Very light trigger pull

[jimlott]

I was at the Vintagers in September and when shooting my 12ga I noticed the left hammer had a very light trigger pull. In fact, at one point it went off when I was just putting my finger into the 2nd trigger while moving to the second target.

So that leads me to this problem. I have taken the locks off and one is very clean, the other, the left lock, the one with the light trigger pull, was rusty/dirty.

Hopefully, in the pictures, you can see the difference.

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I did clean it up some.

It looks like the sear on the lock is worn, I'll post some pictures shortly.

(the lower picture refuses to stand upright :rotf: I think I tried 10 times to upload it, even rotated the photo to no avail)

[CraigThompson]

:whistle:

[CraigThompson]

I had a grade 0 or 1 16 gauge 30” that doubled a couple times . My gunsmith buddy took it apart and took about three strokes with a file put it back together and the problem was solved . FWIW he deepened the hammer notch .

[Stan Hoover]

Jim,
the key to keeping your pictures upright is to edit them before uploading to the Parker forum, I generally just adjust the shadow and my pictures are always upright.

I'm interested in your findings, I acquired a Nichols & Lefever 8 gauge hammer gun that was doubling for me while playing around on the 5 stand at the Fall SXS

Now that gets your attention, 3 oz's of lead departing at one time:shock:

When cocking my left hammer, there's barely any confirmation of the hammer being cocked, I'm guessing the sear may be worn?

Stan

[Stan Hoover]

Double Post

[CraigThompson]

Jim,
the key to keeping your pictures upright is to edit them before uploading to the Parker forum, I generally just adjust the shadow and my pictures are always upright.

I'm interested in your findings, I acquired a Nichols & Lefever 8 gauge hammer gun that was doubling for me while playing around on the 5 stand at the Fall SXS

Now that gets your attention, 3 oz's of lead departing at one time:shock:

When cocking my left hammer, there's barely any confirmation of the hammer being cocked, I'm guessing the sear may be worn?

Stan

You’re holding out on me I wasn’t aware you’d gotten ANOTHER big cannon :rotf:

[Stan Hoover]

You’re holding out on me I wasn’t aware you’d gotten ANOTHER big cannon :rotf:

Yeah,
fell off the wagon again:whistle:

[jimlott]

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Pics of the good sear

[jimlott]

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Pics of worn? sear.

Thanks Stan, these posted with no problem. Craig making it look easy...

[CraigThompson]

That notch is what he filed on the one I had .

[CraigThompson]

When the hammers are cocked you should be able to wiggle the triggers ever so slightly without setting them off . The back trigger on the 16 I had was solid no wiggle , a couple strokes of the file and the wiggle was back and no more double fire .

[Dean Romig]

Looks like there's a little damage not only to the notch but also to the point of the corresponding piece (for lack of the proper term).





.

[jimlott]

Dean, that's what I'm seeing. the point on the sear seems to be worn off. The hammer is not cocked so I haven't looked at that junction when it is yet.

Has anybody taken one apart?

Being a farmer, I always want to just tear into things knowing it's already broken...:)

I did take the single trigger out of my 16ga skeet gun because the barrel selector beside the trigger would not move. Got that fixed so I can at least move it if I would want to.

[Arthur Shaffer]

Thst is what I would guess too. The notch in the hammer looks a little shallow to me, along with the sear tip not fitting into the notch as well as the other. A little crispness in fit with the tip a little flatter would likely fix it. I would just send the lock to a companent double gunsmith and have him fix it. Nothing looks worn or broken to the point a real repair is needed.

I have a 20 gauge LC Smith that is suffering the same thing and my solution was to buy an NOS hammer for $25 on Gunbroker. I haven't fixed it yet but my locks look really simple and I have a spring compressor so the work should be pretty simple.

[Breck Gorman]

The left hammer notch and trigger sear nose have been altered. Both have had the sharp angles rounded, which makes for a light unpredictable trigger pull.
Trigger pull is regulated by using mold makers stones (never a file) to adjust the angle of the tip of the sear nose. The more acute the angle, the harder the pull. The more obtuse the angle, the softer the pull.

[Brian Dudley]

It is important to note too that the photo he shows are not of the gun cocked. So, it does not really show us much.

[jimlott]

Brian, that is correct, I do plan on getting some photos up of it cocked to show everyone.
I do appreciate everyone's comments.

[jimlott]

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As can be seen, the bottom picture is of the troubling lock. I think it's just that the sear needs a little stonework. Without taking it apart, the hammer appears fine.

[John Davis]

I think it's just that the sear needs a little stonework.

As a Mexican cowboy advised me about training horses, “Poquito, poquito, poquito.”

[Arthur Shaffer]

The left sear needs to be totally reshaped. The left hammer notch also looks to me like it is at a much more acute angle and shallower. Compare it to the right hammer and sear.

[Mike Poindexter]

Looks to me like there is not enough material on the suspect sear to reshape it --the cowboy way would be to peen it with a flat hammer to extrude a little more material toward the notch, then reshape it. The professional way would be to send it to a competent double gunsmith to tig weld it and reshape and reharden it and recut the hammer notch properly. The extravagant way would be to send it to Dewey Vicknair to make a new sear from scratch, except I dont think he is doing routine repairs anymore. Good luck with it.

[Arthur Shaffer]

It's not uncommon to see Parker locks on eBay. If you can find one of the same style and have a picture good enough to judge the condition, you may find a used lock to use for spare parts.

[jimlott]

Finally taking some time to post an update. I worked on the sears with a set of stones I had for working on my 1911s if they needed it. I'm certian it was worked on before because it was not even/flat, which I think was part of the problem.

I unfortunately didn't test the trigger pull before working on it but the final result was a trigger pull of just over 4#.

I'm happy with that.

[John Davis]

Perfect

[Mike Franzen]

That is some mighty fine work. You got skills.

[Mike Koneski]

Jim, did you use a Powers jig?

[jimlott]

Mike, I did not. Just used a vice and eyeballed it. Took my time and checked it often with a magnifying glass.