doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Light primer strikes

You need to take your gun to a gunmaker.

^^This^^

“ With my Spolar I had the hydraulic cylinder adjusted so the shaft traveled too far by about 1/4" which caused me to over-seat the primer if I stayed at the bottom of the cycle too long.”

KY Jon,

Not sure if I understand adjusting the hydraulic ram travel for primer seating depth. Are you using the ram stop collar for seating depth?
I’ve switched between Gun Clubs and Nitros with no primer seating depth issues. I’m still using the old style primer seater design.





Ken

I just got a Clabrough 10 bore sidelock with 2 7/8" chambers and have put about 200 reloads though it, all with Cheddite primers. Remington and Cheddite hulls have worked fine but Federals suffer light primer strikes about half the time on the first attempt, firing the second time. The Federal hulls also show burnt powder around the primer, which the other two don't. I thought that perhaps the primer pockets were larger in the Federals but they measure the same as the Cheddites, while the Remingtons are smaller and it takes more force to remove the spent primer. As best as I can measure, rim thickness is the same in all three. Not a big deal, but I'm curious about the difference. The Federals go bang every time in a hammer gun.

I have not seen anyone mention the following. Ask your gunsmith to remove the belly plate and inspect the tumblers and sears. The belly plate can be removed without disassembling the action. Cycle the gun and watch the engagement of the sears. When the barrels are fully opened see how much clearance exists between the sears and tumblers when the tumblers are fully reward. When the sears snap into their position behind the bent, the tumblers should travel forward no more than 3 to 4 thousandths. The sears need only minimal clearance.

If the tumblers creep forward 10 thousandths or more before engagement they will lose impetus. This most probably means someone has shortened the sears or much worse, filed on the bents. This called "under throwing." This means you need new sears unless it's he "worse" case.

You have gotten rather good advice from the board but the gunsmith needs to hear it if he hasn't already. I have no idea about his skills and pass no judgement. The respondents' advice has been to start simple before getting complicated which is SOP. My advice is simple....before it gets complicated.

Good luck

If newer primers, CCI may have changed something in the production process.

A much less likely reason is something that happened to my hammergun last weekend. The round tab on the leaf spring broke off and the leaf spring was moving back and forth when the trigger was pulled, sometimes it fired and sometimes it didn't and I got light hits on the Federal ammo I was using. I finished a sporting clay match by switching from Federal ammo to Cheddite ammo.

Like the picture from BrentD.Prof

The issue with my Boswell started with reloads, but the same thing happens with several brands of factory ammo. The mysterious feature is the very soft sounding hammer upon release, nothing like a normally operating gun when the trigger is pulled. I've related the useful tips to my gunsmith I have received from people kind enough to comment on this forum. Your comments are appreciated.

Do V shaped hammer springs have less energy than the coil type, hence the softer noise on release?

The gun worked fine when I first purchased it, but has deteriorated since and is clean inside the action. I suppose I've fired about 750 rounds through it since then.

The barrels aren't off face and the gun doesn't appear to have been worked on or altered in the past. The firing pins progress enough from the breech face to strike the primers and the grooves cut into the chambers where the brass edge or lip of the shell seats are normal.

Unfortunately, if it can't be repaired it will become a lovely old gun that will sit inside my safe that can't be used.

It can be repaired. There is no question about this.

The type of spring is not the issue. Both types of springs store plenty of energy to get the job done. The task is to figure out, at this point, why that energy isn’t reliably making it to the primer. James Flynn has given a pretty good clue for you to look into, one I hadn’t considered. You are at a bit of a discovery phase, as to whether someone worked on it in the past and may have caused more trouble than he fixed. I have no idea of your gunsmith’s capabilities, but, will say this. Not all gunsmiths are good double gun gunsmiths. I see you are from Oz, it might take some effort to get the gun into the hands of a really capable individual. I don’t have a recommendation for your part of the world, unfortunately.

Keep after the task, and remember, first, do no damage. Photos, posted here, might help tremendously.

Good luck,
Best,
Ted

Ted;

You are likely aware of Graeme Wright of Australia the author of the famous book: SHOOTING THE BRITISH DOUBLE RIFLE, now in its 3rd edition. I have a recommendation for you to pass on and that is contacting Graeme Wright in Australia at his email address and asking him to recommend some "really capable individual. Graeme can be contacted at: thepilotgw@hotmail.com

It has been more than 20 years since I was in Australia and more than that since I was in one of the gun shops in Australia; however there are many expert double gun/rifle gunmakers there.



Kindest Regards;
Stephen Howell

Stephan,
I don’t doubt that a bit. But, I can’t help with a recommendation. Not in Oz, anyway.

I’m not a double rifle guy. I’d bet I’m one of the few who has put a Darne R in 9.3X 74 through its paces in the basement rifle range of the Bruchet shop in St. Etienne, but, double rifles don’t impress me, and my shooting that day probably didn’t impress anybody around me, either.

Best,
Ted

If it has got worse, it may be wood bound somewhere in there.