doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Back Action, Pros & Cons

Hi all, so what are the pros and cons of a Back Action gun (like those made by J. Blanch as an example)?

Thanks as always!

Greg

Greg: I have thought about this question a lot. The only advantage for back action locks is that less metal is removed from the receiver itself and so the back action lends itself to powerful cartridges like those of big bore rifles. IMHO, the bar action lock is in general more pleasing to the eye and has a more graceful appearance than most back action sidelocks. There are some back action sidelocks which appear similar to bar locks but lack the pin normally located on the bar of the lock itself.

Wow, and here I thought that the slim rounded bar and sleek tapered action has a more graceful appearance and is more pleasing to the eye. Go figure....

I have read somewhere that the locktime on backaction locks are faster.

Are any back actions currently being made?
That is the only down side.
Mike

Holland and Holland makes one. It is less expensive than their bar action. Krieghoff and Merkel make back action sidelocks. All English O/U are back actions I believe.

http://www.ziegenhahn.de/en/about-us/history/

This is the maker that produces the back action gun for Krieghoff.

If we are including OUs, then Beretta SOs and CSMC A10s.

IMHO it is in reality an aesthetic decision for the individual.
Some would argue that they are stronger in the bar of the action and weaker in the head of the stock.
I think in the first instance, this is true if one is comparing two very similar cross section action bars but they rarely are unless they are masquerading as bar actions, back actions often have lovely (to my eye) slim rounded bars so most of the advantage has probably been lost and anyway, how many shotguns of any design have you seen with bent action bars?
In the second instance, I think the amount of wood removed is irrelevant as long as it is being braced by a long top tang and a sturdy trigger plate. Any failure will most likely be through the hand pin area (or beyond), I have never seen a stock broken through the action area unless driven over (shudder!).
The truth is that back actions were GENERALLY not finished to the same level as a bar action. There are obvious exceptions but I would guess that some 80% of back actions are middle to low quality while probably more than 75% of bar actions where of middle to high quality. The figures may be way off but you get the idea.
Buzz is quite right, O/U generally use back actions as, unless they have very deep or wide in the action, there is no room for the mainspring to run alongside the lower barrel.

As I understand it the back action gun was cheaper to make and had no advantage over the bar action.