Yesterday I finally got around to repairing my 50s model B 20g. My original problem was a broken firing pin spring, and the hole had mushroomed slightly,I replaced the spring and tapped the steel back in place, the gun shoots. But I still have an issue, the action is difficult to open at first and there are vertical drag marks on the primers from the pins. Which of these statements is correct:
1. The gun fires, and the firing pins retract back into the holes before opening the action.
2. The gun fires, and as I crack the action, the hammers begin to cock which allows the pins to retract.
If number one is correct then it seems I have a problem with too much forward travel of the hammers. They use the pin retaining screws as a "stop", so my idea is to add thin washers under the screws to limit hammer travel. The hammer will still hit the pin, and the kinetic energy will allow the pin to hit the primer, but the hammer will not be forward enough in the resting position to let the pin hang out of the hole.
If number 2 is correct, then it seems I have more of a timing issue, which seems more complicated to me. I can see that in the fired resting position the "cocking bar" has some slop before contacting the hammers. I dont think this is the issue, let me know what you think.
1. The gun fires, and the firing pins retract back into the holes before opening the action.
2. The gun fires, and as I crack the action, the hammers begin to cock which allows the pins to retract.
If number one is correct then it seems I have a problem with too much forward travel of the hammers. They use the pin retaining screws as a "stop", so my idea is to add thin washers under the screws to limit hammer travel. The hammer will still hit the pin, and the kinetic energy will allow the pin to hit the primer, but the hammer will not be forward enough in the resting position to let the pin hang out of the hole.
If number 2 is correct, then it seems I have more of a timing issue, which seems more complicated to me. I can see that in the fired resting position the "cocking bar" has some slop before contacting the hammers. I dont think this is the issue, let me know what you think.