doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com help me please

I came to the conclusion that the reason my remington 1900 12ga was not opening easily was not repeat not because of the firing pins because they float. It has to be something else. I found the left ejector bent so I ordered a new one from wisner's. The new ejector does not fit precisely so I'm in the process of filing it down on the high spots but it does slide easily. It just doesn't sit flush against the breach like the right one does. I also got a new Joint Check. Thing is, the darned gun is still very difficult to open. There is huge resistance somewhere but I cannot locate it. Could it be the ejector springs are broken or the ejector hammers are sticky? If so why would it be difficult to open if the hammers and ejectors were already cocked.

Broken hinge pin or something wrong with it?

After the vetting of answers by Researcher, it's obvious that it isn't striker drag. And in any event, that would have been eliminated, whatever the hammer/pin relationship, by opening without shells in chambers. Seems comical now but I didn't know the gun was unloaded or "assumed" it was in the "loaded and fired" state and you know what that does to us. You don't want any more "top of the head" answers so have to ask: Is the gun "hard to open" as in it appears hard to retract bolts sufficiently to unlatch or it appears that there's tremendous mechanical load after it is unlatched? As you say, if it's cocked, there's no demand for effort required to do the work of cocking springs so what is left besides friction in the rule joint or resistance to "lifting" of the ejectors?

jack

Note, that floating firing pins cannot float, till the hammer is withdrawn from them. For that initial movement it matters none whether the pin float or not. The act of cocking the hammers of course puts some resistance to opening. Beyond that if is in the hinge mechanism there will be resistance in all situations, even with chambers empty & hammers already cocked. As I recall the Rem cocks the ejectors upon closing the gun by pushing in the ejectors via the breech face. If related to the ejectors would seem most likely to be related to the primary extraction or the linkage for setting them & not to ejection itself. This however should be present whether gun has been fired or not. As I recall from back in original post the problem was noted only after firing. Have you tried using a hardwood dowel down the bores to cushion the pins & snapped the gun on empty chambers & see if the problem then exists. If so would "positively for certain" eliminate pin drag. Could be in the cocking mechanism. It is I believe going to simply take a process of elimination to find the quilty culprit. May require removing the ejector mechanism from the forend to clear them etc. I hope you are not simply relating the extra effort required for cocking in relation to opening a cocked gun as "Hard Opening".