doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Box lock intercepting sears

I was refering to walking in to a dog on point. Safe direction, finger off the trigger is a given with me.
Karl

This Horton "Poly Grip" is a very nice gun and the intercepting sears are not complicated parts. Thin flat spring provides the tension, again not complicated to make. For a gun of this quality I would have the missing sear and spring duplicated to complete what the gun maker intended. Each gun would have to be evaluated as to the expense of fitting a missing intercepting sear and spring, but for two easily duplicated parts I'd do it. Lesser quality gun probably not. Especially of both were missing and no pattern part was present.

Safety - there is nothing more important. I want: auto safety, intercepting safety sears, safe gun handling. No such thing as 'too safe'.

If automatic safeties were so important to gun safety, I wonder why the millions of pumps and semi-automatics made in the last 120 years don't have them? Why, it's a plu-perfect wonder people aren't accidentally killed everyday with the things.

I've got no issue with people who put safety at the top of the list, just with the idea that a non-automatic safety is "unsafe", or that it's user is an unsafe person.

JMO, SRH

The Browning incident mentioned above most likely involved an early model that did not have the second safety notch on the hammers.

Re safeties and sears. I have taken enough guns apart to see that the safety in the vast majority blocks the trigger, not the hammers. A gun can fire with the safety on. As noted above it can fire if the intercepting sears are not regulated properly, and more importantly if they are clogged with dry oil and grease.

On the other hand an OPEN action just cannot fire. There is no reason to close a gun till an active hunt phase starts, ie the dog goes on point, the birds fly over in pass shooting. This business of walking witha closed action while not in an active phase just does not make hunting sense.

An added plus, you cannot foget to close a gun the way you forget to disengage the auto safety.

I now use a gun with an automatic safety, which I like for hunting, but I hunted for years with a Browning super and no automatic safety. It was no problem then to be without an auto safety because I was always aware. Problem is now, going back to one without the auto safety. I really have to think about it and have spaced it a couple times before catching myself and manually putting the safety in the on position. I would never buy one of those guns with a backward safety where you pull back on the safety to fire.....disaster waiting to happen imho. I guess bottom line is to always be aware whether with or without the auto safety.

There are plenty of inexpensive German or other Central-European BLEs with intercepting sear mechanisms showing up many for less than American classics of equal grade and vintage. While there maybe some apprehension in buying unknown Belgian or Spanish gun there is less risk when looking at something made in Germany. Buhag or Hubertus anyone? Let us agree there is no reason to buy gun w/o extra safety features when it can be had for same or less money than piece w/o this feature.

A great many of those German guns, never had intercepting sears, they were built with over hanging sears. Two different concepts entirely.

There is an old thread from 2012 that shows a photo of what Dustin is talking about, a sauer with overhanging sear which is the principal sear as opposed to a secondary intercepting sear. The overhanging sear screw is in the same location on the German gun as the screw for an intercepting sear on an English boxlock, for example. Unfortunately, I do not know how to show or bring up an old thread here (the photo describing the overhanging sear was originally from sauerfan, post # 270748 if anyone knows how to pull that up).

I didn't say that, Stan.

I maintain (with good reason) that an automatic safety is inherently 'safer' than a manual one.