double barrel shotgun question

arbud · Feb 4, 2021

Hey guys,
Looking at an older sxs shotgun today. Asked if I could dry fire it. When I pulled the triggers neither triggers hit the firing pins. He said that was normal and the shells would still fire. If I have not explained well enough let me no. I am new to sxs shotties.

TheOriginalMexicanBob · Feb 4, 2021

Ask him to load live rounds and put the muzzle into his mouth and see whether he'll do it.

arbud · Feb 4, 2021

Could they be unoticebly bouncing off of the exposed firing pins and come to rest about 1/4" away. Both triggers cock alright.

Rambler · Feb 4, 2021

arbud said:
Could they be unoticebly bouncing off of the exposed firing pins and come to rest about 1/4" away. Both triggers cock alright.

Some of them have hammers that rebound after inertia allows them to overcome the rebound springs to strike the firing pins. This makes it so that the barrels do not hang up on the firing pins when opening the action.

willtill · Feb 4, 2021

TheOriginalMexicanBob said:
Ask him to load live rounds and put the muzzle into his mouth and see whether he'll do it.

Good lord. :lol2:

Put a piece of masking tape over the firing pin holes. Dry fire it and the scrutinize the masking tape. You should see where the pins popped against the tape.

Not a shottie, but my TC Arms Omega seems to do the same thing. I can assure you that it will light off the 209 primer. Quite a few dead deer can also attest to that.

Trigger Time · Feb 4, 2021

I thought old shotguns were like rimfire in terms of dry firing.

teratos · Feb 4, 2021

Trigger Tuner said:
I thought old shotguns were like rimfire in terms of dry firing.

As a general rule you should not dry fire SxS or O/U. It can damage the pins.

I use snap caps.

Bertfish · Feb 4, 2021

I want to state for the record that the OP is not referring to the sxs I have posted in the classifieds

Carry on

byf43 · Feb 4, 2021

Take two shotshells, and cut around the plastic, just above 'the brass' until the plastic is removed.

Do this over a 5 gallon bucket, to 'catch' the powder, shot cup and shot.

All you should have is a brass casehead with a primer in it.

Again......... produce two of these.

Again....... casehead with nothing more than a primer in each.

Ask the owner to allow you to test the shotgun again.
Take it outside, load it with the test 'hulls' and fire each barrel to see if they work.

teratos · Feb 4, 2021

byf43 said:
Take two shotshells, and cut around the plastic, just above 'the brass' until the plastic is removed.

Do this over a 5 gallon bucket, to 'catch' the powder, shot cup and shot.

All you should have is a brass casehead with a primer in it.

Again......... produce two of these.

Again....... casehead with nothing more than a primer in each.

Ask the owner to allow you to test the shotgun again.
Take it outside, load it with the test 'hulls' and fire each barrel to see if they work.

Great idea!!

byf43 · Feb 4, 2021

teratos said:
Great idea!!

Thanks.
I do come up with a decent idea, once every decade.
I'll go sit in the corner, until 2030.

rseymorejr · Feb 4, 2021

Don't make this any harder than it has to be. Load 2 shells, go out on your porch and fire 2 shots in the air. Sleepy Joe said that was OK

grimnar15 · Feb 4, 2021

Most SXS hammer guns are designed that way. The hammers will rebound after striking the firing pins. That is so the firing pins can retract and not stay forward locking the action closed. This is normal operation for this shotgun. If the hammers stayed against the firing pins the pins would be jammed into the primer indent, thus locking the action closed or very difficult to open.

Horseman308 · Feb 5, 2021

So, just to clarify, it sounds like the OP is looking at a gun with exposed hammers, right? If so, rebounding hammers are very normal.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

tallen702 · Feb 5, 2021

teratos said:
As a general rule you should not dry fire SxS or O/U. It can damage the pins.

I use snap caps.

To test firing pins and hammers, I just use snap caps with tape over the "primer" area to look for the pin strikes. Works beautifully.

OP, as others have said, the hammers are designed to rebound so that the firing pins don't bind up in the action.

Also, do you know what else you should be looking for on an old hammer gun? e.g. how to check the rib and barrel joining, checking lockup, testing to see if it's on-face? There's a lot of stuff you have to be wary of when buying a used SxS.

arbud · Feb 5, 2021

Thanks to all of you. The gun is at blue fins in dundalk if anyone is interested. Chinese. 395.00

Bountied · Feb 5, 2021

teratos said:
As a general rule you should not dry fire SxS or O/U. It can damage the pins.

I use snap caps.

Put a piece of scotch tape over the rubber primer on a snap cap, pull the triggers, and look at the tape. Like what was said above. I've done this with a few older firearms to make sure the firing pin was working correctly.

Harrys · Feb 9, 2021

Bountied said:
Put a piece of scotch tape over the rubber primer on a snap cap, pull the triggers, and look at the tape. Like what was said above. I've done this with a few older firearms to make sure the firing pin was working correctly.

I make my own snap caps, Fill the empty primer pocket with hot melt glue and squirt it in real good. Let harden shave even with a razor blade.

Then place a piece of masking tape on the shell and then test it in the gun. If the firing pin pierces the tape you are good to go.

I have 5 dummy rounds for my 50 cal S&W use them to practice trigger control with a barrel lazar light. It shows how you actually shoot and how to correct holding and trigger pull, you can do it with rifles or any gun.

fabsroman · Feb 13, 2021

I finally have time to add to this thread.

No need for snap caps, hot melt glue where the primer used to be, tape, etc. to see if the firing pins are working IF you have spent shells handy. If you pull the trigger on a spent shell, there should be a larger indent on the primer IF the firing pins are striking the primer. If there isn't a larger indent on the primer, then you can resort to snap caps, hot melt glue, tape, etc., but I would still be leery about buying that gun.

Now, if the gun has a single inertia trigger, the 2nd hammer will not usually be set unless a round has been fired off AND the butt of the stock has hit something solid, like your shoulder. If the gun has mechanical triggers, then both hammers should be cocked and ready upon closing the gun and a single trigger, then each trigger pull will fire one of the chambers. If it is a two trigger SxS, then both triggers should activate the firing pins.

double barrel shotgun question

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