RWTF;
Not Mr ED & certainly not inclined to defend him, but my answer to his statement was with the view point that any independant firing pin is to at least some extent "Floating", even if only while the mechanism is at full cock. His insinuation was to the extent that the hammers could be lowered on "ANY" double only by the means of snaping them which is far from reality.
There is at least one American double in which I believe the firing pins can truly be described as "Floating" & this is the Lefever. The Hammers do "Rebound", "after a fashion". What takes place is the V mainspring itself is arrested in it's expansion just prior to the hammer striking the independant firing pin. The hammer then carries on by inertia to fire the shell. After the hammer's energy is spent both it & the pin are then free to float a small amount, with no tension in either direction. I have never had a Lefever pin hang in the primer crater upon opening. On all my Lefever's except one I can let the hammers down while closing the gun, as I can also upon a British built J P Clabrough & a German built J P Sauer & Son. All of these guns have automatic safeties. The one Lefever on which I cannot lower them in closing does not. Many, Many doublegun mechanisms have been built which are totally different in operation from the "Parker Bros". I believe Mr Ed depends primarily upon Parker Advertizing for his "Expertise".
