Is My Shotgun Safe to Shoot?

Is My Shotgun Safe to Shoot?
The breakdown on my old double barrel  is getting loose, or worn, What can I do?

Lily, Kentucky – -(AmmoLand.com)- I am starting to see wear in my shotgun. When I close the action the barrel clicks as it rocks back and for on the receiver?

I can now put my whole fingernail in between the breech and the barrels. Sometimes when I pull the trigger, the shells do not go off and the safety is stiff to operate?

I hear about these conditions all the time, and I work to resolve these and other issues on very old and somewhat old guns alike.

Barrel Type:
The first thing to determine is do you have a Damascus barrel. They are wound steel that is heated and then hammer welded together. They are beautiful but different. If the metal has good integrity, it can be shot with low-pressure shells. Now when I say good integrity of metal I mean that there are no deep pits and rust cracks or separations in the steel. Those marks would indicate that the welding of the steel in that barrel has been weakened and could blow. Modern shells are at about 1200 psi on up and are way too high powered. Polywad Inc of Georgia, a Shotgun Shell Developer makes a Vintage shell that tests at 600 psi and works for that period of gun.

Other guns would be of regular armory steel and not have a separation potential.

Barrel Lock Up:
Next is barrels lock up. Lock happen when the barrel comes down into the receiver and the locking lug secures it to the frame. There are two extremes that are both problematic.

If the lock up does not really happen, the barrel can tip open when fired. The recoil can push the locking lug off the barrel locking platform. Depending on how this happens, it can be very dangerous

If lock up happens, but the metal is so worn that the barrels can rock back and forth. If there is enough play, you could still have some blowout. Blowout would be the gas exploding out of the brass casing the was not held tight against the face of the receiver.

Breakdown Lever
The breakdown lever should move freely with light thump pressure, and snap back into place upon barrel lockup.

Pivot Action
If the pivot action is worn then the barrels might be too loose against the breech face. The wrist pin gives the pivot action of the barrel tipping down. The forend locks against the writs pin. This condition could also manifest in firing problems. Primers not indenting far enough to ignite shell.

Safety
The safety operates under spring tension. Sometimes they get very loose and dangerous, Other times they are so tight that they are not easily operable. Tightness over time can be corrosion of parts or grit working into contact areas that should slide.

Hammer
On exposed hammer guns, you should feel a definite click when pulling back the hammer. On single barrel, you can see the trigger jump and lock into place. Only sometimes visible on concealed hammer guns.

On side hammer guns the integrity of the inside lock is important. The hammer has a first sear notch called the safety notch and the second is the firing notch. The engagement of the hammer to the sear on both of these notches has to be right, or the gun could go off. If the second hammer has a bad firing notch, it could go off when the first hammer fires. Causing double firing. Both dangerous and not legal. With a bad sear notch, it just might not lock into position at all.

Old Guns are Great but Make Sure they are Safe
You might have your Grand Fathers or your Fathers gun that was handed down to you. It has been tucked away in the closet for a while. Consider the great pleasure of sharing that experience with your young child, adult child or grand child. I have seen the expression on a young man’s face when one of my projects is placed in his hands. I have heard the stories from out of state, and I have a file of letters from those that have chosen to put their feeling on paper. I do total restorations of these guns on a regular basis. Stories and photos of the journey is posted on our blog Budd’s Shop Talk.

About Budd Gardstein:
Budd’s Gunsmith Shop is the only full service shop in Southeastern and Central Kentucky. Budd is a gunsmith that works on all types of guns. Budd’s Gun Smith Shop is an experienced restoration shop specializing in the repair of fire and flood damaged firearms. Visit BuddsGunsmith.com