[ssgross]

It's not required to fully disassemble to remove the locking bolt, cam, lever, etc., but maybe if the bolt is in pieces. That said, he did good to go ahead and do a quick service the innards while he had it open, especially given how rare these guns are opened up by design.

Mailman brought another gift today...the safety bar. Indeed, this model of crass safety bar is the same as for the lewis. It will require some minor fitting, the bottom catches on the trigger guard and won't go back...nothing a couple swipes of a stone won't fix. Need to make the trigger locking T-block that it connects to next. Time to study some pictures. Having never fired a SxS, or double barreled gun for that matter, I had naively thought the safety was supposed to engage automatically when opening. But it looks like I was wrong. It disengages when cocking. I'm guess one safely carries with the action open and shells in the chamber, then close, shoulder, and fire. But then what's the point of the thumb safety. Quicker reloads? But that don't matter as you take the safety off to fire to begin with.

Maybe I have it all wrong. I feel like I'm asking a rather stupid question. But I think I'm learning there is no such thing as common sense with double's, or at least it's of a different kind. Can someone please tell me if the safety is forced on or off when cocking?