doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Parker doubling

I have a Parker, all parts are original and have not been altered. Trigger pulls are 4 1/2 and 5 lbs. The owner says it doubles so I test fired with factory ammo in the right bbl and just a primed shell in the other. Fired the gun and it did not double. 3 shots out of the right bbl and it finally did double.
Took the receiver out of the stock and reassembled, cocked and banged it around with a plastic mallet and the left hammer held no matter what I did to dislodge it. Anyone have any idea why it would be doubling?

I had a Parker VH with double triggers that would ''Double'' on the last station of Skeet.
Holding the gun straight up doubled every time, I learned real fast to only load one barrel at a time.
Never did ''Cure'' the problem.

Dirty Harry

Reassembling the action off of the wood can reposition the triggers to the sear arms.
The screws aren't usually tightened the exact same amt as when the action is in wood plus the bottom tang can actually flex/bend a bit when the action is assembled in the wood as opposed to being off of the stock.
All that means that a trigger or triggers can be pressing on a sear arm or arms slightly when assembled (on the stock) and not so when assembled off of the wood.
That slight pressure is the same as slightly pressing the trigger and is disengages the sear from the hammer.

Check with the gun assembled and see if both triggers show a bit of slack in them when the gun is cocked. They should be able to be pulled away from contact with the sear arms and then spring back into contact under the trigger springs pressure.
Solid contact with no slack usually means the sear is being affected and cannot fully engage the hammer sear slot.

Also, the sear slot cut into the hammer can collect dirt/dried oil, etc in the bottom of the slot and keep the sear nose from fully engaging when cocked.
Check sear cuts in the hammers and the sear nose on each for crisp edges and slot. wear and someone trying for a better trigger pull can lessen the engagement.

The mallet slapping you gave the action to see if it would drop a hammer is OK, but it does not equal the recoil of a real live fire.

About all I can think of right off.

Kutter, Thank You, that is what I was thinking, that somehow the trigger is engaging the sear and doesn't happen every time. I'll check that out and report back the results. As far as dirt that is not the case at all.
In fact, this gun is as clean and solid as the day it left the factory. No built up gunk, no oil soaked into the wood and no cracks.

Try working backwards. I have a Remington that if you don’t cock it deeply enough, one of the sears barely catches.
Makes a hair trigger or causes it to double.

It’s a wear issue in its cocking system. Just a tiny difference in a couple parts.

sounds like a worn sear...

OK, here is the update. Kutter was correct in saying that hitting the receiver with a leather mallet would not duplicate actual firing. I took a closer look at all the usual suspects, triggers binding, or the right trigger hitting the left sear and anything to do with triggers, springs or sears.
nothing unusual. I examined the hammer closely and found a hairline fracture right at the notch that engages the sear. I welded the fracture and the doubling has been resolved.

I would’ve loved a picture of that

Me too. And I'm also wondering what welding process was used. Hammers are typically made from alloys of steel that aren't ideally suited for welding, and it sounds like the hammer notch is likely in the HAZ, so annealing and post-weld heat treating would be advisable, to avoid future issues.

I have a Lefever with a broken hammer. It's the type used with automatic ejectors. I'm not even considering TIG welding it, and am looking for a right side replacement.

Here is what I did. I used a very small grinding wheel to create a trough along the crack then laser welded it. I helps that I happen to have access to a laser welder which is used in mold repair