Safety too tight

[MC1952]

I have a nice 20 ga AE perfect in every way (for me) except for that damn safety.
I’ve missed 3 birds this year because I just couldn’t get the safety off quick enough.
I live in Northern Virginia. Any suggestions on a gunsmith in my area who could handle this for me?

[eightbore]

I have had good luck on more than a few tight safeties by working thin oil under the safety button and working the safety until the oil works its way under the button.

[ROMAC]

I try to not pack my truck the night before in colder weather. If there’s any gunk it’s going to stiffen up for sure. I’ve had to switch to my back up gun because of this in the past.

[Stan Hillis]

I have successfully lightened the effort needed to work the safety slide on Foxes, but it requires separating the action from the buttstock. If you feel comfortable pulling the buttstock, let me know if you decide to do so. I can walk you through what's necessary to lighten the effort to work the safety slide.

[Upland Hunter]

A competent gunsmith should be able to make a noticeable improvement in the function of your safety. Had this same issue addressed on a SxS when it was in a shop for a different minor repair. Upon return, the safety was noticeably easier to operate. Thinking about all a 50 to 150 year old shotgun experiences it is easy to imagine how excess oil or other gunk can work its way into a safety or other mechanism. Interested to hear the diagnosis when your shotgun is examined.

[MC1952]

The gun is going to Dean Harris for a dent I just put in the muzzle. I’ll ask him to look at the safety while it’s there.
Thanks for the replies.

[jolly bill]

I have an early 12 gauge Fox that has the push rod removed so that it did not push the safety slide back to the SAFE position when the opening lever was pushed to the right to open the action and drop the barrels. The safety slide stayed in the forward/front shooting position

And the safety slide itself was extremely difficult to slide back to the SAFE position and I believe intentionally so. I believe this gun was owned by a trap and live bird shooter back in the day and he did not want to miss a bird because of the safety slide being in the SAFE position.

I had a good gun mechanic and friend fix it so the slide operated normally. Works good now.

So, maybe the gun had a hard to move safety slide intentionally?

[Brian Dudley]

Cleaning and oiling will correct the issue.

[simcgunner]

one of the best is in Rocky Mount VA. Gunter Pfrommer