doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Sidelock V springs

On a side lock shotgun is it a good idea to relieve V spring tension via snap caps?

I wouldn't worry about it one way or the other.....

Agree. There's a dozen or so in my gun room, cleaned, closed, cocked and that's it. Never had any problems with springs, firing pins etc of 75-plus years of ownership, including clays competitions.

You're fighting the battle of the sustained tension vs cycle number. Your spring will go through more cycles if you release and recock after every opening instead of just leaving it cocked, which could wear out your spring faster. I doubt the spring force is enough to permanently deform the spring by letting it stay cocked.

Coil springs can go through almost endless cycles though.

For me, leave the leaves cocked, relieve a coil.

Thanks to all.

With me it depends on the gun. On one which the hammers can be Gently Lowered I do so. I it requires the hammer be dropped sam as in firing, ie snap caps etc I leave them cocked. nmy Lefevers for instance with the three position safeties I can simply hold the triggers as a close the gun & the hammers ride down gently. I find it hard to believe this is more stressful & is going to shorten their life more than leaving them fully cocked. I also have a couple of guns with two position automatic safeties on which the lever returns to center when opened. On these I push the safety off, hold the triggers & close the gun, releasing the triggers as soon as the sears are clear so the safety can be functioned. I've been doing this for a long time & haven't had a mainspring to break yet. Did have a coil mainspring go soft once a long time ago.

I use the snap caps and relieve the springs even though they're coiled main springs. After cleaning, I take my Ithaca down and put it in a case but it can be reassembled without the mainsprings being cocked, but some can be tricky. I know that the LC Smith is kind of finicky that way and I think the Model 21 also. I don't know about some other actions.

If the spring tention was meant to be releived, it would state so in maintenance literature or original catalogs and care instructions printed by the manufacturer.

I believe most guns were meant to be left as is when done firing them.

What Bro. Dudley said. Post-1913 Hunter Arms instructions after the 3 position safety was discontinued: "We advise leaving the gun cocked at all times when taken apart."

Not always. When I visited the Darne factory in St. Etienne, the gunmakers always snapped the triggers to dry fire the guns. I asked why they didn't tell folks to do that in the directions that came with the guns. They made the point that dry firing the gun, without the barrels attached, placed extreme pressure on the faceplate, and would lead to bent retaining screws and the faceplate projecting out of the sliding breech. They figured they couldn't personally instruct every owner on the "dos" and "do nots" of every Darne in existence, and bent face plate screws could interfere with safe operation and lockup, while broken coil springs usually didn't cause any problems at all on a Darne, so no mention of it being safe to dry fire a Darne was ever put in a catalog, or, the instructions.

When you handled a Darne at the factory, and closed it, and pointed it in a safe direction and snapped the triggers, you would get a smile and a gentle nod of the head from the gunmakers-you knew the secret handshake, so to speak.

It is OK to dry fire a Darne, with no snap caps needed. Just make Damn sure the barrels are in place and the action is closed on the barrels when you do it.

There is also a method one can use to actuate Darne ejectors, without firing the gun, to use the ejectors to remove unfired rounds from the chamber. The factory, back in the day, had information on just how to do it, but, discontinued the practice of showing people how, pre-war. It is dangerous, again, if you don't know exactly what you are doing.

I don't show anyone how to do it, either.


Best,
Ted