doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Problem with my Grant

Shooting the Grant today I immediately noticed on the first stand it was hard to open after firing. I chalked it up to some new shells I was shooting. Later at times the second barrel would not shoot and when I looked it appeared the Safety was on. Unusual. Then later when the second barrel would not shoot it appeared the Safety was not on. Then on the last station it stopped shooting the left barrel altogether.
Even with snap caps it will not shoot the left barrel.
Is this the cocking spring that is broken?

Box lock, side lock? Ejector? Single trigger? Automatic safety? Self opener, assisted open, or, none of the above?

You left a lot of things out.

Best,
Ted

sidelock, double trigger.
It's also a sidelever as well.
Made 1907

While it could be some problem with the cooking mechanism, sounds like you may have a broken main spring. Take the locks off carefully and have a look. If anything is broken, beware of flying or falling parts.

Does the trigger still move for that barrel? Does it contact the sear or is it jammed against it? I think pulling theblock off is definitely in order but I would first dismount the barrels and see how the cocking levers look.

Matt's advice is good. If you feel uncomfortable taking the locks off, then remove barrels and fore-end and grasp the left cocking lever where it protrudes from the action knuckle and see and note how it moves up and down as you move it; then do the same for the right cocking lever. This will give you a clue of what the left lock mainspring condition is as well as if the left side cocking lever is broken. Sometimes the mainspring swivel will break. Not often a cocking lever breaks.

Bushveld & Matt's advice is all sound.
Have you checked that the lock pin isn't backing out? It doesn't sound quite like a broken part as the problem was intermittent at first. Broken bits tend to be on or off, not intermittent. If the pin is backing out, the sear tail can start to miss the trigger blade, eventually missing entirely. I have had several guns brought to me as seriously f***ed only to need the pin tightened up!
Dropping off the locks is fine but, if it is broken swivel or main spring, it could conceivably damage the wood as the lock is removed.
So firstly, I would examine the whole mechanism without dismantling it.
Check:
Safety - make sure it is doing on the RH what it doesn't seem to be doing on the LH. Dry fire with snapcaps.
Strikers - dismount the barrels and fire the gun against a wooden block to check you haven't got a broken striker. That might explain the difficulty opening.
Cocking - is the cocking lever (there is no cocking 'spring' unless it is '12/20' type mechanism) doing what it should? compare the two sides.
Sear - is the sear spring getting the sear in the right place to hold the tumbler? Mark the tumbler pivot with a marker if there is no cocking indicator and see if it flops around or is holding position.
Lastly, if you don't find any indication of a problem remove the locks with care over a piece of plain cloth to catch any bits that fall out.
Best of luck Mike