October
S M T W T F S
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31
Who's Online Now
4 members (KDGJ, Ted Schefelbein, Argo44, 1 invisible), 1,165 guests, and 6 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Forum Statistics
Forums10
Topics39,515
Posts562,251
Members14,590
Most Online9,918
Jul 28th, 2025
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 2 of 2 1 2
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 12,743
Sidelock
***
Offline
Sidelock
***

Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 12,743
If one wanted to get absolutely technical, then a "Self Opener" would have to move the bolt lever for you as well as open the bbls. There is of course no gun built to intentionally do this. A few rotary bolt guns have on occasion become Self Openers, but this was undesirable. In general usage I believe the term self opener is applied to those guns which upon the locking bolt being withdrawn the bbls will open themselves with no effort from the shooter. An Assisted (easy) opener is one in which some effort is required to open the bbls, but not the full amount necessary for cocking the locks. Most self openers will I believe be found as those mechanisms which compress the main springs upon closing the gun & will require the greatest effort to close the gun. Assisted openers will fall between the self openers & regular mechanisms in this regard. If you lay the gun on its side as mentioned with hammers down on empty hulls, if upon withdrawing the locking bolts the bbls open, cock the locks & eject the empties with no assistance, I would call it a "Self opener". If it does not do all this then it is an assisted opener, assuming it does give some aid to the opening process, beyond that of bbl gravity.


Miller/TN
I Didn't Say Everything I Said, Yogi Berra
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,245
Likes: 423
Sidelock
**
Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,245
Likes: 423
Seems reasonable to me.


Out there doing it best I can.
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 14,454
Likes: 278
Sidelock
**
Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 14,454
Likes: 278
The Cogswell and Harrison Avant Tout and the Winchester Model 21 are assisted opening guns, easy to open because of the ejector design. They are among the most friendly of side by side guns for the shooter. That is because they are easy to open and easy to close, much different from many other well respected designs. Most high quality guns are respected for traits other than their ease of operation for the shooter. This is mainly because most shooters are not familiar with guns other than the one or two they shoot.

Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,553
Sidelock
**
Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,553
I thought Gough's faithful Henry Atkins was a Spring Opener?
Franc

Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 890
Sidelock
**
OP Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 890
Are there any designs in which the gun cocks on closing,
and could that "assist" in opening?

Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 406
Sidelock
*
Offline
Sidelock
*

Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 406
There are many things in the English language that are not as they would seem. However through common usage they become to mean certain things despite of this. Self Opener and assisted opener are such phrases. Those that have handled a Purdy and an assisted opening SXS such as an H&H with that option will understand why they were given these two separate names. The Purdy being much more immediate and vigirous.

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,857
Likes: 15
Sidelock
**
Offline
Sidelock
**

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,857
Likes: 15
When you shoot Purdeys like a gentleman, they open, load, and close on their own.

All you have to do is keep you eyes on the birds and an arm outstretched towards your loader.

Hahahaha

OWD


Good Gun Alerts & more:

www.DogsandDoubles.com
Page 2 of 2 1 2

Link Copied to Clipboard

doublegunshop.com home | Welcome | Sponsors & Advertisers | DoubleGun Rack | Doublegun Book Rack

Order or request info | Other Useful Information

Updated every minute of everyday!


Copyright (c) 1993 - 2024 doublegunshop.com. All rights reserved. doublegunshop.com - Bloomfield, NY 14469. USA These materials are provided by doublegunshop.com as a service to its customers and may be used for informational purposes only. doublegunshop.com assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in these materials. THESE MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT-ABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. doublegunshop.com further does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information, text, graphics, links or other items contained within these materials. doublegunshop.com shall not be liable for any special, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, including without limitation, lost revenues or lost profits, which may result from the use of these materials. doublegunshop.com may make changes to these materials, or to the products described therein, at any time without notice. doublegunshop.com makes no commitment to update the information contained herein. This is a public un-moderated forum participate at your own risk.

Note: The posting of Copyrighted material on this forum is prohibited without prior written consent of the Copyright holder. For specifics on Copyright Law and restrictions refer to: http://www.copyright.gov/laws/ - doublegunshop.com will not monitor nor will they be held liable for copyright violations presented on the BBS which is an open and un-moderated public forum.

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5
(Release build 20201027)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.0.33-0+deb9u11+hw1 Page Time: 0.261s Queries: 28 (0.233s) Memory: 0.8310 MB (Peak: 1.9023 MB) Data Comp: Off Server Time: 2025-10-15 23:37:10 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS