Thoughts on Cocking Ejectors
 

In a thread earlier in the day, I passed on the information that Joe Breda still was making ejector hammers and that he had them in stock.

The reason this came up was that a few days ago, I had a gun broken down to clean it and was reassembling it. The ejectors weren't cocked and I was cocking them using a short 1" hardwood dowel, which was my normal practice. I think most people use this system. When they were almost cocked the dowel slipped off, I heard them snap but there was also a high pitched ping sound and only one ejector was cocked. The other wouldn't cock and I knew right then what had happened. I removed the iron from the fore end and the sear end of the hammer fell out. So the order for a new hammer.

I thought about this for a few minutes and realized that this is likely always a danger if the dowel slips. When the ejector hammer is released normally, it strikes the rod operating the ejector. This transfers the shock of the blow to the square end of the rod with a lot of buffering. When the ejector hammer is released during cocking while out of the gun and the dowel slips, a lot of the impact of the release actually is centered on the tiny L shaped end of the hammer on the sear. This is equivalent to dry firing the gun only probably worse. I remembered another discussion about cocking the sears with the barrels off and the fore end on. Place the muzzle on the carpet and push the ejectors back into the barrel with a wood block. I tried it and this works perfectly without risking dropping the ejector hammers on the sears. I intend to do this in the future. I think it can prevent stressing a high stress area for no reason and may prevent ejector hammer breakage.

Thoughts on this?

The ejector hammers are not supposed to need to be re-cocked.

The hammers tripping when the forend is removed indicates a mechanical issue that needs addressing.

“Thoughts on this?”

I don’t like ejectors.

Of course Brian is 100% correct. This is often misunderstood. When the forend is removed, the primary or secondary ejector "floating sear" notches are designed to hold the ejector hammers in the cocked position whether the firing hammers are cocked or not. Net, if the ejector hammer(s) trip when the forend is removed the ejector mechanism needs attention.

Art didn't say they tripped when he took the forend off. He had the gun broken down for cleaning. A thorough cleaning would include the forend ejector mechanism. Then, they may need recocking.

The method Art describes is the one my dad showed me some 50 years ago. It's so simple, it confuses some people, who continues to try all sorts of methods, usually hurting the fore end wood.

The ejectors often need to be re-cocked when the fore end is removed without the gun being cocked. In this situation it is hard to reinstall the barrels without it. This is a situation that comes up often on the board, often from new users, who can't get the fore end back on. The almost universal response from many users is to use a wooden block of dowel to force them forward until they cock. I have always done it this way. After having done this, it slipping off, and the ejector hammer snapping at the sear I believe this is maybe not the best way to do it. With the iron out of the fore end it appears that an ejector hammer released at the end of the throw is subjected to a really sharp blow against the sear area which can (did) result a break in that narrow critical area. I believe now that the best way is to cock them with the fore end mounted on the barrels. T

That small L shaped area is the most likely place to break according to people I have talked to, and I suspect that it may happen more than we know due to recocking.

Art, on Repros this is ALWAYS where it breaks through normal use, not recocking, because of incorrect duplication of the ejector hammer when they were manufactured.





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Again, if the forend is removed and the hammers need to be cocked to re-install. Then there is an issue with the ejectors that need addressing. The hammers should remain cocked in the forend regardless of if the guns action is cocked or not.