Primers

[Cold Spring]

In follow-up here I'll say that many Fox guns are hard or almost impossible to open after firing with Winchester primed shells. Yes you'll find an occasional Fox that works OK with Wins. On the other hand a switch to Cheddite (as used in factory RST shells) or Fiocchi or Remington primers will usually make for an easily-opened Fox. The tip of the Fox hammer is the "firing pin" and since the hammers are not rebounding, the tip(s) will drag in the primer until cleared as barrels are opened and hammers recocked. Modern primers are not like old time ones made of relatively soft copper alloy. Net, since I'm mainly a Fox guy that's why I use the three primers cited almost exclusively for all my vintage double-guns.

Then there's my VHE 20 Parker that locks up after firing when using Federal shells; the first time I fired it I had to take off the forend and force the barrels open. Quite a scene on its debut while shooting with my sporting clays gang. But that Parker opens easily with Remington and RST (Cheddite-primed) factory shells. Now, a sensationalist might say Parkers and Federals don't like each other but I know many Parker owners that use or reload with Federals with no problems. I guess what I'm saying here is that one or two data points (or guns) don't make for a solid conclusion.