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

And quality is key.Make all these clever bits out of soft steel and without precision and they are rubbish - ever try taking disc set strikers out of an old AYA?

Quite honestly, no, never an AYA. As I recall, the AYA models I've seen over the years use a two pin tool, I suppose that could be problematic.
This is a Falcon, an early 1970s Ugartechaya product for the US market. I consider this gun my "traveler", as it is chambered and proofed for three inch ammunition, so I can shoot anything I can find in it, has a well fitted hidden third fastener, which I was told never to call a "Purdey nose", so, I won't, and has a better, three pin system on the discs. The third fastener isn't supplied on these guns today. The tool was made here in the states by Cole Haugh, and is "stocked" in better walnut than the gun, with very good precision on the bits. He also supplied his strikers, and last time the gun was serviced, re-hardened and polished all the internal bits-he said it just saves much possible trouble down the road. It was bent at the same time for a lefthanded individual (me) and fitted with a sporting clays type recoil pad, something I wouldn't do with a very expensive gun. It has been reliable, to date.
In addition to being considered my go-to gun for longer trips, I also consider it my gun for hunting with people who insist on running Labrador retrievers. This breed seems to have a penchant for knocking guns down, peeing upon them, or stepping on the wrist while the gun is cased in the truck. The singular good thing about a Labrador is if one ended up lost in the wilderness, you could use the Lab as a pantry on the paw, if you got very hungry.
I would accept damage to, or complete loss of this gun far more easily than a few others in my accumulation. The tool box, pictured, usually tags along, but, has never been needed. I'd be more upset if I lost that, than the gun.



Best,
Ted

It seems as if the guns and rifles didn't breakup so much - but what is with the elephant guide? I won`t hear the bang of that rifle at my ear�.!!!!



Gunwolf

As much as I appreciate hand detachable locks for the easy & no tools required access to the locks & gun interior for drying out & occasional lubrication/cleaning, the breakdowns encountered in the field by me & by people I was with at the time of breakage in the past 40 years of using double guns only amount 6 instances that I can remember.

1.Merkel sidelock with broken mainspring

2.Piotti sidelock with broken top lever spring

3.Piotti sidelock with broken swivel in the left lock.

4.Grulla sidelock with broken top lever spring

5.Purdey sidelock with broken hammer

6.AYA sidelock with broken hammer

Only the Merkel had hand detachable locks & none of the guns had spare locks but the point is that a spare set of locks would have easily & quickly repaired the breakdown in 4 out of the 6 cases.

To me, the value of hand detachable locks depends on under what conditions you are using the gun & how important it is to you to keep your gun working. The ease of repair part of the argument is only valid if you have a spare set of locks for the gun & have them with you (Perazzi mainspring replacement excepted).

Since 1985 I have kept a mental log of field damage, (reported by others) as opposed to longer term wear and tear. The most frequent problems in doubles are single triggers, ejectors, safety setting on recoil, spontaneous stock cracking or outright breakage, top lever spring breakage, main springs going. You can add hammer fracture in very few hammer guns. Most of these would not be helped by detachability.

In personal guns I had two V spring failures, one main, one ejector spring. Each time the repair took about a week and needed professional intervention. By contrast my OU Citori "failed" to fire twice on cold mornings, fixed itself later in the day due to the congealed oil regaining viscosity in the sun. A quick stock pull allowed instant diagnosis and cure the second time the problem surfaced.

Anyone remember which American writer wrote the lines "I reach for the Browning and find redemption"? For all my love of SXS I can empathize with that writer.

Well, for the same outlay of money, one could likely have a spare boxlock as backup to the lock on a sidelock.

Maybe less money if you were willing to vet a boxlock off the continent.

Best,
Ted

You get no argument from me on the economics of the situation.

Currently a spare set of locks for the Westley Richards hand detachable boxlock is about $6300 depending on the exchange rate
(about 10% of the price of the gun) & I would guess that a spare set of H&H type detachable sidelocks would be at least the same % of the gun price or more. A good reason that spare lock sets are not all that common.

However, a back up gun is not always convenient or possible to have along and a backup that costs 10% of the price of their main gun may not be what some people want to finish their hunt with.

Nice things are rarely inexpensive but to some people,the valueprovided is worth the cost.

Well,
I still own a few mechanical watches, inspite of the fact that the Ronald McDonald watch that comes for free in a kid's happy meal will actually keep better time. But, I have been falling out of love with sidelock double guns for a long time, mostly for the same reasons detailed in your list above. No doubt, the examples that passed my way had lived long lives before they came to me, but, they were, to a one, money pits.
I consider the A&D boxlock a huge improvement on any of the better known hammerless sidelock designs, which, were simply hammer guns with the hammers on the inside.
I keep waiting for lightning bolts to hit me when I opine this, but, they haven't, so far.

Best,
Ted

Enough of the crap Teddy...Tell us about your twue love.


Zer Fwench Mosse'burg pimpz guin.

The fact it took you 5 and 9 pages to interject your moronic "usual" on a few of these posts kinda' tells me you got your true love inflated again.

For a little while.

You still passing her back and forth with bilious?


Best,
Ted