doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Tightening actions in SxS

I picked up a couple of American doubles that have just a very small amount of side to side play in the barrels when the forend is off (none when the forend is on.) I mean they are off by about .001.

Should these guns be tightened soon? They will be used mainly for hunting with modern but moderate loads, and of course clay targets for practice occasionally.

Whadda ya think based on your own experience with similar situations?

All will tell you to have it put back on face, usually done by having the hook welded and refit. And I agree in general. However, if the guns are low priced and only marginally loose I would be tempted to go ahead and shoot them as is. Especially if you're only going to be shooting light loads. It is true that the looseness will only get worse but with regular cleaning and lubricating that can take an awful long time. A slightly loose gun is not a safety issue.

These issues are a balancing act and only you can decide. A proper job will often cost at least $300. Cheaper is possible but quality of work might suffer. I have seen some rejointing done so poorly that a flat of shells later they are as loose as before.

I have a similar situation and I just put a small piece of 1.5 thousandths shim steel trimmed with scissors between the hook and the pin. A round of trap hammered the shape in and now it just stays put with a dab of grease. Not saying that is right, but I don't think it is doing any harm either. Also, I took that approach based on a very old post from this forum.

The reason why I think these are off.001 or so is because I have shimmed two guns with quality shim material from a machine shop. If I remember correctly one took only .001 and the other may have taken .002. The shims were attached using Loctite retaining compound and pressure. These guns are in service now, although I sold one of them.

I have a gunsmith who actually welds the hook and stones down to fit and finish. I have had two guns with welded hooks (You can't tell they've been welded). This is what I would propose to do on the next gun I have tightened.

All this said, I just checked the barrel to face and cannot fit a 0.001 feeler gauge between them with the forends off. Looks like I will just shoot these for a while. Thanks for reading! Mike

Shimming a hook works as well as any welding, in fact, better than most hack work if you're willing to put up with the slight inconvenience. I have a very nice Lindner Daly Diamond grade 16 gauge that is perfectly on face with a .003 shim. The gun is nice enough I ought to go ahead and have a proper repair done but it fits so well right now I am hesitant to tempt fate.

sometimes its just the locking mechanism that is worn or out of adjustment.....not always the hinge pin/hook junction...

Replaceable "shoes" on both the hook and the rear lump bite are the obvious fix for this. Except for Parker I have not seen such a feature on other SXSs. It should be doable as a retrofit on most SXSs and thus fix the problem once and for all.

I have done it on an experimental 3D prototype and it works. The advantage being that if you foul up on the fit, you simply change the "shoe" and start over, withouth harming anything. As for the "shoes", the one for the hook is easily turned from bar stock, basically it is a ring with a flange in the middle, cut in half, while the rear lump one can be milled in minutes. The slots in the lump to install the "shoes" can be cut with EDM thus avoiding the pitfalls of heat on a sensitive part. The "shoes" are held via cross pins in the lumps, not solder.

You can see the "shoes" on the 3D prototype here: http://www.oplognosia.com/english/sideBySide.php

The fifth photofrom the top.