Weak Ejectors - Cleaning advice?

[Tom Roller]

I have a VHE 20ga - all I've shot out of it are RST 2 3/4 shells. The gun and ejectors function flawlessly but after 5 or 6 shots the right ejector gets progressively weaker until it barely pops the shell out.

I assumed this is due to it being dirty but I have been cleaning that extractor with hoppes on a q-tip, etc and it will eject shells very strongly. But, again, after a few shots it will do the same thing - work really well for a round or two and then, again, progressively weaker.

Any advice on cleaning it? Or is there possibly something else going on?

[Richard Flanders]

If you look at my recent post on 'you can't judge a Parker....' you'll see what your gun very likely looks like inside, unless someone has dismantled it recently, or maybe even if they have. I always recommend a teardown and cleaning for any Parker that hasn't been apart in decades. Any Parker that is gunked up enough inside to start malfunctioning is likely a real mess inside and in need of a total cleaning as I just did mine. That old oil is inside is just like dried varnish and glues parts in place. It has to be scraped and steel wooled and bronze brushed out.There's several small springs inside your gun that are enclosed in tight tubular spaces and they get glued to the point of malfunction with dried oil. It always amazes me that any of these guns can function at all when they are as dirty as I have found them to be. It's a real testament to the design.

With an ejector gun the problem may be in the forearm assembly, with which I have no experience. Hopefully someone will chime in here on that possibility. They seem to be a project to deal with from what folks here say. Have you checked to see that your ejector rods are moving freely in the lug of the barrels? They're easy to remove and clean if you have a good screwdriver to fit the retaining screw. Once you get the ejectors out .22 bronze brush or pastic bore brush then a Qtip fit the hole perfectly for a quick cleanout.