What's the couse?

[Angel Cruz]

I was out at the Sporting Clays course and I got a simultaneous firing of both bbls. when I pulled the front trigger. It happened twice. Needless to say my day was done after the second time. I was using my VH 16ga. #1 frame. What could be the cause of that? thanks for your help.

[George Lander]

Worn sears.....................George

[Angel Cruz]

Thanks George. Besides replacement, any other remedy?

[Daryl Corona]

Angel,
You did'nt mention the loads you were shooting but other than a good cleaning try reducing the weight and pressure of the load and sometimes it solves the problem. Unless someone has messed with the sears you should be able to fire countless thousands of rounds through that gun without a doubling problem.
Daryl

[Chris Travinski]

Angel,
A good cleaning will probably take care of your problem. If the sears are worn, a good smith should be able to weld and file them back into shape. If I were you, I would hurry up and buy a backup gun so you never have to leave early again!!
Good luck,
Chris

[Angel Cruz]

Daryl, I was using SpreadR ammo, 2-3/4 drams, 28 gram shot wt, #8 shot in 2-1/2. This was the first time the gun was fired in over 40 yrs, if that makes a diff.

[Angel Cruz]

Chris, I did have my GH 16ga. It's just that when it happened the second time I did not have a good butt to shoulder contact and of course the gun will let you know.

[Harry Collins]

Angel,

Papa's little 20 gauge Trojan did that to me one day at sporting clays and my heart sank. I did have a spare to shoot so the day was not lost, but I hated to think of Papa's gun being on the blink. When I took it apart there was a glob of dirt under the left sear. That removed and the little Parker has preformed as new. I hope dirt is all thet is wrong with yours.

Harry

[Angel Cruz]

Thanks Harry. She's being sitting for so long that I'm hoping that's the problem.

[Richard Flanders]

If the sears are indeed worn and you can't fix them yourself send them to Al Edge of "Old Dominion Arms". He did an incredible job of welding up a set of seriously mangled/chipped hammer gun sears for me. Most of the time they just get rounded a bit and need a few minutes each on a flat diamond hone, especially the right barrel sear.

[George Lander]

Thanks George. Besides replacement, any other remedy?

Angel: You got some great advice here before I had a chance to get back to you. Strip your action first & clean it thoroughly. If that doesn't fix the problem then having the sears rebuilt would be the obvious solution.

Best Regards, George

[Angel Cruz]

Thanks for that bit of info Richard.

[Angel Cruz]

Thanks George!!

[Pete Lester]

Lawrence DelGrego has the actual Parker Bros "machine"/"jig" that will recut the proper angle on the sears if they are worn. My 1913 Trojan doubled, did that a couple of times 3 seasons ago. A real attention getter when it went off and was loaded with 1 1/4 Bismuth, but it killed a drake mallard and nearly ripped my trigger finger off. Once Lawrence has the gun apart the milling/filing of the sears takes a couple of minutes at most.

[Angel Cruz]

Thanks Pete!!

[Bill Murphy]

I am going with Daryl Corona's reply. Hammerless Parkers do not normally have worn sears. Hammer Parkers often have damaged or broken sears because they fall on the cocked hammers or get bumped on the cocked hammers. This does not happen with hammerless guns. My diagnosis is "dirt".

[Daryl Corona]

Angel,
Your 1oz loads are not likely the culprit. Try some of RST's lite 7/8oz. loads for the 16. You and the gun will love it and they crush targets as well as the 1oz. loads. Bill is right. Gunk. Most times the simplest solution is usually the answer. Good Luck.
Daryl.

[Angel Cruz]

Daryl, that's what I use on my Damascus 16ga.

[Jim DiSpagno]

Dirt the most likely culprit. After sitting unfired for 50 years, my Pop's GHE 12 did that to me and after taking it to a reputable gunsmith, the problem was solved with a thorough cleaning. The smith actually replaced the screws to the original timed position.

[Pete Lester]

FWIW. My Trojan that was doubling was clean. Larry had the gun apart two years earlier and everything went through the ultrasonic cleaner and had been properly put back together. Scott Kittredge had a GH that doubled and cleaning did not resolve it. When Larry repaired the sears in my Trojan he commented that more guns come into his shop each year for the repair of worn sears than for any other issue.

I hope that a thorough cleaning resolves the problem. However I will not take a chance with sears. They are the only thing preventing your gun from an unintended discharge. If the jar from firing can trip a sear so could so could the jar from setting the gun down. A gun that doubles is a potentially lethal threat to the user and all those around it.

Good luck.

[Angel Cruz]

Thanks for that bit of advice Pete. I'm gonna send it out to DelGreco since I don't know of a Parker gunsmith here in Florida. I won't be using this one till I take take of that problem.

[Pete Lester]

Good luck with Angel, I don't think anyone likes to have a gun "out" for repairs, I know I don't. The good news is I have watched Larry do the work, it is a relatively quick job and I believe you will get good service in terms of fast turnaround. It can't hurt to have him clean, inspect and lube all the internals while it's there too.

[Angel Cruz]

Might as well go with the full service!!

[Richard Flanders]

I've only ever had one Parker double and it was due to a worn sear for the right barrel. It only doubled when I fired the left bbl first. I honed the right sear and it's been fine since. I had an advantage in the diagnosis in knowing that the gun was clean as I had dismantled and cleaned it.