doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com unusual (to me) extractor mechanism

I have an 1872 W.R. Pape with an unusual extractor mechanism. A round post at the bottom of the extractor slides into a groove below the doll's head. The effect is that the extractor pulls the shells out rather than pushes them out as with the usual extractor. Has anyone seen this before? The water table is noted "Pape patent".

Here is a photo of the extractor:

And a photo of the round slot the extractor "pull post" slides into:



Do other guns have this system?

Is it a thumb lever with Pape's self retracting strikers ? If so I have one of its brothers .I also have the remains of one in 16 bore that has had the action blown into several pieces in proof .

It has a thumb lever opener under the receiver. What should I look for to deter ermine if it has self-retracting strikers? Yours has the same mechanism for pulling the extractor?

This sounds dumb, but Id look for no sign of the firing pins with the gun fired n open,held stock vertical, n no marks on the bottom of the ejector, where the pins often mark that area..???
Or am I way off here?....won't be the first time, lol
cheers
franc

There should be a direct mechanical link between hammer and firing pin such that when the hammer is pulled from fired to half cock the firing pin is mechanically retracted. I had a Griffiths with this arrangement and it worked fine. BTW, that is a very logical mechanism for extraction. Thanks for sharing!!

DDA

My firing pins do not mechanically retract. They need the help of gravity holding the stock vertical. I am curious about whether other Pape owners of this period and type of gun have mechanical retractors. If so, I may have mine checked out by a gunsmith for a possible repair.

Your gun No 1254 is mine is No 2183 which make them both 1873 according to my numbers which I got from someone who was researching Pape history and had some brief meeting with a Miss Pape and elderly lady and the last surviving descendent of WR Pape . This did not come to any conclusion as Miss Pape would only communicate with any enquiry about the firm through her solicitors . The 16 bore I mentioned that blew in proof would have been built in 1888 so they were being made for a period of years although this has more conventional cammed extractors . Not being far From Newcastle I see a lot of Pape guns and have met a Mr Pape who's great Grandfather was one of WR's brothers but no connection to the firm .
As a matter of interest I have seen a version of the Thumb lever action that had been modified with an extended lever that came under the trigger guard looking more like the normal rotating under lever screw grip with which we are more familiar .

The retracting strikers mentioned connected to a grove in the back or inside of the hammer so as when the hammers were pulled onto half cock the strikers were withdrawn [ non rebounding locks ]. They were quite complicated to make , this I do know as I made a pair for the gum I have so safe to assume that the connector has either broken off or that the strikers have been replaced with non connected strikers .

Gunman,

Thanks very much for the explanation of the retracting strikers. My Pape is 2145. I am trying to find out who did the research for the former owner, but the research appears to be based on Pape records ("ledgers") and dates the original sale of the gun as November 18, 1872. I do not know where these records (apparently auctioned off some time ago) are located or who may have access to them.