doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion German & Austrian Sporting Guns @ doublegunshop.com Rouxverschluss spring problem

Fingers crossed folks that you can see these pictures, (my first posted on a forum without help). This is a Rouxverschluss, a snap-lock, under-lever Drilling that was made near Suhl (Z and M are intertwined on bottom of rifle barrel so it was made in town of Zella Mehlis). It's marked on the top rib "W. M�chler S�hne, Neuenrade n/W". (Germany). It may have been made in either 1911 or 1916.

It was purchased, in a vey poor state of care, the gun shop rang me because they knew I'd get it working again, (we're getting there!). The firing pin springs were rusted out, some broken and there were no two the same. These have since been professionally replaced but, because they are so close together, they clash against each other on discharge. This robs them of their energy and they fail to strike the primer with sufficient energy. Clearly something is wrong. Perhaps the original springs were square in section and so did not interfere with each other when released. Any suggestions gratefully received if you have seen this problem and the solution to it before.

http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/ii489/ten_gauge/DSCN8921.jpg
http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/ii489/ten_gauge/Rouxverschluss.jpg
http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/ii489/ten_gauge/rouxverschlusskiwiIMG_1223.jpg

K; I can't see from the pics where the springs "clash", in pic 2 & 3 there seems to be sufficient clearance. I doubt "square" springs where used on a round guide. Perhaps because of the rust etc. you need to insure the pins are riding free of any 'crud resistance' sans springs first. Also check the pins protrude sufficiently in the fired position. Nice cleanup by the way - like to see those old ones revived instead of scrapped. FWIW - John Can.

I doubt if the original springs in this fine old weapon were "swuare" in section- perhaps ovaled, but a squared coil spring- every time to bring metal under stress to a point or a 90% corner, you chase the stress into that point and given time, it will most likely fracture there- I would check each spring for equal compression in a fixture- they must all be 'in balance" I should think for this firing design to function properly. Also redress the firing pins, shoulders, etc. might help, if they show signs of wear..

You may have to use wolf gunsprings to make some that will do the job and not interfere with each other. Just an idea.
John Mc

IMHO you have run into a twofold problem: Faulty ignition of the rifle barrel is nowadays a quite common problem with old 9.3x72R drillings, with hammer drillings occuring more often than not. When these drillings were made, the cartridges were loaded with large .254" diameter Berdan primers, made of thin copper and much more easily dented than modern large rifle primers. A quite common cure is to use large pistol primers, which are more sensitive. As the Max pressure of the 9.3x72R is well below that of magnum revolver cartridges such as .44 Mag, there is no problem here. Further, coil-spring striker lockwork drillings are quite rare and were never popular for good reason: The force of the light strikers powered by thin coil springs was always marginal for igniting even the soft primers of the old times, so they were prone to misfires even then. Apparently a former owner of your drilling tried to solve the problem by replacing the original springs with stronger/thicker ones, now creating a new problem with the spring to spring interference. I fear, as the original makers of coil spring striker drillings could not solve the ignition problems, even at the times of softer primers, you too will not succeed in making your drilling completely reliable.

If possible I would let Wolf see the mounted springs to see if they can ID the correct ones, and particularly maybe find more powerful ones. FOR SURE polish the heck out of the rods the springs are mounted on, to eliminate friction. (Wonder if one could polish the inside radius of the springs themselves...) Good luck to a potentially gratifying gun...

Thanks for all your ideas guys. I had heard the suggestion of using pistol primers elsewhere, (probably originally on this forum), and I feel it might be worth experimenting with different brands to see which is the most consistent. I have some Berdan loaded cases too. They're a different varient of 9,3x72R, (this Drilling uses "Deutsche" shaped cases), but I can pull the bullets, F.L. size with the right die, (decapper removed), reassemble and shoot with the old Berdan's still in place. If it's a tackdriver, I'll send both gun and target photos. Once again, I appreciate all your help.