Single trigger problems

[Jim Beilke]

Has anyone had problems with the reproduction single trigger doubling or not firing the second barrel? My gunsmith told me the older reproductions had some problems

[Mike Shepherd]

The almost standard answer here is that after cleaning they work fine. I had one with a single trigger, had a problem, had it cleaned, and it work fine.

Send it to a smith who is know for working on Parker Single Triggers.

Best,

Mike

[Jim Beilke]

Thanks Mike that is good to know. JIm

[Bob Jurewicz]

Jim,
And some can never be made to work right!
Bob Jurewicz

[Jim Beilke]

That is discouraging. Aren't they the same single trigger as the original Parkers? Jim

[Harry Collins]

My VH 16 gauge has a Miller single trigger. I spent $350+- to have it work. It was returned with bushings for the two tang screws. I was told that most single trigger problems were related to tension between the tang and floor plate. Great advice, however it did not stop my 16 from doubling when the left barrel was selected to fire first. I have removed the bushings and tried every combination of tightening and loosening the screws. No luck. I would check that your two tang screws are indexed. It must have worked from the factory!!!!????

Harry

[Richard Skeuse]

Jim do you have a parker repro with a single trigger problem? Clay Target Sports in Princeton,N.J. can fix it. Phone number is 609-921-9358. Ask for Chris. I have passed this info on to this site but I guess no one keeps a file of this helpful info. Thanks guys

[Paul Ehlers]

Here's a personal experience I'll share with you.

I've had two friends that have had repro single trigger singleing problems. Two different guns, two different trips but the same problem. In both cases we were in North Dakota pheasant hunting and the weather was cool let's say 32f & the guns had been working fine when the temp's were warmer.

I always carry some basic gunsmithing tools with me on trip's. So in the evening I pulled the trigger plates off of these guns and determined that the original lubrication oil had turned to varnish over the years. All it took to get the triggers back in action was to spray the trigger mechanism with some break kleen to dissolve the old oil and then lube them with some lite oil.

Here's my take on the repro's right or wrong.


Even the newest of the repro's are going on twenty years old now. That means the factory lubrication is also twenty years old. One of the unfortunate facts about most lubricants is they have properties in them that evaporate and the oil turns to varnish. So even if you have a new unfired repro it could have lubrication problems if you were to start shooting it. If you haven't done it yet, you should have your repro dis-assembled, properly cleaned & lubed so you can have a long lasting reliable gun.

I'm seeing more and more posts on the different sites about repro single trigger problems and I wonder if most of them are caused by lubrication issues. These issues could be either as I found with dried out lube gumming things up or possibly the lack of lube wearing out or galling fine fit parts.

Just some food for thought based on my experiences!

[Steve Parker]

I had a reproduction that had a doubling problem. I was referred to Heritage Gunsmith, 740-625-6131. They handled many of the reproduction repairs for Jaques, who was a primary distributor of the reproductions. I have had no problem since.

[John Dallas]

A friend of mine had similar problems with a Winchester 101 20 gauge which had obviously been stored for years. Same vintage, same factory (?) same lubrication (?). We cleaned his and it works perfectly

[Bruce Day]

That is discouraging. Aren't they the same single trigger as the original Parkers? Jim


Yes, they are, and.......

Never oil a Parker single trigger, that's been said since the originals were made. If they are in good shape, and not gummed, not worn, then most of the time they will not double. Babe Del Grego is reputed to say that he could get any single trigger to double, even one in good condition.

[Jim Beilke]

Thanks for all the references and the lubing advice. No problems yet, lets hope it stays that way. Jim

[Chuck Heald]

When it comes to double gun maintenance, it seems to me we have double standards. :duck:

We seek and worship guns that "...have never had the screws turned...". :bowdown:

Yet, there are a good number of prolific target shooters into doubleguns that know Perazzi and Krieghoff guns, to name a couple, recommend regular servicing. :knowbetter:

So a 70-80 yr old single trigger (or 20-30 in the case of the Repro) starts acting up, after no maintenance for no one knows how long, and it gets a bad rap for its design, or more commonly, single triggers get lumped into one bucket and deemed all as unreliable novelties. :rolleyes:

If you've ever openned up a 100 yr old gun "...with screws that have never been turned.." you know where I'm coming from. These pics are an example of a gun I openned a few yrs back.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c125/roaniecowpony/PICT0014.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c125/roaniecowpony/pict0027.jpg

After seeing this, I was surprized it functioned as long as it did, until I had a problem.

OK, I'm done :dh:

:)I mean no offense, but rather intended to put some perspective on this issue and maybe start a dialogue.:corn:

[Bruce Day]

Regular servicing on the internal mechanism is fine; just don't oil the SST mechanism.

That's not my recommendation; I don't own a Parker single trigger and have no way to personally know. I'm passing on what has been said here for many years by people with experience with the Parker single trigger.

The problem with turning screws in a Parker is not the turning, it is the butchering and buggering the screw slots, and then putting the screws back in the wrong holes, and then beating down the floor plate because its hard to fit back correctly, etc, etc. Done by an expert or somebody who has skill , patience and the right tools, no problem. You look at Parkers on these internet sales sites and you see many examples of the old saying that more Parkers have been harmed by people messing with them than by any other reason.

Somebody turned the screws on this one:

[Richard Flanders]

Good pics Chuck. I've harped about this for years. Just about every Parker I take apart looks like that. I'm guessing that one cleaned up just fine based on what I've experienced. It's amazing how gummed up they can be and still work just fine.

[Dave Suponski]

I own a single trigger Repro. We thought it was developing a single trigger problem. My son Danny was shooting the gun more than I and he had a few cases of it doubling. It turned out that he wasn't shouldering the gun tightly enough and recoil was bouncing the gun on his shoulder thus causing him to bump the trigger. So that is something to watch for.

I have been told that the Repro single trigger is very close to the Parker two screw single trigger but not exactly. Maybe someone with knowledge of this mechanism will chime in here and clear this up.

[Chuck Heald]

Good pics Chuck. I've harped about this for years. Just about every Parker I take apart looks like that. I'm guessing that one cleaned up just fine based on what I've experienced. It's amazing how gummed up they can be and still work just fine.


Rich,
yeah, that's probably a testament to how mechanically simple they and large part's resistance to interference from debris.

But a single trigger is on a different scale. No way it would tolerate this type of junk in a single trigger, maybe no single trigger design out there.