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#304737 12/17/12 12:11 AM
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wvklw Offline OP
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I was shooting some trap today and had an accidental discharge. Thank god no one was hurt in any manner.
Here is the situation. I was shooting informal trap with an O/U. I had a live round in both the top and bottom barrels. Since this was informal if we miss then we can fire a second round a the bird. No one is keeping score. I had fired 19 shots through the top barrel. I fired the the top barrel on the 19th round and started to break the shotgun open to eject the fired round and the shotgun fired the bottom barrel. This was about 2-3 seconds after i fired the top barrel. The shooter beside me said that he saw the whole thing happen and that my hand or fingers was no where near the trigger. I was so shaken that I could not remember my exact hand location.
This is a shotgun that retails near $3000.00 and a very popular brand.
So my question is it possible for a firearm to do this? Could firing the top barrel so much disengage the sear on the second barrel and it just went off?
I will probably return the shotgun for the manufacturer and let him take a look.

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Sidelock
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You might as well tell us the manufacturer and model of the gun.

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Sidelock
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"...Could firing the top barrel so much disengage the sear on the second barrel and it just went off?"

Each time you opened the gun to reload the one bbl you did fire, the mechanism should reset the unfired hammer on it's sear once again. So both hammers are freshly set so to speak onto their sears each time the gun is opened and then closed regardless of wether one, both or neither of the bbls is fired.
That is if the gun is opened completely,,and assuming everything is in correct mechanical condition.

Trying diagnose what went wrong from a distance is impossible, but I'd suggest having someone who understands the workings of the gun take a good look at it.

Being a new(er) gun, the original mfg'r is a good bet.
There're so many things it could be. Plus you always have to figure the possibility of human/shooter intervention,, wether you believe it happened or not.
Having the gun looked over by the mfg'r or an excellent gunsmith can at least elliminate any mechanical possibilitys for the mishap.

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I have no idea how many rounds would have to be fired in one bbl to transfer enough heat to the other bbl to produce a "Cook-Off".
This is normally thought of as a problem only with full automatic guns such as machine guns.
Other than that it would seem the hammer had to fall. From your description it seems there was othing to produce a jar other than the firing itself. It is possible the hammers are not quite timed together (They Should be of course) & that you were only opening the gun enough to re-cock the upper bbl without re-setting the lower.
This could be checked out rather easily working with snap caps to see how closely he hammers cock together.
ould agre it is a good idea to get the maker involved. A gun firing while pushing the opening lever is definitely not a good idea.


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I've had maybe 3 or 4 instances of doubles firing on closing but never on opening. Does your gun by any chance have a particularly light trigger pull when it's set to fire bottom barrel first? Sounds like maybe a sear issue. When a sxs or OU doubles, it's a case of the first shot jarring loose the hammer from the other sear. May have been, for whatever reason, that your attempt to open the gun was enough of a jolt for a hammer that didn't quite recock correctly. Scary, but probably an easy fix.

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Sidelock
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Does your gun have intercepting sears?

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I'd bet it doesn't!

JC


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Wvklw, what type of trigger/s does the gun have, two, single non-selective, single selective?

JC


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WVKLW,
Next time you shoot several rounds with one barrel while a round is chambered in the other barrel,check the unfired round for a small "ding" in the primer.Often, the firing pin in the unfired barrel,has enough inertia to mark a primer.Maybe the inertia of firing 19 rounds was enough to cause a "hang fire" of a couple seconds.
Mike

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Originally Posted By: Gnomon
Does your gun have intercepting sears?



How many 3k o/u guns have intercepting sears? I can tell you a sxs that does.

Last edited by 2holer; 12/17/12 05:43 PM.
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