Top lever left of center question

[HardCash]

What part or parts wear to cause the top lever to be left of center ?

[lee r moege]

Hardcash. The three things that cause this in my experience are these. The rib extension where the bolt goes in is worn indicating a lot of use. The gun may or may not lock up tight as the rotary bolting mechanism is self compensating for wear by design. It also may be off face, so you can see a gap between the breech face and the end of the barrels when you hold the gun up to the light, or if a feeler gage will go in. The rotary bolt may be worn where it goes into the rib extension also, and if the gun was used hard it's likely both parts of the locking mechanism are worn.I think some gunsmiths are capable of TIG welding the extension in particular and refitting the lockup joint. I'm sure Silvers or one of the other Foxers from back East can give you some names. Lastly, the barrels may not be original to the gun so the slot in the rib extension is to big, which lets the rotary bolt close to far leaving the lever to the left of center. A couple signs of this are a poor fit where the locking rib extension enters the reciever leaving it above or below the top of the frame, and serial numbers on the bottom of the barrel that appear stamped over other numbers. Sometimes the size of the numbers are not the same either. There may be more reasons that some of the other guys have encountered. Happy Foxhunting. Lee.

[james-l]

You might also check the yoke (connects the top lever to the rotary bolt) I have seen these bent, it bends at a fairly thin area where it enters the rotary bolt and can be straightened if done carefully, otherwise a new yoke will fix it. If the barrels fit up tight that is the first thing I would check.

Jim A.

[HardCash]

My two Foxs I recently purchased don't have this problem, however I was just curious.

[Brian]

Sounds like one of them liberal Foxes. LOL!!!

[HardCash]

A gunsmith told me that the excessive wear on the Fox breech barrel extension, where the bolt going throught, will cause the top lever to move more and more to the left.
He also told me this can be avoided by greasing this wear area. In addition, he recommended letting the barrels close naturally and not holding the top lever when closing.

[mike campbell]

The toplever stops where it does because of tight contact at 3 areas.

1) between the the barrel hook and hinge pin
2) between the barrel breech faces and the standing breech
3) between the bolt and the bolt slot iun that extension.

Tight lockup is a result of intimate contact at points 1 & 2. When the barrels are closed and the contact is intimate, it's the job of the bolt (3) to hold them there, tightly together. It's somewaht analogus to a door. Imagine a door with 3 key contact points. It has 1) on one side it has very tight, stiff hinges. 2) on the lock side it fits so snugly that it won't quite fit flush with the jamb. 3) once you have it pushed into place, you filp a latch over and padlock it to keep it there in case there's an explosion on the other side. It can wear at all 3 points, but If that door gets get loose and rattly, where you gonna look first?

By far, most of the "wear" occurs at the surface of the barrel hook, which is softer than the hinge pin it rotates on. When the hook surface wears and metal is displaced, the barrels are allowed to move ever so slightly forward. As they move forward the faces will be drawn slightly deeper into the receiver by means of the cammiong action of the bolt in its slot. As a result of wear at the hook/hinge pin, the toplever moves continually left, maintaining tight lockup as it was designed to do. The bolt is not wearing...it is biting deeper into the slot as a result of wear at the hook.

This is evidenced by the fact that material can be added to the hook surface, filling the gap that was created by wear there, forcing the barrels back and up in tight contact with the breech, preventing the toplever from moving excessively to the left. Tight lockup can again be achieved without touching the bolting surfaces. Due to the curved surfaces of the bolt and slot, they'll again be in intimate contact, though the bolt doesn't have to travel as far to engage. A complete and thorough rejoint MAY involve work at the bolt, but not necessarily.