Some guns with floating firing pins have springs on them, some don't. Those blanket statements will bite you virtually every time. Just off hand I can think of not a single double I currently own with integral pins, nor can I think of one which has springs around the floating pins. Retractor springs, while used on some makes of guns are definitely not a requirement for proper functioning. If the pin was designed for them, they should be present less the pins protrude too far & hang up on closing the gun or when the chamber is empty. Very few Hammerless doubles have rebounding locks & depend upon perfect timing of the cocking mechanism to prevent pin drag in opening a fired gun. Has been a while since I owned a Parker, but as I recall they are in this category. I purchased my first double shotgun in the fall of 1955, a pre WWI J Stevens 12ga. Since that time I have owned doubles having integral pins, including Parker Bros, as well as independent ones. As far as I can recall that old Stevens is the only one I ever had to replace a pin on. A Parker Trojan I had broke the top lever Spring (V). The Stevens had to have the main springs replaced (coil). They didn't break, just went soft & would not consistently fire the shells. A J P Clabrough broke the swivel which connects the V Mainspring to the tumbler in one lock (Sidelock). Repair for all of these was elementary & rather inexpensive. I would not call any of them a design flaw. In the old days I think the coil springs were more likely to go soft than the V ones were to break, but were simpler to repair. In like manner an independant pin is more apt to break but far easier to repair. There is virtually always a trade off in design, there is no perfect design, that is an absolute best in all regards. Many tend to forget this.
RWTF; I am in total agreement, All make mistakes. It's how they handle them that is more important to me.
I once read an article by an author whom I considered extremely knowledgable on muzzleloaders. He had a regular article in a peridocal publication & wrote some very useful stuff. He made one major error though. He advised when taking a percussion gun hunting "Not" to set the lock on half cock as according to him it was possible for a blow to the hammer to break the sear & for the fall of the hammer to still fire the gun. He recommended to carry the gun with the hammer down on the cap instead. What he seemed to completely forget is that it takes less force on a hammer to fire a cap than to break a sear (I tried it). Any blow sufficient to break a sear & fire the gun would have fired it anyway. No gun should ever be carried with the hammers resting on the pins/caps. Eds comments on this in his last post are Spot On & believing in giving credit were credit is Due I Applaud him for those statements. Anyone using an early gun without rebounding locks should fully understand this & be on double watch. This includes both Muzzle loading & Breech loading guns.
