doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com BSS Sporter Question

I have had my 20g Browning BSS Sporter over 25 years. I never felt much need to push the button over on the single trigger so the left barrel fires first. I bought the gun slightly used and it did not have the button on the barrel selector lever, so switching back and forth is not so easy. When I recently cleaned the gun I switched the lever over to the left barrel, and realized that after I fired the left side, the right side would not fire unless I switched the lever back to the right. That did'nt seem right to me, but I would appreciate anyone telling me if it is working properly or not. Thanks, Dan

Dan,
This is not correct. The second barrel should fire upon pulling the trigger regardless of which is selected to fire first. I'd pull the stock and clean the trigger assembly thoroughly with a spray cleaner like a automotive brake cleaner or gunscrubber. Don't get any on the wood.

Thanks Chuck, that makes sense. I never have had the stock off. Is that tricky? Dan

Dan,
It's simple to take off the stock. You'll need an extra long flat blade screwdriver of mid/large size blade, a well fitting screwdriver for the triggerguard screws, and one for the buttplate screws.

Remove the barrels.

Pull the screws that hold the triggerguard, grab the loop portion of the triggerguard and lift the tang from the stock inletting and rotate counterclockwise 90 degrees, lift it from the reciever.

Remove the screws from the buttplate and the buttplate. Use a flashlight to identify the orientation of the screw slot in the bottom of the recess up in the stock from the butt end. Put the long screwdriver in and loosen the screw a turn or two and give the screwdriver a rap on the end with the palm of your hand to push it out of the stock a bit. You should see a little gap between the stock and the reciever now. Loosen the screw all the way until it will drop out, being careful not to drop the reciever. Pull the reciever from the stock.

Reverse the procedure to reinstall.

It's really important to have well fitting screwdrivers. You may have to grind some commerical type screwdrivers to fit or buy the gunsmithing set from Brownells or other gunsmith tool sources.

Thank you again, Chuck, that sounds like something I can do. I do have a set of gun screwdrivers and I have taken a couple stocks off before that were attached that way. And thanks for the picture; I guess you've been through this once or twice before. Dan

Make sure when you put the screwdriver into the stock bolt, that you have it in the screw slot, and not jammed between the stock and screw. A buddy of mine made that mistake, and when he reefed on the screwdriver, he split the stock. Ouch!

Its working fine if you were just dry fireing....

The BSS trigger is a mechanically switched trigger. It does not require any inertia to switch to the other barrel. It does have an inertia weight that you can see in the picture I posted. This weight is to block the trigger during the recoil phase to prevent inadvertant discharging from the finger hitting the trigger at the back of the recoiling movement of the gun. Commonly called an "inertia blocked trigger". So, it is not working correctly if you can't fire the second barrel when dry firing.

BTW, the term "inertia blocked trigger" is a misnomer for the BSS trigger. The inertia weight will pull the transfer bar out of the path of the trigger and not allow transfer of movement of the sear. So, it's really "inertia decoupled".

I have large screwdriver I use for through stock bolts. When I remove a screw I usually find some sort of bushing that will fit the stock hole and put it over the driver bit about an inch from the end. Rubber faucet washers work well. In a pinch you can wrap the shank with tape until it fits the hole. This keeps from letting the blade get off center, wedged between the screw and stock and breaking the stock when you "reef" on it.

Thanks for that word Chuck, new one for my gunsmithing dictionary.

If you find commercially available screwdrivers to fit ANY of the screws, other than the buttplate and stock screws, please be a kind soul and post the info here. Fortunately I have a good source of large broken old hacksaw blades and a grinder. When I ground screwdrivers they always got too soft, and I had no luck re-tempering. With the saw blades, just dip them in oil when hot and go.
When it comes to these screws on S x S guns, I would gladly forego the aesthetics for a good allen head or torx socket.

Had a BSS in the safe for years. The lube congealed so badly it was hard to do anything with the gun. Something like that may have happened to this one, not as badly as mine. Cleaning inside and getting rid of any old lube might get it working.

Virginian,
I hope some of the modern guns go the route of allen type heads. I think they could be incorporated well with actually less conspicuous looks than a outdated design like the slot.

Chuck, let me add my voice in chorus to that!! I can't imagine building a new gun and not using up to date fasteners. Tradition be damned!

I expect I will find some congealed or solidified grease. The gun has been pretty stiff when I break it too. Dan

Dan,
Also, check to see that the big weight is spring loaded to the forward position and moves freely backward. Then check the transfer bar (the part that is hooked to the weight and lays along the bottom and slides between the trigger and sears) for being spring loaded downward and moving freely upward. That's about all I can think of off hand.

I bought a set of screw drivers at Cabela's last year. I will let you know how they fit when I find them. I think I put them in a special place so the other people in my family, who just happen to be women, don't use them for things like paint cans or getting mud off their sneakers. Dan

I use a 28 hull over my screwdriver. I would be very careful with spray cleaner. It will DRY out everything. Make sure you reoil every where it touches. I have worked hours trying to get a 101 and a Kolor to work after they had been cleaned with spray cleaner.
bill

Well, the stock was easy to remove; thanks all for the help avoiding the pitfalls. I did not find the screw driver set I hid, so I ground down a regular one for the triggerguard screws. Those slots on the triggerguard screws are really narrow! I never heard anyone comment, "boy those screws sure look nice with the slim slots." I wonder why they do that.
Although there did not appear to be any gunk, I cleaned things out with brake cleaner. I was not, however, able to fix the problem. The big weight is spring loaded to the forward position, but the transfer bar does not seem to be spring loaded downward. Maybe that is a problem, but what I noticed mostly is that when the left hammer is selected, the big weight gets hung up slightly and does not swing forward freely after the trigger releases the left hammer. The weight does not hang up when the right right hammer is selected. I guess that the parts are binding and need to be taken apart and smoothed up. I am not sure I am up for that, but it seems like a simple job for a smith. If the spring was stonger, that might make it work correctly also. Dan

Dan,
I'm just going by memory on the the transfer bar being spring loaded downward. But I'm fairly certain that is the case. Check to make sure the transfer bar is not hanging up on the trigger or sears. I'll check my guns for the spring loading of the transfer bar. It could be a case of the spring having slipped off the transfer bar or a broken spring.

Dan,
I can remember for sure but, it seems to me, that you can pull the inertia weight along with the transfer bar by slipping the retaining clip off the safety switch and removing the safety assembly, then remove the "C" clip from the pin holding the clevis on to the fitting that attaches to the back of the frame, push the pin all the way up and slide the clevis off. You may have to hold the weight back and the transfer bar up.

Chuck, I think you are right. It was getting late last night and I decided to call it a night. It did look as though I would need to take the safety switch off so the pin could be moved up and out. I just could not see how the safety thumb switch would come off. I need to get out my stronger glasses. It should help knowing a clip needs to come off first. I'll take another look when I get a chance and let you know how I do. I appreciate all you help, Dan

I worked on this for a while this afternoon. Since it was snowing, I gave myself a vacation day. I took off the safety switch and expected the pin on the clevis to make it up through the hole for the saftety switch so I could remove the weight and the transfer bar, but it did not. The pin hits the edge of the hole and there is no wiggle room to get it out. I did notice that the transfer bar is spring-loaded downward, so that is ok. I am fairly certain about the reason the transfer bar will not switch from left to right after a shot, and that is that the slide under the weight is cocked slightly out of perpendicular when the lever is switched ot the left side. That is why the weight binds a little and does not swing forward. The selector switch does not have a the button on it. If I fire the left barrel and then stick a straight pin in the hole in the selector switch shaft and turn it ever so slightly, I can hear the weight shift forward, and then the right barrel will fire. If I could get the weight assembly off, I might be able to fix it, but it appears I would have to take off the bottom plate and I don't want to do that without some directions. Even then, it might be gunsmith time. Dan

Dan,
To remove the triggerplate from the frame, my recollection is that the rollpin in the lower corner of the frame needs to come out, then the screw from the top tang unscrews.

But, there's a shortcut. You need to backup the weight with a wood block (with a hole for the rollpin at the top) and drive that rollpin out that connects to the top clevis. Just make sure the weight is supported and you don't load the clevis sideways when driving the rollpin out. An extra set of hands helps with this kind of thing.

But before you go to all this trouble, check to see if the transfer bar is hitting the trigger blades when it should slide forward after the first shot. Possibly, the trigger has some debris under the front stop that is causing it to be slightly aft and thus raising the trigger blades in the path of the transfer bar. Just a theory of mine at this point. You may have to remove the trigger to clean out the trigger stop. If so, the triggerplate has to come off. But, a spray cleaner with a tube may work.

Well, I am glad to say I have the problem solved. I got to thinking that the missing barrel selector button might hold the part that slides left to right under the weight more tightly in its slot, keep it perpendicular, and therefore let the parts slide forward freely. I found a nylon washer and a steel washer and put them on the shaft for the barrel selector and found a pin to secure them. Now the hammers fire correctly no matter which one is selected first. I'll keep a look out for a source for the correct selector button. Thank you for the suggestions and the pictures. Dan

Parts are only available from Western Gun Parts http://www.westerngunparts.com/

You need to call them to place the order and check to see if they have the part. They don't have all parts for the BSS. The diagram above shows the selector as P082737. You can provide the number to them on the phone and have them verify what the part is before ordering.

Thanks Chuck for the parts source. I'll call them. Dan