doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Firing Pin Protrusion, Hard Opening After Firing

I have a W. & C. Scott and Son 10 Gauge, S/N 27746 from 1882. I have trouble with the firing pins apparently sticking in the primers and preventing a smooth unlocking of the breach after firing. My firing pins seem about .020 to .030 inch too long at full protrusion. They also do not seem to have a spring retraction function. Is this normal, or is this because the springs are broken, or missing? If they are missing, is that the reason the firing pins stick out so far? When I fire the gun, it works fine. The primers are not pierced nor do they appear to have been placed under any distress by the firing pins. The indentations are good and normal looking. Are there supposed to be coil springs to retract the firing pins?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Tony Lowe

Probably rusted out springs,not uncommon. A few rounds of ball point pen spring may fix your problem.Also clean out the fireing pin holes good.

Some guns have pin retractor springs, others don't. They are not a necessity for smooth opening, but if a gun had them originally then they should be used, as the pins would be likely to have excess protrusion without them. A missing spring would mean more than .020-.030", but one broken could have the ends overlapping to account for this amount. With gun cocked & bbls removed what do the pins do. Are they retracted or loose in their holes? Most hard opening of this nature is from either mishaped pin ends or worn cocking mechanism not moving the hammers soon enough. If the pins themselves are sticking or binding in their holes, this can of course make for hard opening as well.

With the locks cocked and the gun open or with barrels off, the pins are free to move in and out in their holes. My question is whether anyone here knows if this gun originally had retraction springs or not -- i.e. would anyone have a similar gun and could they tell me if their guns have retraction springs for the firing pins. There is another thread here where two fellows had similar guns -- "duck billed" back-action sidelock W&C Scott and Son guns from the 1880's. One fellow posted pictures of his and it is only a few S/N's earlier than mine.

I will pay some attention to the shape of the nose of the firing pins, and the timing of the cocking on opening, thanks to your advice, 2-Piper.

Best Regards,
Tony Lowe

2-Piper, I had another thought on that cocking mechanism wear idea you mentioned. If the locks rebound, as most do, the firing pins would always be free to move back if there were some force or opportunity to do so -- e.g. the natural push back of the shape of the firing pin nose as it bears against the dimple in the primer on gun opening, or a firing pin retraction spring. These locks certainly rebound, so I doubt whether it is a cocking timing issue, or am I missing something. Is there something in your experience with this particular design that prompted that idea? So that leads me back to wondering whether there should be a retraction spring in this particular design. Thanks

Tony;
I may have been barking up the wrong tree, is this a hammer gun or hammerless. Don't know why but was thinking hammerless. If a hammer with them in the rebound position with bbls off see if the pins push back freely, flush with the breech face. I can't really say that it is universal, but the vast majority of hammer guns do seem to have retractor springs on the pins. I suspect this is because they often have a downward slope toward the points. Another question, did you perhaps misplace the decimal point & mean .200-.300 extra protrusion. That would for sure indicate a missing spring.

Hammerless, 2_piper.

shootingsioux, do you see drag marks on the primers? If not the pins aren't dragging. Are you sure the gun is clean inside? Could be the firing pin is hanging up on 100 year old gunk. Good luck.

Yes, Philbert, there are drag marks. No, there is no gunk in anything. Firing pins move freely. Gun otherwise operates and shoots without a hitch.

Now, I've described the gun and its condition already. It is a very specific type of action and manufacturer, so I'm hoping to hear from someone knowledgeable to shed light on whether it is supposed to have firing pin retraction springs. I can shorten the firing pin nose by 20 or 30 thou, but I don't want to do this unless I understand the intent of the design. Without that understanding, to go further would merely place me in the league of gun bodgers, where I don't want to be.