doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Crescent fails to fire sometimes help.

20ga Crescent sidelock every 5th shot or so the right barrel does not fire, week hit on the primer. I dis-assembled to have the worn impressions welded up as I thought that was the problem for sure. My local gunsmith ( a good smith but not a double expert for sure) said he was quite certain that was not the problem. Firing pins look good.
1. Are those wear depressions normal?
2. Hammers are out anyway should I have them welded and filed flat?
3. Any advice appreciated.

Ah Geeze somehow cant get picts to post. I will keep trying.

worn impressions? What are those. Welding up- 3G position perhaps? Tig- Plasma spray- not always a good idea on older case hardened mild (1018) low carbon steel parts, receivers. What parts were worn or broken in the first place. Did you use the same shells when you experienced this right barrel malfunction? Factory or reloads. My guess- shell(s) may drop in the breech a tad too far, due to a deeper rim cut--did you try other brands of shells, or just stay with the brand that caused this FUBAR. Crescent doubles are hardware store doubles-hard to justify putting big $ into repairing one, IMO.=Oh, forgot- is your gun a hammerless or an enclosed hammer design??

Well I have been using jpgbox to post photos for years and now all of a sudden it no longer works. I will keep trying.

Thank for the reply RWTF Both hammers have worn indentations in them from where they strike the firing pins. It is a hammerless. Using only my reloads.
Yes Crescents are cheap hardware store guns but welding up a worn hammer is not too expensive a fix if that is the problem. Pictures were supposed to be included but I am unable to post them anymore for some reason with jpg.

A mushroomed hammer face in usually not a problem. I'd check the firing pin protrusion when it fires. Sounds like the right one is slightly worn. Measure it against the left one. I've seen the firing pins worn or distorted on both ends. Crescents weren't made with the best materials and soft metal wears over time. Replacing a firing pin is an easy option to see if your problem goes away. If cheap just swap them and see if your problem moves to the left barrel.

Another thing to look at is rim cut depth on the right barrel. I've seen a few which were "cleaned up" by some "gunsmith" when they cleaned up a rusted chamber and some shells seated too deep. Longer firing pin fixed the problem in that case or just different brands of shells.

Somehow the picts magically appeared.

When I used the term "hardware store guns" I left out the work "cheap" as back in my youth (1950's) Smith-Winchester sold a ton of Model 12's- both field grade guns, and also quite a few Trap and Skeet guns as well. But welding, without annealing and then re-heat treating afterwards to bring the resultant built-up area of the hammer face(s)--questionable procedure, IMO anyway. RWTF

Always work on the least expensive part first! Take the firing pins out and compare them to each other. Could be some crud in that side, the spring that retracts the pin could be damaged, the pin back could be mushroomed or the pin could be broken. Check all that first.

Agree-assume that the hammers are heat treated alloy steel. Try a file hardness test on the sides of each hammer-firing pins should be hardened like a cold chisel- tough outer surface- softer core hardness against wear from impact-