doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Toplever left of center on new Merkel 1620

My hunting buddy just bought a new unfired Merkel 1620. When you close the gun, the bolt doesn't always seat fully, leaving the toplever well right of center. When you push it to the left to fully engage the bolt, the toplever position is slightly left of center.

I understand a left of center toplever is generally considered an indicator of significant bolt/bite wear. What do you make of this on a new gun? Would you address this with the dealer?

Jay Gramith

Sounds pretty normal for a new gun not to fully seat the bolt. Don't push the lever to force it, that will only cause problems if it doesn't want to seat on it's own. It will wear in gradually. The gun should be closed with a degree of authority, not slamming it shut, but not holding the bolt open and then softly closing the gun either. They are designed to be tight for some time and gradually wear in if they are properly closed.

I'd clean the bolts and bites to remove any congealed oil, grease, of shipping protectant. Then, relube with a quality grease, such as Mobil #28, Mobil #1, STOS, lithium grease, etc. Shoot it a bit watching for bolt engagement, see Chief above. Only if it really doesn't engage the bolts is there a problem.

What about the fully seated bolt aligning left of center?

I should add that the dealer is Merkel USA in Alabama.

It's new so it isn't worn. Clean and shoot a bit and see what happens.

If the bolt fits this deeply into the bite gap when new, what does this mean for additional wear? Could there be too little takeup space to allow expected additional wear-in before looseness? Could it be just a matter of how the toplever mechanism is set?

These guns cost several grand so it should not be unreasonable to ask "Fritz" to hone them actions und bolts by hand for about an hour prior to shipping. It would be nice if one could open and close such a gun w/o blowing a fart. Some ignorant folks out there actually hold lever and release it only after action is closed. That is plain LOCO. I can't imagine knowledgeable gunsmith or any gun maker ever recommanding this. This concept must have come from idle mind of some bored gun scribe.

The lever on my 1620 sits just about centered when closed. I’m not sure how the left/right of center thing applies to these Greener cross-bolt guns. Perhaps someone else can chime in.

I bought my gun new and it was really tight out of the box. The factory said this is normal and I’ve heard many others say this about their Merkels. It took many, many rounds to get to the point where the cross-bolt would seat on its own without having to nudge the lever a bit.

If already left it will never get better.Have Merkel look at it and make it right.If we don't want to buy old guns left of center why buy new ones that way.

That is s.q. with modern German guns "cut, molded, and shaped" by modern machines with little or no work "a mono". As I said hr or 2 of final hand polishing/fittin' would go a long way to alleviate farts from users. One should not have to break new gun open on their knee caps.