how to tell if you have rebounding hammers

[Milton Starr]

Going to visit the gunsmith tomorrow to have a recoil pad installed and possibly some work done on the hammers . Its a pain trying to close the action with the firing pins still poking out . I'm guessing they are rebounding hammers but the springs that reset the firing pins have gone out or collapsed , they are 125yrs old or so . how do you tell if you have rebounding hammers or not ? I have read that non rebounding hammer guns have a half cock which neither one of mine have . It is time consuming & maddening when your shooting trap but have to push the firing pins back in using your fingers and load the gun vertically :rotf:

[Rick Losey]

a rebounding hammer will not rest on the striker after firing

[Milton Starr]

Neither of my doubles rest on the striker . So I guess they are rebounding , thanks for the help . Also you cant push the hammer forward by pulling the trigger . the hammer will only touch the striker if you full cock it and fire it . so my guess is probably right that whatever resets the firing pins is gone or collapsed

[Brian Dudley]

If the hammer is not touching the pin after fired, then you have a rebounding lock. If the pins are sticking out in this situation and giving you issues with opening the gun, then the pins are likely missing their return sprigs or they are damaged. Proving the gun should have return springs in it.

[Milton Starr]

than yall for being helpful , hopefully the gunsmith can cut new springs from some spring stock . Must be common on old shotguns as both my doubles have this problem though its hard to notice on one because it doesn't always do it .

[Rick Losey]

heck- I replaced one earlier today in a fish tail lever 10

went to the hardware store and bought a light compression coil spring that fit the striker

trimmed it to length with a wire cutter and put it back together

if he is a gunsmith he should be able to handle it

[Milton Starr]

yeah its just one of those little things I need to get done . Need to see if he can do something for the barrels . no amount of oil will keep them from rusting . though I think I found a solution . I don't want to spend 500$ on a 500$ gun . though this is my main gun I will be using for clay shooting . just trying to get it working right and from rusting into scrap iron .

[Dean Romig]

Parker with rebounding hammers have a spring within the lock mechanism that lifts the hammer away from the striker and in fact do have a hammer position similar to . A half clock position.

[Brian Dudley]

Technically, the sear spring is what provides the tention to return the hammer/tumbler back to the half cock position. The key to making the rebounding hammer work is the step on the bottom of the lock plate which stops the downward movement of the mainspring thus allowing a small amount of free movement of the hammer.

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

On both of my 10 guage hammerguns the hammers can not be pushed foward without pulling on the triggers, but can be if the triggers are pulled back.
I thought that this was normal. Am I mistaken?

[Brian Dudley]

Yes. That is how rebounding locks are supposed to work.

[Milton Starr]

Well my gunsmith is on vacation so im going to have to wait I guess .