doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Hard Opening Double

I'm out of here until the OP clears up the origin of the gun.

I have a Brazilian made box lock double I use for a "go to gun" that was hard to open. What made it hard to open was a dry and dirty cocking mechanism. A good internal cleaning and some drops of CLP in the right places made the thing work good.

Gazz:
Despite all of the sage and insightful advice you've read here, it would be most prudent to (1) return the gun to the maker for adjustment if it is new or (2) take it to a HIGHLY skilled 'smith who is familiar with English guns for analysis and repair.

Anything else seems foolhardy.

And... it would be wise that you should NOT attempt work on this gun yourself.

Words of Wisdom from the unknown land of the Rising Kensal (whatever that mought be)!!

Putting metal back on is much harder than taking it off. I would not touch a bearing surface with a tool. That is highly skilled double gun smith work.

Thanks for all your comments. It is a Kassnar imported gun and it is not the firing pins hanging up since it does it when the gun is empty. There is also no perceivable difference if the hammers have been dropped or not. So it seems that it is a lack of clearance either at the lug on the barrel or between the forend iron and frame or both. I am quite aware of how easy it is to remove metal and how hard it is to replace since I have been doing some kind of metal work all my adult life from goldsmithing, blacksmithing, machining, knife making and many years in high tech building and repairing assemblies that had tolerance requirements of .0001". I've also built a few .45's that function well and are quite accurate as well am currently in the process of rebarreling a Savage .22 magnum to .17 HMR as well as repairing or rebuilding numerous other firearms. But, I have never worked on a double barrel shotgun with this kind of problem and thought the members here could offer some useful advice. When I applied ink to the bearing surfaces of the forend iron and barrel lug and then tried it, it is obvious that some portions are bearing more than others. I guess I will continue with my careful stoning until it lightens up.

Gazz.
It sounds like you're well versed in the use of tools. If the forend fit it too tight, take the metal off the forend lump on the barrels. A singlecut mill file is perfect for the job. Look at the contact marks and take a few thousandths off. Try the forend fit, remove a few more thousandths as needed. Contrary to what others have asserted, it's easy to tighten up a forend if too loose as well. Many a Perazzi and Krieghoff has had the forend lump on the barrels tightened up with a small centerpunch mark on each side of the lump, near the rear surface. If you go slow, tightening will not be needed. It's not a super critical fit and can be done by anyone comfortable with a mill file.

I know that Run with the Vermin, doesn't like Limey's and neither does he like people from the land of the Rising Kensal by the sounds of it.
But as a simple Limey, could I ask the OP, Gazz, Is the gun stiff to open with the forend removed? Is it only difficult with the forend fitted?
Therein may lie the answer to your conundrum.

Have you tried a few properly-placed dabs of grease?

Yup- and sometimes I runs with the Vixens too-being a "Ladies Man" on occasion. I dislike the Limeys for: Belfast--where my late great-grandfather worked as a ship's millwright at Harlan and Wolff until 1910, when he left for America-- when will the Royals admit they don't belong in Ireland and get out forever- also Lord Boycott and the Potato Famine, the Easter Sunday 9actually Monday) rebellion of 1916, and the unspeakable slaughter in 1922 on "Bloody Sunday" at Wembley Stadium--you can get a sense of the "White Man's Burden" in both movies- Ghandi-- and Lawrence of Arabia- where the British military solved any "problems" by shooting unarmed civilians en masse. But they do make some fine shotguns-- and whereinHell is Kensal anyway- risen or not? When they do a re-make of one of my favorite movies- "The Bridge On The River Kwai" which portrays all too well the "stiff upper lip, Old Boy" approach re: Alex Guiness as Col. Nickerson--(building a bridge to aid the enemies efforts to win the war is damn near treason IMO) and have Wm. Holden drop the "Some Limey" reference in the early part of that first rate movie, then I'll maybe reconsider-maybe