Missfire!!

[Edward]

Hi

 

I have recently accuired a greener gp with 25" barrel. and it has sarted to missfire lots, say every other shot, . My fellow shooting compainion ssaid it was the fireing pin spring would he be correct?? the cartride when in the breech and the action closed if one shakes the gun up and down gentally it rattles, would this also be a contributing factor??

 

 

thanks

[beatingisbest]

The firing pin might be broken

 

Could be any number of different things, i would get a gunsmith to take a look at it

[malkiserow]

for the price of them ( a mate bought one for £10) you may well find it cheaper to replace it and use that for spares.... guessing the barrel is full choke you could open one up and have 2 barrels

[ROBLATCH]

ww greener ( now graham greener) uses what we might call a universal firing pin. i only know this as a freind of mine recently purchased a 32" gp and the pin was actualy piercing the cartridge and when i spoke to him he told me that the pin installed (by his company) was actualy too prominent from the breech face which is a common problem with the gp firing pins he uses and only needed shaving a little.

my oppinion is that greener pins are very soft and as mentioned previously are best laft alone.

[Edward]

i dont think it is broken and it still fires but i may be wrong and also i dont particually want to buy another gun becasue my gunsmith when i descibed what was wrong said he would do something to it (cant remeber) for £5 while i wait.

[mry716]

First find out where the 'play' is. Take off the F/end and holding the barrel at shoulder height hit the stock with your other hand and see is action /barrel is loose. If so you need a new hinge pin which will pull the action and barrel closer together and therefore the pin closer to the cartridge primer.

 

If it is tight and the cartridge still rattles in the chamber then there is too much headspace and the only way of reducing that is to set the barrel back. (Expensive)

 

Are your primers too hard? Try a different cartridge.

 

Is the main spring that throws the tumbler that hits the pin that hits the primer too weak or is it a one piece style with a hole in the end screwed to the bottom strap of the action - If so is the screw holding it slightly loose so reducing tension. Take off the stock and find out.

 

Without seeing the gun it is impossible to say what is the problem but the back of the pin may be 'mushroomed' over due to use because the last person to make a pin didn't harden it correctly (usual) .Again this will reduce the strike pressure.

[Edward]

ok i will have a look

 

Thanks

[sandy22]

First find out where the 'play' is. Take off the F/end and holding the barrel at shoulder height hit the stock with your other hand and see is action /barrel is loose. If so you need a new hinge pin which will pull the action and barrel closer together and therefore the pin closer to the cartridge primer.

 

 

Is the main spring that throws the tumbler that hits the pin that hits the primer too weak or is it a one piece style with a hole in the end screwed to the bottom strap of the action - If so is the screw holding it slightly loose so reducing tension. Take off the stock and find out.

 

Isn't the Greener GP a martini-actioned gun?

[malkiserow]

First find out where the 'play' is. Take off the F/end and holding the barrel at shoulder height hit the stock with your other hand and see is action /barrel is loose. If so you need a new hinge pin which will pull the action and barrel closer together and therefore the pin closer to the cartridge primer.

 

 

Is the main spring that throws the tumbler that hits the pin that hits the primer too weak or is it a one piece style with a hole in the end screwed to the bottom strap of the action - If so is the screw holding it slightly loose so reducing tension. Take off the stock and find out.

 

Isn't the Greener GP a martini-actioned gun?

 

Yes it it the barrel screws in

[mry716]

I am sorry I didnt realise as I have had virtually nothing to do with SB shotguns other than pumps and autos but the princilples for finding an answer to the misfire are still the same.

 

If there is a gap between barrel and block it needs removing but on the barrel thread rather than the hingepin for a folding opener. The same is applicable for the headspace. Either should be a comparitavely simple task to rectify by letting the barrel in further but there may be an additional difficulty if the ejector has a cutout in the barrel so needing a full turn to align again.

 

Anything is possible to rectify a problem only cost/value makes it a nonstarter and in this case a stronger spring and a slightly longer pin may be the cheapest way to prolong the guns life.

[Edward]

yeah its the same principle of a normal gun but the action come s up tho the barrel.

 

it somethimes fires perfectly sometimes dosnt at all and sometimes goses straight through, so i will take it to the gunsmiths next week.

 

thanks

[ROBLATCH]

the greener will be a martini action shotgun.as for the slack/loosness try taking off the butt plate if fitted and you will find a large screw under there which maybe slack.if the underlever is loading/unloading ok then i dont think that it is anything major.one point to make with all greener gp,s is that the mainspring is relaxed when not in use as this can cause the problems you are having after a length of time.if you dont know how to relax the mainspring here,s how

 

pull down the underlever as if loading -with one hand hold the underlever -with the other knock off the safety catch and pull the trigger but make sure you have hold of the underlever when doing this and bring up the underlever to the closed position.

this relaxes the gun.

you should then be able to pull the trigger and nothing is going to be damaged.nothing should happen at all when pulling the trigger.

[Edward]

the greener will be a martini action shotgun.as for the slack/loosness try taking off the butt plate if fitted and you will find a large screw under there which maybe slack.if the underlever is loading/unloading ok then i dont think that it is anything major.one point to make with all greener gp,s is that the mainspring is relaxed when not in use as this can cause the problems you are having after a length of time.if you dont know how to relax the mainspring here,s how

 

pull down the underlever as if loading -with one hand hold the underlever -with the other knock off the safety catch and pull the trigger but make sure you have hold of the underlever when doing this and bring up the underlever to the closed position.

this relaxes the gun.

you should then be able to pull the trigger and nothing is going to be damaged.nothing should happen at all when pulling the trigger.

 

 

Thanks this seems to have helped the spring was quite slack, i havent had a chance to properly test it yet, but so far so good

[Floating Chamber]

I will say here, that in 1962, when I was 15, I had an ageing Greener G.P. which developed an alarming fault. It would sometimes fire when the safety catch was rotated a second time, AFTER being taken off ready to fire, THEN put back on. I remember having to 're-set' the gun by lowering the lever. In fact, I remember getting into the habit of only pulling up the lever when I was ready to take a shot. Clumsy things!