doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com very tight J.P. Sauer

I recently acquired a 12 ga. J.P. Sauer "Royal" double. It was originally purchased (new)in Germany in 1963 by a gentleman stationed there with the air force. I think it returned to the U.S. with the original owner and was put in a closet for the next 43 years. It is in new condition. It doesn't appear to have ever been shot. It is very, very, very tight and stiff: it takes a good deal of effort to open and close the action. I showed it to a local "gunsmith", whose talents run mostly to replacing Rem. 1100 'O' rings, who opined that it just needed to have a few hundred rounds through it. Maybe so, but I'm not impressed with his expertise or advise.

The folks on this forum are the experts on doubles: does anyone have a suggestion for a competent smith in or near Denver? Anyone have any experience with these guns? Any ideas what is going on here? I'd sure appreciate any suggestions or ideas on this.

David Yale Yellowjacket, CO 970-562-4225

The guy may be right. I have a merkel that is still very stiff after 750+ rounds, it is getting looser but slowly. Try opening and closing it while watching TV to get it broken in more quickly.

It's probably 43 year old lubricant that's gunning up the works. Might need a thorough cleaning.

I agree it may very well be a lubricant problem. I have a brand new unfired Colt Police Positive revolver that was made in the 20s. You can't cock it or even swing the cylinder out. I've chosen to leave it that way as it doesn't have a mark on it. The chambers still show 100% blueing.
Your gunsmith may be right about it needing a few hundred rounds to loosen it up but I personally would do a detailed cleaning before firing this gun.
Jim

I agree, clean, relube, and shoot. If something is obviously binding, don't force it, it'll have to be disassembled anyway.

Thanks guys. I wondered if the 43 year old lube might be part or all of the problem. I'm not going to try to do the cleaning myself since I've no doubt I'd bugger things up. I'll contact David Yellowjacket as you suggest. If anyone has any other competent double smiths near Denver, let me know.

A good strip and clean will certainly be required for a 60 year old gun neglected so long anyway.

Before you take it to bits, try cleaning the parts that mesh when you open/close the gun with a q tip soaked in solvent. Namely, the hinge pin, the hook on the bbls, the knuckle, the matching surface on the forend iron, the water table and the bbl flats, and the action face. The put a little oil on the parts that rub and try again. You will probably feel a big difference. If not, read on.

If the toplever moves freely with the bbls off, there is nothing binding in the bolting mechanism. If it's stiff, you can squirt some WD40 into the bolt raceway (the part that slides forward in the frame to lock the bbls in place) without taking it apart. Try moving the cocking levers (the two pins that protrude through the action knuckle) by hand with mechanism cocked. They should move freely. If not, squirt a little lube into the action alongside them.

Opening and closing the gun without firing it doesn't move anything else so it has to be one of these areas, if it's stiff.

On the other hand, if it's still stiff after you have done this, then it probably needs to be shot in. If it's not, you are almost done but test one more thing: fire it with snap caps or empties, and then open. It will be a little harder to open but if it's very stiff again, then the mechanism needs to be dissassembled to lube the internals as the hammers and springs need some lube.

Forty-three years without any action in a very-close-tolerance gun is guaranteed to be stiff and doublegun's medicine sounds like the antidote.