doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Meriden Hammer gun

I am considering buying a 12 bore Meriden hammer gun to restore. If the gun is pointed down when trying to open the firing pins fall forward and hang up on the extractor. Being unfamilliar with hammerguns, is this a simple thing to repair? I would think that there should be a coil spring around the firing pin to pull it back out of the way but could be wrong here. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Dave

Not familiar with meriden, but some hammer guns never had sprung pins, sometimes it there is room you can retro fit springs but often there is no room because of the design of the pins

Using a heavy grease on the pins an stop them moving around so much, if not already present you can use a round needle file to file angles into the extractor that push the pins back, some times the angles are present but do not function correctly if they are worn or altered in some way.

If you still have issues you could take a bit of length (matter of 2mm)off the end of the extractor guide rod to prevent the extractor lifting before its well clear of the pins but this really is not necessary.

I believe Meriden guns were a Sears Roebuck and Co. before they sold the company.

My guess is that the firing pins are replacement and a tad too long causing the extractor to catch on them.
There were a few types of extractor types, one had a tapered dimple where the firing pin would be and upon closing the firing pin would be pushed in by this dimple. (see picture)
The other type had a rounded bottom and basically did the same thing.


I don't believe there were any springs to retract the firing pins. One other thing I would look at is to make sure the opening where the firing pins are is clean. After all these years a lot of residue would collect in there.

Meridan was owned by Sears. It was started when Sears bought the Andrew Fryberg & Co. factory. A.J.Aubrey was installed as Superintendent.

If the firing pins are so long that they are hooking the extractor when opening the empty gun (falling forward when the gun is held muzzle down),,I'd guess the firing pins are way too long to start with.
I really don't recall if the Meriden hammer guns are spring loaded or not but as stated, it's usually not much of a problem to install a light weight spring in there in most guns if you want to.

But I'd check the ones in place first and see how far they extend beyond the face of the breech. .050" is plenty.
At that amt the extractor shouldn't snag them upon opening.
Plus the notch commonly cut into the lower face of the extractor edge (pic posted by JDW) will gently push them back into the face upon closing of the gun.

A nice circular rounded face to the pins,,no sharp points or edges,,that only helps to snag the extractor upon closing motion instead of caming them back into the frame out of the way.

Meridens are decent guns. I've had more than a few and still have one of their hammerless singleshot shotguns and one of the pump guns.

Dave - I have the same issue with a Meriden Hammer Gun. The firing pins stick way out but there were no return springs in it. I asked the gunsmith to install some springs if feasible and round the pins as Kutter suggested. No word yet on the springs- talked to the shop today and got the usual response - "he had to order some parts and will be starting on it Monday." I suspect the long pins are not a big problem if you have shells in the gun. However, return springs would be nice to avoid snapping off a firing pin when opening and closing the gun when empty. One was broken off when I bought it. Neat guns, nice and hefty.

I took the spring from a ball point pen, snipped a few rings off and slipped it over the firing pin. So far after 100 rounds, no problems.