Hello All,
After waiting rather patiently for three years, during which a lot of red tape and complications with carriers ensued,
my friend Oscar received his John Robertson SLE bought at auction in Germany.
It is a 12 bore with 2.5" chambers, in extremely good condition with very nice wood, mirror bores and very tight.
Marked: "JOHN ROBERTSON, 41 ALBEMARLE STREET, PICCADILLY, LONDON, W."
It weighs 2,88 kg, very well balanced.
Serial # 773x (Apparently 1929 or 1930s vintage).
He shoots it very well and it is going to become his quail gun.
There is a small issue that I am sure someone here can shed light into: after firing both barrels it becomes rather difficult to open.
On opening it ejects both cartridges perfectly and to exactly the same spot.
The gun has not been overhauled and maybe it is just a lack of lubrication of the ejector mechanism.
Any and all comments will be appreciated.
Best,
JC
Firing pin drag? Easy fix.
Highly doubtful the issue has anything to do with the ejector mechanism.
Try a different brand of shell first, and a premium shell with a real brass base would be best.
As LeFusil indicates the issue is likely firing pin draging on the shells. Examine the spent shells and look for a mark in the form of a line from the center of the expended shotshell primer down across the face of the shot shell for a short distance. If you want to see the line more clearly (if the issue is caused by firing pin drag) use a black colored felt marker to ink the primer and face of each shotshell before shooting them. On shotguns without rebounding hammers, the cocking levers should immediately contact the tumbler cocking extension upon the process of the barrels beginning to move as the gun is opened--within about .005" of movement. This problem is a bane of many Fox shotguns; and many cocking slides on Fox guns have had to be replaced as they were not fitted properly when the gun was made.
On some shotguns the cocking lever pivot pin (screw) is worn and it is a simple matter of making a new screws to fit the hole of the cocking lever properly and the problem is corrected.
What Dustin said. Having said that, it is likely time for a CLA, clean, lube and inspection.
Good to see you posting, JayCee.
Best,
Ted
I assume you are using factory loaded ammunition, but in case not, check that the sizer die is bottoming out to the rim and not allowing for a tight chamber fit to slow extraction.
Ammo has been premium Federal and Baschieri & Pellagri loads.
Used my smoke lamp on the shells instead of black marker. No lines on the spent shells (?).
JC
By the way I am having the same problem with my Beretta AS-20-E, which I, miraculously, learnt to shoot. (Thank you Bill!).
I.e., it is hard to open after firing both barrels. No lines on the spent shells either.
JC
I had this happen on an LC smith nonejector with low recoil factory target loads. Switched to Polywad Vintagers (now gone) and RST's and the issue went away immediately. I would just try a box of RST shells, assuming you can get any, and see if the problem persists.
Mark,
I think you are right.
As Ted said a thorough CLA!
Best,
JC
It would seem that you have eliminated firing pin drag as the cause of difficulty in opening your gun. None of us can really know just how difficult it is to open, or if it is simply normal cocking effort for this particular shotgun. I think I would next try dry firing the gun with no snap caps or fired shells in the chambers. If the effort required to open it is still the same as it is with fired shells in the chambers, that would completely eliminate the brand of ammo as the cause.
So then, the difficult opening might be the perfectly normal cocking effort of compressing mainsprings, etc., or it could require more force than normal due to other factors such as being gunked-up with old congealed lube, or a lack of proper lubrication, or rough rusty surfaces on the action knuckle, hook and hinge pin, hammers, etc. Nothing wrong with trying a different brand of ammo if you really need it and it solves the problem. But I'd rather do a bit of additional inspection and trouble-shooting first to confirm or eliminate other possible causes.
Over the years I have been fortunate to acquire two English vintage shotguns which had seen very, very little use- one single barrel sidelock, one double barrel boxlock, both non-ejector.
Both guns were very stiff to open - and close - which has eased off with use, however they still remain "tight". Perhaps your friend's Robertson just needs some more use..?
Hello G4Me,
It could perfectly be!
JC