doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Gun breakups and quick-detachable locks?

The next time you find a gun with buggered up screw heads, ask yourself if they would be that bad if the gun could have been detail cleaned or repaired without turning them.
Mike

OWD,
do you know the continental weather, especially the english�? Or do you live in California? ;-)

Gunwolf

HD, yes, it requires a tool, but the process is so easy and simple. Raphael Marasaca showed me how to do it at a pigeon shoot several years ago, along with a little kit that contains two hammer springs, two firing pins and the tool. Whole deal for a little over a hundred bucks, as I recall.

Like this:

http://www.mm-accessory.com/pop.php?prodotto_id=38

SRH

I don't think a gun has to break to decide if drop locks might be an advantage. Cleaning and lubing alone is a good advantage. Just being there is a good enough reason, part of being unique and special instead of just utilitarian.

I have had a WR Single Trigger Droplock built in 1904 for years, and know the penalties of detachability.

A factor not often mentioned: LOSS of the detachable bits. My Droplock does not have the hinged bottom plate. A push on the release button drops the plate right off the gun, and this has happened a few times.

Friends who own detachable guns have lost bits over the years. An AYA No2 has lost a lock plate on a woodcock hunt. A Fratelli Gamba has had its trigger group stolen at a Skeet club gun rack. It was later ransomed for an undisclosed sum.

Serviceablity is an issue only with through the grip screws. You can pull the stock, on a stock bolted gun, dry and service the internals just as easily. And you do a more thorough job.

Not having detachable bits also avoids requests to demonstrate the feature. It may be an ego boost for some, to show off their guns locks, it is a PIA for many others.

1.Westley Richards corrected the issue with loss of the bottom plate on hand detachable boxlocks long ago by going to a hinged bottom plate that can't be lost.
2. The better sidelocks that use the H&H detachable sidelock pattern have a detent for the lever on the lockplate screw that requires considerable effort to move. It's only the lower end guns that have the lockplate screw free to back out & get lost. I know a guy who lost one on a 28 ga. AYA #2 but fortunately was observant enough not to loose the lockplate as well.
3. I don't have an answer for the trigger assembly stolen & held for ransom except to frequent a gun club in a better part of town.

I like locks that can be accessed w/o tools for lubrication & to dry out when a gun gets wet & As Der Ami said "no screws for Bubba to mess up". Ever notice how many otherwise nice sidelocks & boxlocks have buggered up lockplate & bottom plate screws!

Yes, I know some people will want fiddle with removing the locks when there is no reason to remove them subjecting the lockplate mortise to wear & chipping & the locks themselves to loss but to quote Ron White "you can't fix stupid" & the same type person would be at a fixed lock gun with an ill fitting screwdriver eventually.

To me, hand detachable locks are one of the many small refinements that separate nicer guns from ordinary guns.

"To me, hand detachable locks are one of the many small refinements that separate nicer guns from ordinary guns."

Hmmmm.
Dickson. MacNaughton. Purdey. Boss, Woodward. Etc. None have hand detachable looks and all are in the nicer than ordinary category.

Locks were made "hand detachable" for ease of cleaning & lubricating..and for maintenance. End of story.

I took apart only a couple of old guns. Two were A&D, one a Grandpa's gun which he used for about 10 years every weekend in season on waterfowl, hares and big game, then it was my Dad's opening-day gun for another couple of decades. The other a 1958 vintage, was hardly ever used until I got it in 1994, and it was my go-to gun until I set it for honorable retirement (too much sentimental value) in 2006. Neither looked like it needed cleaning and lubing, although my gun did have a broken mainspring once. My experience is too limited to come to conclusions, but that still leaves me wondering how much cleaning and lubing does a good double really need.

A good measure of the detachability value is a gun that has both versions, the Perazzi. In the MX8 guise it offers a detachable trigger group. In the MX12 it is fixed.

If you have the dexterity to operate a shotgun then you can use the accompanying hex tool to remove the stock. Personally I find stock removal easier than pressing the safety forward to release the lock.

The MX8 has more stock wood removed to accomodate the double wall thickness necessitated by the removable lock in the trigger area.

And as someone mentioned above, there are plenty of nice guns, arguably the nicest, ie Dickson and Boss, that do not offer detachability, not because they could not, but because it was unnecessary.
The most buggered up screws I come across on doubles are the stock grip screws, and there is no detachable cure for those.

"Locks were made "hand detachable" for ease of cleaning & lubricating..and for maintenance. End of story. "

Agreed LeFusil, and for amazing Rubes that don't know what they have