AE ejector quirks

[lee r moege]

My 20 gage AE showed up with some ejector quirks last week when I shot around of clays. Unfired it opens and closes as it should. When both barrels are fired and the ejectors trip it hangs up and is very hard to get it to close without wiggleing the barrels on the hinge and almost forcing it closed when new shells are in the chambers. It acts like the lip of the extractor hook is being blocked by a firing pin that has not been retracted but this is not the case. However, if you wiggle the ejectors around with no shells in the chamber and close the gun it works fine. It's almost like the ejectors are kicking the extractor hooks farther out than they should and when a new shell is put in the chamber it binds up the closing from the shell rubbing on the top of the chamber and the ejector stem maybe binding in it's hole. Is it concievable that the ejectors are kicking the stems past the cutout that provides primary extraction from the extractor cam on the knuckle joint ? The guide pins are both there and do not come out of their holes that I can see so the stems are not rotating. I know the closing cocks the ejectors but it shouldn't be that hard to do. The action seems almost locked open. This is a 1927 gun with the late ejectors. I looked at the extraction cam and the notch in the stem and don't see anything amiss. My other Fox's are extractor guns so a comparison of the cam and stem isn't going to help much I suppose. Any ideas guys? Thanks! Lee.

[bbman3]

After firing both barrels it should be fairly hard to close.Did you try a different brand of shells? Bobby

[bbman3]

You can take the barrels off and pull on the ejectors and see if they will pull all the way out of the barrels.There is a small screw under the cocking slide that when screwed down properly will prevent them from coming all the way out.Do not know if this would cause your problem though.Ejectors are cocked when closing gun.Are the round guide rods present on outside edge of each extractor ejector? Bobby

[lee r moege]

Bobby: Thanks for the feedback! I was shooting new RST"s, 7/8oz.lites in 2 1/2" so that shouldn't be a contributing factor. I tried your suggestions this morning. The set screw is tight as the ejectors stems won't pull out beyond the stop. The guide pins are intact and don't come out of their holes when the ejectors are pulled out to the stop. Using snap caps I did find this, snapping both barrels, ejecting, re-inserting the snap caps and holding the gun level or canted left all is ok. It is my habit shooting clays to tilt the barrels to the left and open the gun covering the breech with my right hand to restrain the emptys and thats when I recognized the problem. To further check it I put in caps, snapped the right barrel and all is OK. Reversing this, when I snap the left barrel I find by forcing the barrels down a little the right ejector will trip without the hammer being dropped, the left barrel won't do that when you reverse the process. I am beginning to think the right ejector is a little out of time and with the gun tilted to the right to close it binds up trying to cock the ejectors. I don't remember, is there a spring or something that retracts the trip dogs in the knuckle when the hammer is cocked? Maybe it is still sticking out when it should be back in the frame. Whaddaya thinks? Lee.

[bbman3]

Lee,i am not great on ejectors! Somtimes a tiny burr will get on ejector sear and needs carefull filing to get burr removed and ejector hammer cocking properly, maybe sear needs polishing.I would send gun to a expert double gunsmith and let him check it out. Bobby

[Germantown]

I have had a similar problem with my BE 12, with the first series i believe. Often, as with other firing, ejecting, extraction issues, it can be just accumulated debris- I did as the others have suggested, removed the stop screw in the lower lug, sprayed the breech face with break-free CLP, and removed both ejectors and the guide pins- I cleaned out the tunnel with q-tips and pipe cleaners and some Hoppe's, and inspected the ejector blades and pins- on the matching flats inside the ejectors as they are nested in the barrel tunnel, I found some burrs on the left hand one, and matching scratch marks on the right hand mate- so a fine emery stone made them OK-

The burr was actually moving the other ejector stem, even when that barrel was not fired. I also checked the guide pins for straightness, out of round, and cleaned out the guide pin rod holes in the barrel breech face- re-assembled, and all was OK. But if this didn't do the trick, the gun would go to Dewey- he is a master at single trigger and ejector work!!!

[lee r moege]

Eureka I have found it!!!! Sometimes our memory slips a cog in our old age! I took her apart and stripped the ejectors from the barrels. Yes, for some reason there seemed to be a small burr on each ejector stem on the screw flat near the very end as well as a small burr on the barrels where the ejector seats on the right side. Perhaps it got bumped on something when the barrels were off but I can't remember anthing happening like that since I have owned the gun (3 years). There was also the usual 50 year or more accumulation of crud on the ejector stems and in the barrel holes. The final one is on me! I had the gun on a wet pheasant hunt last year and when I finished, I took off the barrels and wiped everything down. All the lube my farmer "bud" had in the house was an old half dried tube of Rig. I used it figuring it was better than nothing and intended to clean it off and relube the hinge etc. when I got home. Guess what! I forgot and it finished drying in the ejector trips in the knuckle and forend so that if you fully opened the gun the right ejector tripped even though it hadn't been fired. I'm sure the combination of all the above caused the ejectors to hang up like they were hitting on a protruding firing pin when in fact they were binding in the barrel holes. Always more to learn it seems! BTW Frank, this 20 AE has wood almost identical to the short barreled 2 barrel set gun you have. Happy New Year!!! Lee.