Some months ago i asked for advice on light primer strikes on that I am experiencing with my 1950 Boswell box lock hammerless double gun. I received several helpful responses which I am grateful for.
New hammer springs were fitted by a local gunsmith that unfortunately didn't solve the problem. A local gun dealer imported a pair of heavier V spring from Italy recently which were fitted to the gun today. My gunsmith has just contacted and both firing pins are still striking the primers lightly.
The issue he has noticed is when the trigger is pulled and the hammer is released (the hammer and firing pin are not separate, the tip of the hammer is the firing pin), the noise is quite soft and sounds weak. In other words, it sounds lazy and not energetic like a normal gun when the trigger is pulled. The gunsmith said this is abnormal and he is at a loss on how to repair this otherwise nice gun that under normal circumstances should be repairable.
The gun doesn't appear to have been worked on over the years and is in excellent condition for its age.
Again, any further thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Jack Rowe,the late Birmingham, England gunmaker was fond of stating that there are gunmakers and there are "gunsmiths"--he considered himself a gunmaker and rightly so.
Let me tell you about a 50 year old Piotti 12 bore boxlock ejector (BLE) that came into my shop which is owned by one of the members of this forum. Said Piotti BLE was made in the 1960's sometime and was purchased via a USA auction earlier this year. Straight away the new owner experienced misfires (light strikes of the tumbler) of the left barrel. I disassembled the action completely and checked for the tumbler fall by gravity to determine if there was anything preventing the tumbler from falling on its own. There was none. The left hand tumbler mainspring was a bit undersized but that was not the real issue. After viewing and studying the gun and taking measurements I discovered that when the action of the gun was originally machined in the Piotti factory in Italy that the action maker did not machine the slot for the left hand mainspring deep enough in the action and therefore when the gun's tumbler was installed with the mainspring the mainspring was "cramped". The solution was to machine the slot for the left hand mainspring .050" deeper (as it should have been done) make a new V mainspring and the problem with light striking of the left barrel was eliminated. Can you imagine all the frustrations of the 50 years of owners of this Piotti.
You need to take your gun to a gunmaker.
Kind Regards;
Stephen Howell
