My friend has a 20 bore hammer gun. With the hammers cocked the lever will not go far over enough to open the action. Is this typical on small bore hammer guns?

I believe what you’re describing is fairly typical of hammer guns in general. Parker Bros solved this problem with their “fishtail” top lever.

My wife had a 12 gauge Bernadelli hammer gun that you couldn’t open the gun with the hammers cocked. I suppose it just boils down to the position and placement of the hammers relative to the top lever. I don’t think it’s something that is gauge specific.

Just curious, why would you want to open a cocked hammergun?

All hammerguns should be opened on half cock only. Not full cock. It is a safety issue.

RWG . I think that mainly applies to guns with non rebounding locks where the pins will not, or should not , protrude through the face when uncocked .
You do see some top leavers that have been " scalloped " on one side to fit round the right hand hammer .

I do it occasionally. I get ready to shoot a clay, barrels loaded, hammers cocked and step on the trigger for the thrower and get a busted bird on the thrower that needs to be cleared. Open the action (hammers still cocked) lay the gun on the endgate, fix the thrower, then pick up the gun, close the action and go again.

Many (most?) hammer guns with rebounding hammers don't HAVE a half cock position.

Once fired, the lock on hammer guns with rebounding hammer locks are already at half cocked as the firing pins are retracted for opening. Once cocked to shot the gun, you should still manually move the locks to half cocked position to make the gun safe before opening it. Either way your locks are at the half cocked position on rebounding hammer gun.

I shoot both rebounding and non- rebounding hammer guns. Some are top levers, others are snap action or under levers. Both at clays and game. For me, I want the hammers manually lowered to the half cocked position before opening the action. I have found you are less likely to have any surprises with the locks at half cocked position before opening the gun. Again, this is only my opinion. I know other people handle their hammerguns differently. Russ

My 28ga side-lever rebounding lock.

This "Licensed to Kill" guy doesn't understand what he posted. We don't set a gun down on a table, bench, or gun rack with shells in it, whether it is cocked or not. Comment.