VH 28 stuck shut.
 

On the last shot, of the last station last week at the Southern shooting my VH 28, the gun refused to open after the shot. I tried bumping the stock on the ground a little, thinking that the firing pin must be protruding into the shell creating the lock. That didn't work. When I took a look at the gun at home yesterday, I took a cleaning rod and tapped from the inside of the spent shell, thinking THAT might dislodge the firing pin. No such luck, still locked up.

Any suggestions before I pack the gun up and send it to Kirk Merrington?

Presuming the lever will move all the way to the right, while holding the lever in the full open position thump hard with your fist or a rubber mallet on the top of the rearmost few inches of the barrels. Might work... I’ve Heard others have had success with this method.





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Do you remember if the gun was hard to close prior to the last shot? Do the barrels break open at all? If they do, while trying to open the barrels, try the rod again. If the barrels don't break at all, something internally is wrong.

The gun was not hard to close...no issues at all until the very last shot, (left barrel) second shot at the pair. Tried the "thump" on the barrels a few times there at the station. Will try the rod one more time tonight, and if no luck will send the gun off..

Thanks

Try removing the forearm. THEN try to break the gun open.

did that also

Could be the old problem of having an oversized/out of round shell rim stick in the rim recess. New ammo tends to have poor made brass bases these days. AA's are the worst. I have three guns - two Parkers and a JD Dougal that will stick shut if I shoot AA's in them. My Repro 28 is the worst. I've had to put it into a rubber jawed vise where I'm forcing the barrels closed even more then gently apply pressure until the lever moves all the way right, then hold the lever while I release the vise - 4 hands helps here - and pick the gun out and open it. Pretty scary. My DH12 sticks but not that badly, but any more I just shoot STS or vintage paper ammo in it and never have an issue.

I was shooting the 28 Ga. • 2 1/2" • Lite • Vel. 1175 • 5/8 oz. Load from RST. Never had this issue before. I will try the aforementioned/

On another note regarding this gun....I was terrified that airport security might ask that I prove this gun was unloaded....thank goodness they did not have a desire to dig that deep into my gun chest!!

Before you send the gun off to Kirk, try phoning him for advice.

Or... phone DelGrego.

Chances are, they can help.