Trouble opening single shot lever..

W

Willy Tincup

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I have recently acquired a Daniel Fraser single shot 22 k Hornet. After firing and even on an empty primed case the lever will not open to drop the dropping block. The hammer spring maintains pressure on the firing pin in the primer indent and jams it up. It is a direct hit pin.
Does anyone have any experience with these rifles OR this type of problem?
I'm tempted to shorten the firing pin and make it an inertia type but think that is a bit risky at this stage. The pin lies on an upward angle so the base is tapered and it has 3 diameters and a coil return spring. Any help or suggestions appreaciated. Thanks.....wTc
 
This is a pretty common issue with these little single shots, from what I have gathered.

Start with playing with the strength of the return spring.

There are a couple guys over on the Saubier small caliber forum that have a fair bit of time 'under the hood' with these, and a couple fellows on the doublegun journal forum. You can ask on the ASSRA forum as well, you may get a helpful answer, or not, as most of the really talented and knowlegable mechanics over there left or were kicked out, over a long running huff with the ASSRA board of directors.

I have not owned one of them (came close, found this info out while trying to find out what action it was that I had almost made a deal on) but have some info around the reaches of my hard drive.

Broken firing pins, and drag marks across the bottom of the chamber face, were two long running issues.

These actions were imported by a fellow in the US, and resold as part of a kit of parts that usually included wood, and a barrel as well as the remainder of the hardware required. They needed finishing, as well as chambering, and finish metalwork.
Nice light walking gun. Quality control at the maker of the actions was a bugaboo, though.

Cheers
Trev
 
I should have mentioned in the original post that it is a hammerless or internal nammer gun. If I pull the butt stock and ease off the main spring pressure then it will open.
 
What we really need here is pictures, you have a very diff. single shot there, and i think that all us single shot nutz would like to see it!!!
 
I built one of these in .22 Hornet about 20 years ago from a kit from Cape Outfitters, in Cape Girardeau, MO. (since long gone out of business on the death of the owner).
Mine has suffered from a broken firing-pin tip for a while now, as the tip hung up in a defective snap-cap, locking up the action as you describe, and I broke it off being too impatient in opening the action.
It is meant to be an inertia firing-pin as the action only cocks the hammer back on closing, via a spring loaded plunger in the falling block below the firing-pin, so firing-pin length is critical.
The original firing-pin has a final tip diameter of 1/16" so is fairly fragile, and when I get around to getting mine fixed, I'll also have the hole in the block opened up to accept a pin with a greater than original tip diameter, and have at least two pins made.
These kits came with no instructions other than a schematic of the action, which I still have. I can scan it and send it to you if you PM me your e-mail address.
Regards and good luck, DaveF.
 
I like the rebounding hammer idea. Not super simple, but within the capabilities of a file and a drill press to make.

Cheers
Trev
 
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