doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Sometimes non firing right barrel......

I have a small bore English SxS boxlock made in late 70's, early 80's. Very few rounds have ever gone through the gun. About 50% of the time the right barrel does not fire. You can check the shell and the hammer is hitting the shell hard enough to make a dent - just not fire. Type of shell used does not matter either as I have used different brands. Left barrel is just fine.

Thoughts.......?

I would have already sent it to my friend Kirk Merrington but want to avoid the hassle of packaging and shipping if I can.

Thanks in advance!

Bushed strikers and separate pins or integral pins? Things to check would be firing pin protrusion, be sure everything is clean, no gunk or burrs, hammer spins freely on pin, strong enough main spring....

Another possibility of way too much headspace (rim recess too deep) on that side.
It would be on the order of being able to spot by eyeballing it when comparing to the left chamber if the firing pin protrusions are the same & you're getting misfires because of it.
Not often a problem but it does occur.
More likely one of the things SKB noted but it's easy to check for and go from there.

The first thing to do is give it a good cleaning, after a detail strip. While inside check to see if anything is "rubbing"; and when reassembling, be sure wood shrinkage doesn't allow the tangs to be pulled too close together. If so, add a thin shim, under the offending one.
Mike

I am thinking/hoping it may be something (grease or whatever) that was put on the gun internally when made and now it has set for 35 years prior to me trying to shoot a few shells this Winter.

Thanks for the input from everyone.

In addition to the things mentioned . Check to see if the dent is in the middle of the primer. Another not common but I have seen it more than once is a short sear resulting in a short hammer trough. Usually the result of a ham fisted Bubba doing a trigger job .

I had an old .410 hammer gun that'd misfire occasionally when I'd shoot a certain brand of shells though it. It was because those particular shells had a thin rim. As long as I didn't use those shells it shot fine. It was a shame because they were good shells otherwise and at $5.50 a box you couldn't beat the price!

Steve

sometimesnotfiring...sounds like it could be an ammo inconsistent issue, commonly referred to as AII..

1, short striker nose .
2, weak mainspring.
3, dried up grease or oil.
4,short sear so the hammer is not cocking to its full potential, a not uncommon fault on small bores.
5,too deep rims .
6, dragging or fouling of tumbler/hammer or cocking dog .
7, too much bounce or rebound on the tumbler , rare but not unknown .
These are the first things to have checked .After that I always blame the cartridges .

Have seen this where the pin is broken and when the broken pieces align properly the pin will hit hard enough to fire but when the broken pieces don't align it wont fire