Safety reset to on from innertia

[Bill Graham]

A 1937 20ga Stelingworth ejector in the family has started to put the safety back on after firing.

One opinion shared with me is that it's doing so because the bite is wrong from wear or modification; and another is that the top lever spring is weak. The theory is that the firing of the gun causes the top level to move in the blink of an eye, pushing the safety back on, either because of a weak bite, or weak spring. The gun is not loose, or out of whack in any other way that I can tell, and no modification of the extension has been done.

This is a new problem, and I think the top lever spring is weak. It could be that the ammunition used when this problem presented itself helped the problem to finally show up. At the Spring Southern I shot 3/4oz RST ultralight loads, and the gun operation was perfect for 50 shots. Last week was the next time the gun was shot since then, and all I had handy was 7/8oz Federal target loads from Wal-mart, and the safety re-engaged about 75% of the time.

I could disable the auto safety, but the primary shooter of this one doesn't want that modification. Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

[Stan Hillis]

If you want to find out if the top lever really is moving over enough to reset the safety under recoil, load the gun, then tape the top lever securely with several wraps of good tape, such as 3M electrical tape. Then, shoot it and see if the safety resets. Or, if you're comfortable enough with this, just hold the gun horizontally with your strong hand on the trigger, gripping the grip firmly, and wrap you other gloved hand around the top strap and hold the lever firmly in place while carefully firing it. That's a quick and easy way to eliminate that possibility, or confirm it.

SRH

[Bill Graham]

If it’s not the top lever moving that’s placing it back on safe, what else would it be?

[Stan Hillis]

There are at least two other possible explanations that I am aware of.

1) If the slide moves really loosely from front to rear, and vice versa, it is possible for the forward recoil motion of the gun, after the rearward movement of the gun in recoil the gun returns to it's starting place, to cause the safety slide to move rearward into the safe position because of inertia.

2) I have seen a person grip a gun in such a way that, in recoil, their thumb, which is wrapped around the top strap just rearward of the trigger, moves inadvertently over the slide and pulls it rearward, as it moves back rearward itself, at the end of the recoil cycle.

It can also be a combination of the two.

Sorry to be so long in replying. Been a long day.

All my best, Stan

[setterspell]

I can only think of a couple of things that could be causing this problem
1, debris at the front end of the safety bar notch or at the front of the saftey button hole is not allowing free recoil movement of the gun.
2, the safety rod hole is gunked up.
3, the safety tension spring is weak or broken.
FWIW,
I ordered a production card earlier this year that has a note written on the front" Safety jars back".

[terc]

I missed taking a follow up shot at a grouse yesterday. My thumb was wrapped around the grip to far forward. The recoil moved the gun in my hand , sliding the safety back off. It probably saved me a shell.
Dave

[Brian Dudley]

Question?’... is the safety fully resetting or just getting bumped back far enough so that it barely blocks the triggers for the second shot?

Likely the issue is how your rotory bolt has worn in on the gun and it needs a little adjusting. There are other minor things that can be done to remedy the issue, but the bolt is likely the root cause of the problem.

Smiths, Foxes and Ithaca NIds are all subject to this issue because they all use the same bolting. NIDs are the worst because they have the weakest top lever spring of the three and they will actually open enough to cause a misfire on the second shot. The safety resetting is merely a result of tight tolerances on some reset rods.

[Bill Graham]

There are at least two other possible explanations that I am aware of.

1) If the slide moves really loosely from front to rear, and vice versa, it is possible for the forward recoil motion of the gun, after the rearward movement of the gun in recoil the gun returns to it's starting place, to cause the safety slide to move rearward into the safe position because of inertia.

2) I have seen a person grip a gun in such a way that, in recoil, their thumb, which is wrapped around the top strap just rearward of the trigger, moves inadvertently over the slide and pulls it rearward, as it moves back rearward itself, at the end of the recoil cycle.

It can also be a combination of the two.

Thanks Stan. I suspected my grip of being a contributing factor, paid attention to that, but the symptoms occurred regardless so apparently that's not a factor.

[Bill Graham]

The fellow I'd prefer to send this to for repair is not able to take in another gun right now. I've not sent one out to repair before, having been able to fix everything myself thus far. Who do folks recommend near NC for an issue like this?
Thanks!

[Brian Dudley]

Try gunter phroemer (spelling). He is in NC. He was one of the designers of the Ithaca Classic Doubles guns. And they, like the original NIDs are prone to this issue. I am sure he is familiar with it.

[Bob Jurewicz]

pfrommergunworks@hotmail.com
Bob Jurewicz