Old Side by Side, one hammer hits harder than the other.

[Evilv]

Hi.

 

Back here after a long time away.

 

I have an Essex side by side Spanish boxlock non ejector that I bought as a young lad in 1975. Not an expensive gun. It was about five years old when I bought it, and I used it a fair bit for about thirty years as my main gun. It's been in the cabinet for about ten years until recently while I've been rifle shooting mostly.

 

I never had it serviced, but now and then I took off the bottom plate and lubed up the sears and cocking levers. Sad to say that in the early days it was lubed up with Thee in One oil which gums up and you can see varnish on some of the parts where the oil dried out.

 

Come the other day at the start of the pheasant season, a farmer pal of mine asked me to come up and shoot some pheasants for him. :).

 

I was pleased to oblige, but had a couple of missfires from the open choke barrel which is the one that has done probably 95% of the shooting over forty years since i had the gun. I could see that the firing pin wasn't working right and have cleaned the gum off it and it is working better now. Looking at the way the action works by firing it with the bottom plate off and holding a two pence piece on the firing pin (in lieu of a cartridge) as I depress the sears one at a time. The much used side of the lock hits FAR less hard. I've since stripped it and the springs seem about equally strong when I hand squeeze them. Nothing looks worn, but the more used side of the lock certainly doesn't pull the hammer back as far as the other side when cocked. The used side cocks more easily and holds the hammer less far back.

 

Is wear on the sear a likely cause of this? I'm thinking that if the sear was a few thou longer, it would not lock up until the hammer was further back. This would make it hit the cartridge much harder.

 

It all feels safely locked up by the way when it is cocked, and I have never had any issues with the safety or the gun going off unless purposely fired.

 

Thanks for any advice from people with 'gun smithing' experience.

Edited October 15, 2016 by Evilv

[Gunman]

That could be the answer but it is more than likely a worn striker or that the hammer nose is not hard enough and it has worn an indent in its striking face ,or a combination of both . Without stripping and checking every thing is a best guess based on experience .

[Evilv]

Thanks Gunman.

 

 

The hammer noses are not bad, and little different. The striker shaft was gummy with old 3 in 1 oil residue and is now clean.

 

The most noticeable thing about the way the action is operating is that with the bottom plate off it is clear that the two sides are not cocking in the same way. The little used side (back trigger) cocks to a point where the hammer is about 3mm further back than the other one. The strike is correspondingly weaker on the dodgy side because the spring is less compressed. The hammer springs were side by side identical and felt the same when I pressed them down.

 

Anyway - I'll be taking it out next week to put some shots through it, now it has been cleaned and lubed and reassembled. I had a right old palaver compressing the hammer springs to get the hammer pin through the action. I had to make a special lever to do it. With the right kind of tool it is easy. Without, it is a menace.

Edited October 15, 2016 by Evilv

[bruno22rf]

The hammers will return till they are held back by the sears - unlikely that any amount of wear will make one come back 3mm more or less than the other - most likely that the gun is simply designed that way. Give the action a good soak in WD40 and use compressed air to blow out all the muck (remove the stock!) - once you have done this you can reassemble the gun and cock the locks, then remove the barrels and place a 2p piece over each firing pin in turn - pulling the trigger should launch the coin to the ceiling - simple but pretty reliable old trick.

[Walker570]

Seems to me it needs a goodly scrub out and some more use. Take it out and put a few through it, even at nothing but better at some clays. It basically needs using in my view, been sat doing nothing and suddenly asked to perform, we all have the same problem. Just a tiny bit of gunk can slow things down. Nice to hear someone is getting and relatively old gun enjoying itself again. have fun.

[Evilv]

Thanks for the input Bruno and Walker. As I said above, I've had the moving parts out except the strikers which are as tight as can be and I don't have the three pronged spanner thing to get them out. The cocking lever and hammers had gum deposits on them which are now removed. I put solvent into the strikers and worked them back and forward a hundred times with a small punch and a small panel pin hammer. This has freed up the dodgy side a lot. Whereas before if dry fired, that dodgy striker pin only came out about 1mm, now it comes out 2mm, same as the other one. Whereas doing the 2p test before the cleaning as outlined above, the good side bounced the coin off the ceiling, the bad side used to fire the coin only one foot up. Now it will hit the ceiling 2 out of three times, though nothing like as hard as the other one which actually marked the paint on the ceiling :( .

 

So - I'm sure it will fire now. The only thing I haven't done from what you advised is to really scrub out the action body which still has some gum inside. I hate that three in one oil!! When I was in my twenties (now 65 and wiser) I didn't know what rubbish it was and used it on this gun. If I get more trouble, I will take it all apart again and boil the beggar in a suitable solution to clean it off. To be honest though, I'm keen to leave well alone if she works ok. I've oiled the pivots and greased the pressure points and I'm looking forward to walking up some more pheasant maybe tomorrow.... Happy days.

 

Here is my little bag from last week.... Enjoyed those birds. Did them in a slow cooker with bacon over the top of the birds and in a sauce made of a bottle of home brewed pale ale, garlic, pepper and cream.... Went down a treat.

 

Since I started out on this project with the old gun, I have discovered that the 'Essex' brand were made by Laurona in the seventies, and that the proof mark date (R*1) dates it as 1973, so it wasn't old when I got it. I had thought it was built in December 1970 because it has a mark in a cartouche showing {12 70}. I now know that means it is a 12 gauge with 70 mm chambers... LOL.

Edited October 16, 2016 by Evilv

[Evilv]

Had the gun out again and it still had one miss fire, but that was at the start and after it shot seventeen cartridges without issue. I think Walker is certainly right about giving it more use. If it continues to have the odd miss fire, I m going to strip the action again and put it in a tank of solvent to get all the varnish off the inside. I called it 'Gum' before, but reading around the subject, I see engineers call it 'varnish'. It is pretty common in hot running engineering stuff like turbines. Mine is just oxidised and dried out oil. I'm not sure what kind of solvent to use on the action. I'm thinking a weakish bucket of caustic soda should dissolve oily deposits. If I put the action in that and then give it a very thorough rinse, followed by warming at 100c in the oven and light gun oil, the sticky striker ought to improve. Any ideas would be appreciated. The gun is in pretty good nick except for this problem so it would be a shame not to sort it, albeit that the cost of professional attention would be more than its value probably.

 

Yesterdays bag... I didn't shoot 17 shots at them. I shot them and then banged away a bit just to ease things up. It was a smashing day out. Great weather.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Evilv

[welshwarrior]

I'd get it serviced as leaf spring weaken over time even without use a good service and check by a gunsmith would see it alright and working for a few more year at least.

[figgy]

Dont put your gun in caustic soda no matter how diluted. as welshwarrior says get it serviced,y someone who knows side by sides.