470. The way I hold them to control the recoil while firing the manual safeties came back on by enertia.

Mike

Mike if the rifle is fired the safety would be in the off position, forward position. Inertia would move the rifle back, and the safety forward, not back to the safe position. It is my opinion that your hand is moving the safety back some way, because inertia would move it the opposite way. Still tightening it up would help with YOU shooting it. Something is not right here but I don’t think it has to do with the rifles being Merkels. If needed for your hold the safety can be modified to make it harder to move, but if it doesn’t do that with the owner then it is not a problem. I own two Merkels, and have shot several others in all the chamberings from 9.3 up, and I have not experienced this problem or seen it with others shooting them.

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Hands of Old Elmer Keith

21 May 2011, 04:46

lavaca

retreever,

I have the same problem with my Merkel .470. Let me know what you find out.

21 May 2011, 05:57

Ed Scarboro

I had the same problem in 2 Merkels in 470 and a local gunsmith fixed it very easily. I would add that this smith had worked on a number of Holland and Hollands for a wealthy gentleman in town.

21 May 2011, 07:57

5seventy

Yes, I've heard of this little problem before concerning some (but not all) Merkel .470NE and .500NE DR's.
From what I've heard it is a fairly simple fix, with the problem relating to lack of the safety's spring tension.
A malfunctioning safety is a problem that you definately don't want, that's for sure, and therefore the repair should be done by a competent DR man.