Please help correct my stupidity

[Fin2Feather]

I was hunting in South Dakota this past week. Carried my 16ga A grade for the first couple days but then wanted to take out my Sterlingworth ejector. I took it from the case and couldn't get the action open! After messing with it for a bit I took the barrels off and found that the firing pins hadn't retracted (I had fired it on snap caps). I tried everything several more times - same result. Finally I put my other pair of snap caps in and the gun worked fine, opened, ejected the caps, and the pins retracted. I decided to carry the gun that day but as it turned out I never got a shot; however, I have no reason to believe it wouldn't have worked fine.

Now I'm home and everything reacted the same way but I've done a really dumb thing: I put those caps in my A (extractor gun) to see if it would react the same way. It did, but on this gun I can't get the barrels off! Why I didn't just pitch the d*amned caps I don't know, but I need help. Any ideas?

[vaturkey]

I could be wrong, but perhaps if you remove the forearm completely and then put it back on you will recock the hammers and cause them to retrack and thus the gun will open. Worth a shot.

[Silvers]

Some close up pics of the "primer" on the snap caps would be helpful to diagnose what's up.

Readers: there is ZERO need to use snap caps to de-cock the hammers on any original and righteous A H Fox gun. The tip of the hammer forging is the "firing pin". From Fox Company literature: ….. you can cock a Fox Gun and pull the trigger ten thousand or a hundred thousand times without doing the slightest harm to the hammer or firing pin, even though the gun is empty.

frank

[Fin2Feather]

VA - I had tried that but it didn't recock the gun.

Frank - can't show the primers as the snap caps are locked in the gun . They are typical nickel-plated brass caps with spring loaded primers.

It's obvious I need to recock the gun but I don't know how to do it. I have some ideas to try but if anyone has a method I'd appreciate it.

[Jim Cloninger]

Phil, the real question is, how was the pheasant hunting?
Jim

[Fin2Feather]

Jim,



Day 1, about 60 degrees. Maddie, Tim, Phil, Penny and Pete.



Day 2, high of 9 and sideways snow most of the day. Penny, Peter, Randy, Maddie, Jamie, Tom, Yeager and Phil.

We found birds the first few days with permission on private land. The last day we'd exhausted our contacts and hunted public stuff; birds were few and far between, and wild. LOTS of standing crops and LOTS of standing water and closed roads - lakes where there is usually open country.

[Silvers]

A big change in weather over the few days. Same as happened here in the northeast. Nice crew and pups.

Back to your gun. Just from your description I'd say the likely cause is the hammer tips sticking into indents in the "primer" on the snap caps which is probably spring-loaded harder metal. If that was my known to be unloaded Fox I'd try to carefully force it open, but if I got uneasy with the force required I'd pull the trigger plate, sears and sear spring, stock etc and drift out the hammer pin to relieve the force of the mainsprings on the hammers and get them to pop back from the standing breech. I’d release one hammer, try to open the gun, then the other hammer if necessary (easier to reinstall one hammer than both). Most of that is done fairly easily but reassembly of the hammer(s) isn't for anyone without a good gunsmithing bent. In that case I'd suggest sending the gun to a good Foxsmith who can get at it fairly quickly.

[Jeff S]

Wow! Frank, you really know the inter workings of these guns. That would be way out of my wheelhouse.

[Fin2Feather]

Whew! Finally got it open. I really don't know how or what I did; just fussing with it and she finally popped open. I read Frank's tip about Foxes and snap caps; for me, necessary or not, they've always just been another fun thing about messing about with these old guns. That said, I got down another extractor gun to look at the workings to see if that would give me any tips on getting this one open, and IT was hard to open with snap caps installed! So I'm re-thinking my snap cap use ! Anyway, crises averted and all guns happy, safe and sound.

PS...so do you store 'em cocked or dry fire them? Or does it matter?

[Stan Hillis]

IMO, leave 'em cocked. Never had an issue with doing that, and it may avert problems like you've had.

OMMV, SRH

[eightbore]

As I have stated on other forums, I have many guns that have been stored cocked for up to 130 years without damage. Snap caps are for trunk case display. If your guns are stored cocked, you don't have to worry about hurting the ejectors when you open the gun.

[Fin2Feather]

Thanks all for the input.