Daryl, the pins on my Abbey were a bit sticky and hard to retract. Upon removal the left one had a coil or two remaining of retracting springs. After clean up and a bit of a polish, I installed new springs and now they work nicely. The pins have a shoulder to retain the springs and were it not for cleaning I would not have noticed the remains of the retracting springs. The action flat shows patent 654 and I see that yours is marked patent 657. Wonder if they apply to the rising bite? Edwardian, is the patent shown a scissors acting type of a 3'rd bite on the barrel extension? I can see how it would work from then patent drawing. Really great just how much information is available from members on this and other sites. Without this available, they would just be another old gun in someone's collection. I really like collecting and using these wonderful firearms and the study of the different designs and patents is fascinating. So much experimentation going on in these early decades. Looks like by the late 1890's maker's pretty much settled on the designs they would use for "the modern gun" that is still being made today. Oh! The Abbey 10 bore shot nicely on the clays course today!!
