doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Burgess slide action shotgun problem.

Hello all,

Not sure what key I pressed to submit prematurely.

Anyway I recently won an auction for a Burgess slide action shotgun stated as everything working properly and test fired. Apparently the repeating function was not included in the statement. When I cycle the action to eject the spent casing the new shell is also ejected at the same time. Any suggestions on the cause of the problem or information in general on this firearm would be greatly appreciated. The firearm is currently up with Freddy Bruner in Escondido but he says he has never seen one so I am trying to research information to get the old girl up and running again.

Thanks John

Sounds like the lever that holds the shell in the magazine tube is releasing early. Might be crud gumming up the works or just wear on a gun that lasted a hundred plus years. SDH has a good article on Burgess pump gun in the November Shooting Sportsman. Drop him a message about your problem.

You do know I am sure that your new gun is about 120 years old. Well made but not the strongest design. Light use might be fun and you do not have to worry about seeing very many of them at the gun club. Years ago I saw a snob lording over us peons with his D grade 1100 like it was a one of a kind super gun. When a F grade showed up one the same squad he shut up a d soon departed. I learned that day there is rare and then very rare.

What a fascinating gun. This is the first I have heard of a Burgess slide action. I had thought Burgess was one of the many Darne clones but could not understand the problem so I had to resort to some google fu. Please tell us how you came to own this gun and keep us informed on how it works for you. This is a real interesting piece of Americana.

Thanks KY Jon. I am not familiar with SDH. could you provide contact information. I am only shooting BP loads between what is described as light to normal. Freddy Bruner did check out the Burgess and stated it was safe to shoot

Pooch it is a unique item. I have always been fascinated with different actions and have been searching for several years. A few pretty poor examples have shown up on Gun Broker, and one excellent and expensive example on a RIA auction last year.

Steven Dodd Hughes
Livingston, Montana

sdh@finegunmaking.com
406-222-9377

Dang it, I drove through Livingston Monday on my way back from deer hunting in Saco, Montana. Thanks I will give him a try

John;
Is this one of those guns in which you "Pump" the pistol grip rather than the forend. I recall reading an article on these many years ago in a Gun Digest of the period, probably in the 60's. I don't recall a lot about them or if Burgess ever made a more conventional pump, but recall that unique method of pumping.

I believe that all Burgess pumps use the pistol grip pump action. I've never seen any other kind and I have been looking for a while and own one of the takedown shotguns. I have handled 2 others. There is rare (the Burgess takedown pump shotgun), "more rare", (the Burgess folding shotguns with the hinged barrel and magazine), and "really rare" (Burgess pump action rifles built on scaled down pistol grip pump actions). I have only ever seen pictures of one of the rifles, on 24 Hour Campfire.

My guess is that the only way to fix your Burgess is to have the gunsmith take it apart, figure out how it is supposed to work, and then determine what is not working right and fix it. Likely to cost some bucks. The lifter on my Burgess has been worked on at some time over the years, so that may be a place to start looking for your problem.

Update: Freddy never got around to looking at my Burgess so I brought it home to determine if my reloads were the cause of my problem. Unfortunately that was not the case. After further inspection I see that there is a broken part on the right side of the bolt. Now trying to find someone who has worked on Burgess' before. Got a couple leads off of The Firearms Forum website. SDH never responded to my email.