Storing O/U Newbie questions\

Ahsan Ahmed said:
It would be interesting if anyone here could shed light on the two questions above.....

WRT holding back the lever, I had owned a used 686 SP that had it's top lever always come to rest slightly off-centre when you closed the breech. However, once, I happened across by chance that putting the lever "on hold" and releasing that after closing the breech consistently positioned the lever to the far right. I attempted to manually nudge the lever to it's original position nearer to the center but failed to do so. Admittedly, I didn't use force the few times I had tried that. Never pursued any logical explanation for such an occurrence either. These things are built to appropriately tight and precise tolerances - would be interesting to learn what possible impacts may be visible down the road if one were to always follow that method of closing the breech for a considerable period of time.
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According to my browning booklet circa 1989 it states to allow the lever to snap back into place and to not retard it's movement.
 
I just leave my SxS's cocked and stand them up in the safe. You should avoid dry firing without snap caps, and even then I keep dry firing to a minimum in my doubles. I don't like storing my guns with snap caps in the chambers. Moisture collects there, and I had a little ring of rust form in the chambers a the end of the snap cap in one of my guns.
 
Regarding the top lever and holding it open while closing the gun ... I had just purchased the Beretta 687EELL (it was used when I bought it) and took it into the Beretta booth at the Grand. The top lever was at the 6 o'clock position. As a result, I had them replace the locking system. The Service Manager told me that if I closed the gun while holding the lever to the right, that the system would have minimal wear. I shot that gun a lot since and recently sold it. It had the same system in the gun that I had replaced. The lever was still well to the right of center. So, my take on that subject is, if you wish to snap the gun closed ... have at it, just be prepared to pay to have your locking system repaired.
 
Beretta687EELL said:
Regarding the top lever and holding it open while closing the gun ... I had just purchased the Beretta 687EELL (it was used when I bought it) and took it into the Beretta booth at the Grand. The top lever was at the 6 o'clock position. As a result, I had them replace the locking system. The Service Manager told me that if I closed the gun while holding the lever to the right, that the system would have minimal wear. I shot that gun a lot since and recently sold it. It had the same system in the gun that I had replaced. The lever was still well to the right of center. So, my take on that subject is, if you wish to snap the gun closed ... have at it, just be prepared to pay to have your locking system repaired.
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I certainly don’t doubt your word. As a matter of fact, all my O/U guns are Berettas with the exception of a Citori. Moving forward, will practise closing the breech in the manner you have described. Had it not been for that chance observation on that used 686 a while back, this scenario may not have been that evident to me. I would still like to learn the rationale behind the process. Wonder why Beretta makes no mention of the procedure in the manual.
 
harrygun said:
According to my browning booklet circa 1989 it states to allow the lever to snap back into place and to not retard it's movement.
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Many manuals do specify the same. However, the activity is different (than that as described by Beretta687EELL) - in the sense, that in your scenario, the travel of the top lever must not be deliberately semi-arrested or staggered, if you will, during the process of closing the receiver. This is not recommended.

The activity that Beretta687EELL refers to may be viewed as something akin to how one could manually relieve the tension of the top lever once the shotgun has been disassembled. For example, in the case of the Beretta, via pressing the top lever plunger pin or in the case of the Browning via pressing down on that plunger bar at the base of the exposed receiver. The closing of the breech also essentially performs the same function along the process.

 
I wrote to Keith Sprangers at Kolar and this is his response ...

1095 spring steel (high carbon), has been around longer than you & I, this is then heat treated to a spring temper, Rockwell “C” (scale) 48-52.
Here again, nothing new, older than we are.!

So if dry firing your trigger & moving your top lever back to center, removes the load stress on these springs, just common sense alone brings the answer.

Now there are some springs in the gun that are under much less of a load, and I believe are rated for more than 100,000 cycles, these I do not worry about
(you actually use them in a range that’s very easy on the spring)

But as for hammer springs, top lever springs and ejector springs, I’ll leave you with the words that Walt Wolff (Wolff gunsprings) tells me…
“Keith, your still trying to get 5 pounds in a bucket that only holds 1 pound”

So these springs are being used “hard” if you will

Even when I designed the TS, I was able to make things much more friendlier on the springs, so now maybe these will last 50,000 cycles rather than
20,000 cycles, but why would one leave them compressed in the gun safe, and cut this down. Doing it “my” way only leaves the springs under compression, just before you shoot!
 
Ahsan Ahmed said:
Many manuals do specify the same. However, the activity is different (than that as described by Beretta687EELL) - in the sense, that in your scenario, the travel of the top lever must not be deliberately semi-arrested or staggered, if you will, during the process of closing the receiver. This is not recommended.
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Hmm I don't quite follow. So when I close the action I should hold the lever until the action is closed and then ease it into place?
 
harrygun said:
Hmm I don't quite follow. So when I close the action I should hold the lever until the action is closed and then ease it into place?
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You don't need to ease the lever into the locked position. I think that where the difference of opinion comes into play, is that the concern is that if the locking system is not tightly locked into place, then the gun may not fire or pop open upon firing, because the action is not fully closed. If it snaps shut, then the action is closed for sure. The lawyers are happy. I've never had an O/U pop open or fail to fire in the 15 to 20 years that I have been doing it the way I was told to by the Beretta Service Manager. The only guns that I have seen pop open are ones that have a badly worn locking system.
 
I have heard that dry firing a modern centerfire gun does not do any damage. Do not dry fire antiques and rimfires.

Also another storage hint would be that after you oil your gun store it muzzle down so that the oil does not soak into the tang wood. My buddies Beretta Black Onyx butt stock is saturated with oil at the tang so badly that it is starting to crack down towards the grip.
 
My o/u and sxs are stored assembled, barrels up, hammers down and locking lever in the closed position. I don't keep snap caps in the gun but press them or something similar against the breech face, drop the hammers and then reassemble the gun after cleaning.

When shooting the gun I let the locking lever snap closed and don't ease it into position. I was told easing it into position can result in the lugs not seating completely.

The most important part of an o/u is keeping grease/oil on the hinges and replacing it regularly.
 
harrygun said:
Hmm I don't quite follow. So when I close the action I should hold the lever until the action is closed and then ease it into place?
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I can see where it may start to appear confusing. :) Therefore, to keep it simple - may I suggest following the directions provided in that Browning manual.
 
I release the hammer springs on my guns, and release the top latches that stay open.
Pretty simple thing to do, doesn't take any time really, and that way the springs are not under tension.
Cat
 
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