Broken DH

[Bill Crowden]

I took my Parker DH pheasant hunting in South Dakota and on the second day it jamed up, meaning i couldn't get it open nor coould i return the safety to the safe position. It can be forced open if you have someone hold it and you shake the barrels hard enough. Any ideas whats going on and does anyone know a Parker experienced gun smith in Central Texas, I am in Waco.
Thanks Bill

[Bill Murphy]

Dave Wolf in Waco is a stock guy, but he knows how to take a Parker apart. Go see him.

[J. A. EARLY]

Bill,

Since the safety will not come back, I have seen the head of the safety lever (in the stock) come out of the little square in the safety slide which is below the top tang and is connected to the safety button. It then binds and this prevents the lever from opening due to the rod for the automatic safety blocking it. This is if you cannot move the opening lever until you have shaken the lever back into the square. Suspect that the screws both on top and under the lower tang were not tight and I've seen it on a restocked gun that the stock was too thick and thus the lever was made too short.

But just a guess based on limited info.

[Paul P.]

Kirk Merrington is back up and running, his shop is open for business in Kerville Tx.

[B. Dudley]

Something is blocking that safety from going back when the top lever is opened. I just dealt with a similar issues with a few guns, but for a very different reason than you would be experiencing. Anyone who knows the workings of a Parker should be able to figure out what is going on.

[Bob Jurewicz]

The cause of the problem may be INSUFFICIENT HEADSPACE. I had the same problem with a repro. I bought a rim reamer and deepened the rim space and no more problem.
Bob Jurewicz

[edgarspencer]

Are the primers in the shells you are using copper, brass or steel? It certainly sounds to me like your hammer is not rebounding (if it is late enough to have rebounding hammers) and the the firing pin is hanging in the primer. It's almost always one barrel as opposed to both. If I'm using Winchester one of my guns will open fine with the right barrel fired, but if the left is fired it sticks. Never happens with RST (steel primers), Always happens with cheap Winchester. Inspect the impression in your fired cases. I suspect you'll find one is much deeper than the other.
Dry fire the gun then take it apart without cocking it and inspect the firing pin protrusion and whether they easily push back into the frame or if one is much stiffer.
While I can expect my gun to hang up everytime, I choose not to tear it apart, but, just shoot quality ammo.