doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com V. Barnardelli SxS Hammer Gun- Fail to Fire

I have a 20 ga. V. Bernardelli Italia SxS hammer gun made in 1969. I shot sever boxes of shells through it last June, and it worked flawlessly. I tried shooting skeet with it in October, and halfway through the firs t round, the left barrel failed to fire on several shots in a row. By the end of the first round the right barrel also failed to fire about every third shot using Remington Gun Club shells.

I would appreciate recommendations for a gunsmith who has experience repairing this type of shotgun. I live in Southeast Virginia.

Gunter Pfrommer, Rocky Mount, VA. I use him and he is excellent

ROTELLI, LOUIS
CLASSIC RESTORATIONS
17 BUCKINGHAM LN
GAYLORDSVILLE, CT 06755
203-788-4920

He's done work on my 20 gauge Italia Extra and a Perazzi for me. I was more than satisfied with both projects.

I'm curious what you mean specifically by "fail to fire"? Do the hammers drop, are you getting light primer strikes, etc, what exactly do you mean by "fail to fire"? I am always curious when something stops working as it should. Thank you.

I'd say that it is too early to jump the proverbial gun, and send it to a gunsmith.

You haven't given us much information. If this happened with a gun that I owned, I'd first be looking carefully at the indentations on the primers. It takes a solid and consistent hit on the center of the primer to have the shell fire reliably. I would also observe whether the hammers move freely during cocking and firing, and whether the cocking force (or mainspring tension) felt normal and equal for both locks.

Then, considering that the problem started with one barrel, and soon began to misfire with the second barrel, I'd start to suspect a possible problem with your ammunition. It will be a whole lot cheaper and easier for you to figure this out by trying the gun with another brand or lot of ammo, rather than immediately concluding that the firing mechanism in both locks suddenly quit working correctly. Locks sometimes fail. Rarely do they both fail in the same round of skeet, unless the ammo is bad, or something like congealed lube in the locks has reduced the force of the hammers striking the firing pins.

Have you tightened the lock screws? Or the hand or action screw? Take a look at the fireing pins .i would try another brand of ammo first it shouldn't be hard to figure it out.

Try a different brand of shells. Your problem may go away!

like keith said...

The ammo you were using wouldn't happen to be B & P Comp Ones, would it?

Insure the firing pin retainers are screwed in tightly