Hard to open and close

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Shot my GH parker16 and Lefever G 16 today, this was the first time for the Lefever. Using 2 1/2" RST reloads, the Lefever was hard to close and hard to open--no problems in the Parker. Using RGL 2 3/4" reloads, both guns functioned fine( low pressure, under6000 psi loads). All shells loaded on the same Mec 600 jr. Anybody have a clue whats going on?

[Daryl Corona]

Did you resize them all? What recipes did you load in the 2.5" and the 2.75"?

[Dean Romig]

The strikers or firing pins of the LeFever are dragging in the primers of the RST shells. Does this happen when you shoot other brands of shells in the LeFever? I know you haven't shot it before today so try some other shells in it.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Daryl, ran them all thru the same Mec 600.
RST: 15.8 International, DR16, w209, 3/4 oz @ 1105fps-6200psi
RGL: 15.5 20/28, DR16, w209, 7/8 oz @ 1105 fps- 5900 psi
Does the RST have thicker brass?
The RGL's worked fine

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Dean, just tried some Win CF shells with the same International load and the gun closed right up, same with the RGL's. Guess the gun is just alittle particular as to it's tastes--but I bet your right about the firing pins dragging.

[paul stafford jr]

try backing off the adjustment screw a quarter turn if it doesn't help just turn it back. I'm talking about the large screw on the front of the frame.

[John Campbell]

Harold:
There is also a possibility that you are finding closing difficultly due to cartridge rim thickness, and/or shallow rim cuts in your chambers. This happens. And, if you find one or more brands of cartridges work, as opposed to others, use them! No slight to RST, but your gun just doesn't like them apparently. Of course, this is only one of a host of possible causes.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Paul,
The adjustment screw in the front of the frame is not the slotted type as in my Durston Special 20 Lefever, but it is concave with two holes and would need some type of spanner wrench--I suppose I could insert 2 phillips head screwdrivers and try to turn it , but I dont want to bugger up the openings. The gun itself is on face with the top lever to the right of center.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

John, you must have posted while I was replying to Paul. Like you, I wondered about the rim thckness since the RGL's and Win worked just fine. Since I have plenty of both of the latter, it is not a problem. I only have about 150 of the short RST and can use them in the GH 16 damascus, where they worked just fine. I liked the RGL loading with the 20/28 better than the International load anyway. LOwer pressure, "sounded better", and was certainly cleaner burning. Hve to get to work and load some spreaders for those F/F barrels as I would like to carry it a little in the UP this fall.

[Paul Harm]

Don't know what the problem is, but if the firing pins are dragging you can see the slight drag marks on the shells from the primer on down. Check em out.

[Richard Flanders]

Try putting the problem shell extractor rims into the rim recesses at the breeches backwards and turning and rocking them to see if they're tight in the recesses. I have had three guns that had/have tight recesses - a repro28, a vintage Dougal 12ga, and a DH12. None of them like AA hulls and will stick closed solid sometimes. The DH12 I could always break open over my knee...not good... the repro28 would require being put into a rubber-jawed vise to close it even tighter so the lever could be released.... VERY scary that one. I bought a Clymer rim recess reamer and reamed the Dougal out a tad and the reamer is now on loan to a friend in Anchorage who has tight recesses in a nice old LC. I did not ream the DH12 because when I put the spring-loaded piloted reamer into the chamber the cutter did not hit evenly on the breech faces, which apparently are not orthogonal to the bore/chamber centerline for whatever reason. Reaming them out would have made part of the recess too deep and I wasn't going to go there - I just shoot STS in that one exclusively. They all digest STS hulls or any old paper shell with no issues at all. Some modern shotshells are are not made with much precision, especially AA's. Try taking a micrometer to the rims of various brands and you'll see how out of round some are - again, especially AA's. Mic the old paper shells and you'll find they are nice and round and made of much heavier metal that stays that way. This is not a new or unknown issue. I think Bill Murphy has a home made 28 ga rim recess reamer that has made the rounds to folks needing it. Mine is also available for loan for postage costs only if someone requires it. It cost I think $115 originally from Clymer in Michigan and is a beautiful piece of work.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Shot the GH Parker and th Lefever G 16 yesterday and had the same problem closing the gun only with the RST's , no problems with the RGL's or Win. shells. The rims are visibly thicker on the RST shells and that seems to be the problem. I will take a few to my machinist neighbor and let him measure the thicknes with his micrometer. I was going to order a couple hundred 2 1/2" cheddites to load , but not now. I will just continue shooting the other shells.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

just a thought, I am going to make sure that on the initial resizing on my Mec 600 yhat the arm is fully depressed. Does the resizing affect the rim thickness? Since the old primer pops out before the resizing is complete, perhaps I am not fully depressing the lever at times. Back to the reloading bench!!