doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Different lock styles & qualities.

How about those italian Fabbri -made shotguns ? Do they have coil or lever springs in their actions ?

While I love shotguns, I do not use them very well, pistols leave me cold yet I use them well enough to score 95per cent in Olympic air pistol shooting. Trigger sensitivity is the foundation of pistol shooting and much cultivated by pistoleers.

We tested a fellow pistoleer who claimed he cound detect minute trigger difference. Blindfolding him we asked him to judge the difference in a Perazzi with V and Coil spring locks in place. He could not. Neither could any of the rest of us including the owner of the shotgun.

Small Bore points out that the best shotgun makers used V springs. They also favored sidelock actions and finished the metal surfaces properly and these maybe the reasons for the absence of creep, rather than the type of spring used. Sidelock geometry promotes crisp triggers.

The boxlock geometry is more challenging from the trigger feel angle, since in the boxlock the main spring is compressed a bit when the trigger is depressed. However, one of the best boxlock triggers I came across was on a Winchester 21 which has coil springs, it had none of the usual "sponginess" of V sprung boxlocks.

Perhaps having had the experience of repeated V spring breakages makes me more coilspring-friendly, introduing a bias in my judgement.

I am starting to believe in the Uri Geller phenomenon. Since my last post on V/leaf springs I broke another one. Not a shotgun one, it is the flat spring on a British army jack knife. It just gave up and fell out of the knife handle in two pieces with no undue strain having been placed on the knife. It is getting so I feel some unease whenever I handle one of my V sprung doubles, a cute little 410 Cogswell hammer gun and an Italian SXS boxlock ejector.

Is there a V spring phobia support group out there?

I was told many years ago, by a maker of leaf springs, that the degree of polish has a great deal to do with whether or not it ever breaks. He said that the slightest score, or line, on a spring will introduce failure at some point.

SRH

My take? Leaf springs predate coil springs by centuries and tradition's grip is one of the strongest of human emotions. The best leaf springs require the highest skill of the workman and attain the level of art. There is a beauty and allure to them that defies rational explanation. I'm one of those who falls under their spell. The coil spring is probably equally efficient, perhaps more so in some respects but lacks the characteristic we double gun collectors admire most: soul derived from individual skill. No apology is needed for adhering to roots rather than technical progress.

Joe; Terry Wieland echos your thoughts in his Spanish Best book,...tradition.

When in Spain at Ugartechea he ordered a model 1030. He ask Mr. Ugartechea which spring should he get in his gun as they offered both. "Mr. Ugartechea replied, coil "they don't break", he said tersely." Meaning no doubt; not as likely. Then again maybe none of his ever broke.

Ugartechea coil spring. Not a very good picture. It is a pic of a pic.

If I was making a living guiding in Africa for animals that kill and/or eat people I'd carry a rifle with coils, no question.

Bird hunting or target shooting is quite different.

SRH

A well made V spring is undoubtedly a thing of beauty. Personally I find the encased coil springs in the Fratelli Gambas rather beautiful too.

It has crossed my mind that V springs probably were favored in early gunmaking because they could be made as and when needed on the premises. Coils are more of a specialist high quantity item, not so practical for low production guns.

That Ugartechea with coil spring shows a better finish than any Ugartechea I have ever seen. Which goes to show that coils can be part of a well finished total.

I wish you not too much dirt in Africa...... ;-)
That of course, is another problem for coils.

Best Regards,
Gunwolf

My experience of African rifles giving good service in hard conditions over many years suggests that the good quality boxlock action stands up to as much abuse as you can throw at it. A nice example is a Henry Atkin boxlock and a Rigby boxlock, both in .470, which have been in continual service in the hands of a family of professional hunters since WW1. Still both used daily. They are just two of hundreds.

...and both with leaf springs of course...!?

Gunwolf