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SxS opening lever


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What would be the preferred method of bending the opening lever on a SxS SG.

Is it hard to do as in take it to a gunsmith or could a fairly mechanical person

do it himself.

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New rule, "The top opening lever on break action shotguns may be bent (reprofiled) by no more than

1/2" from the center of the tang to the outside edge of the lever."

 

How you bend it depends on the type of shotgun and whether it is cast or machined.

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Sounds like an external modification to me.

 

Good luck, GJ

 

 

 

Nope.

 

Re-contouring. (sp??)

 

I PMed Palewolf about this a few years ago to find out before I did anything.

Just put a little crook at the end. Thumb don't slip off. Makes getting to it a

little easier.

He said it was legal.

 

I just did it with a pair of vise grips.

Took me a lot longer to walk out and get them, than it did to

do the job. Just bent the last 3/4 of a inch or so to the left a tad.

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I'm confused - I got bent last Friday night and didn't need any change in rules to do it.

But for a SxS opening lever, is it bent as in bent from the center line towards the side so that it is closer to thumb to make it faster to open, or bent as in bent upwards to make it easier to get to the lever?

What would be the advantage of bending the opening lever on a SxS?

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New rule, "The top opening lever on break action shotguns may be bent (reprofiled) by no more than

1/2" from the center of the tang to the outside edge of the lever."

 

How you bend it depends on the type of shotgun and whether it is cast or machined.

 

 

Ya beat me to it.

 

And that was it.

 

Reprofiled. <_<

Not recontoured. :blink:

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I'm confused - I got bent last Friday night and didn't need any change in rules to do it.

But for a SxS opening lever, is it bent as in bent from the center line towards the side so that it is closer to thumb to make it faster to open, or bent as in bent upwards to make it easier to get to the lever?

What would be the advantage of bending the opening lever on a SxS?

Bending it to the side would allow it to open a tad faster and shorten the throw in relation to how far you bent it.

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I would think bending it towards the thumb that is used to open it would make it easier to reach, thus increasing the speed with which the opening can be accomplished.

 

and shorten the throw in relation to how far you bent it

 

And this too.

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Bending it to the side would allow it to open a tad faster and shorten the throw in relation to how far you bent it.

 

Nope, sorry. Bending the lever does not "shorten the throw" of the locking lever. That angle of movement would be set by the amount of engagement the locking bar has with the locking lugs on the barrels.

 

Bending the lever does mean that the shooter's THUMB will probably move a shorter distance. But the lever moves thru exactly the same angle from locked to open, thus the same "distance".

 

Because the thumb can move less (it makes contact with the lever farther to the left, and gets to "open" position farther to the left), the time for getting the action to open is going to be faster.

 

Good luck, GJ

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It also allows the right hammer to be cocked on Rossi's with the action closed. ;)

 

That's why I bent MINE.

 

I just did it with a pair of vise grips.

Took me a lot longer to walk out and get them, than it did to do the job.

Just bent the last 3/4 of a inch or so to the left a tad.

 

& that's how it was done. ;)

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Nope, sorry. Bending the lever does not "shorten the throw" of the locking lever. That angle of movement would be set by the amount of engagement the locking bar has with the locking lugs on the barrels.

 

Bending the lever does mean that the shooter's THUMB will probably move a shorter distance. But the lever moves thru exactly the same angle from locked to open, thus the same "distance".

 

Because the thumb can move less (it makes contact with the lever farther to the left, and gets to "open" position farther to the left), the time for getting the action to open is going to be faster.

 

Good luck, GJ

Thanks for the explanation,that's sorta what i was trying to say.

Still have'nt heard many suggestions on how to do it.

RF

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So if I do this to my SxS I'll be even more gamier than I already am???? :wacko:

 

Just how much difference does this really make? I've never slipped off the lever when opening the shotgun.

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Little to none.

 

I was bored.

It was there. :huh:

 

So I thought to myself. WHY NOT. :unsure:

Many bad things have happened that way. Well things that started out as well intentioned. :ph34r:

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Many bad things have happened that way. Well things that started out as well intentioned. :ph34r:

 

So what you're saying Marshal is to get a spare before doing any surgery?

 

Oh yeah - been there & done that. The old "just a little bit more ... *snap* ... dammit!" routine.

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Thanks for the explanation,that's sorta what i was trying to say.

Still have'nt heard many suggestions on how to do it.

RF

 

No plans to bend mine, but if I were going to do it I would remove the lever, put it in a padded vice where you want the bend, and tap it with a plastic hammer. If this wasn't working, I would hold it in a padded vice and bend it with vice grips (duck tape the jaws to prevent maring the lever).

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So if I do this to my SxS I'll be even more gamier than I already am???? :wacko:

 

Just how much difference does this really make? I've never slipped off the lever when opening the shotgun.

 

It depends on the gun. I recently handled two Stoegers. One seemed to require the lever to go farther right. Otherwise, they seemed to be the same. My thought was if I owned "that" gun, I'd bend the lever. It sounds as if your shotgun is good to go as it is.

 

GA, I bet you haven't even noticed that you're shooting stages a second faster than you were before the U.S. Open...when you got your Gamer Card. :D

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If my memory serves me correctly, this change was asked for by the left handed shooters because it was harder for them to open the lever than a right handed shooter. That's when the question was asked about how much was going to be allowed.

 

Shenny

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Oh that tears it. First mouse farts, then short strokes, and now this. Don't nobody shoot them the way they were made in the old days? I think I'm gonna quit.

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Oh that tears it. First mouse farts, then short strokes, and now this. Don't nobody shoot them the way they were made in the old days? I think I'm gonna quit.

 

 

Ya. Like nobody EVER did anything to them back then. :wacko::blink:

 

 

Hey guys, hold my beer and watch this! :blink::P

 

Well.

It was just a little more thought out than that. :unsure:

Have seen a fair amount of them done.

And if you are not looking for it.

You will never even notice it.

I actually like it on my Baikal.

Did not do it to the SKB.

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Oh that tears it. First mouse farts, then short strokes, and now this. Don't nobody shoot them the way they were made in the old days? I think I'm gonna quit.

 

Beats tha heck outa me, Couldn't do anymore external mods an all of a sudden "NEW RULE" were allowin one more. It don't make me no neva mind ta me but when we gonna shoot em for just one year with sorta tha same rules?

 

 

RRR

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That's why I bent MINE.

 

 

 

& that's how it was done. ;)

 

 

Hey Palewolf,

Does this mean we can now tell a cowboy to "Get bent!" without him taking offense?! :lol::blink::wacko:

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If my memory serves me correctly, this change was asked for by the left handed shooters because it was harder for them to open the lever than a right handed shooter. That's when the question was asked about how much was going to be allowed.

The original inquiry came from shooter with the same problem I had (see pic link in post #11)...the top opening lever would either hit the right hammer (if the action was closed w/the hammer cocked) or prevent the action from being opened w/the hammer cocked.

...If it wasn't "pre-bent", it would have ended up being bent (or broken) through use.

The only SxS I've ever had that required that modification to function properly was my 'backup' Rossi (the one in the photo)

The first one I owned (and used for the first 8 years of CAS) didn't have that problem.

 

The RO Committee ruled that bending it to allow the shotgun to function normally was covered by the EXISTING statement in the "Firearm Covenants".

• All parts may be smoothed, reprofiled, polished, deburred, or replaced provided they are not prohibited in these Covenants.
SHB p.4

 

When this was announced at the TG Summit, the application was 'expanded' and the question of 'how much?' was asked.

The ROC determined later that the limit specified in the "vote" taken needed to be readdressed due to the many variations in tang width.

After a few additional weeks of background research, we agreed on a ½" distance from center as an easily measured limit.

 

Beats tha heck outa me, Couldn't do anymore external mods an all of a sudden "NEW RULE" were allowin one more. It don't make me no neva mind ta me but when we gonna shoot em for just one year with sorta tha same rules?

RRR

Howdy RRR,

It's NOT a "new rule"...the clarification was added to the SHB (at the request of some TG's) after the ROC had ruled that it was already legal under the EXISTING Covenant statement quoted above. That was to preclude having to answer the same question every 3-4 months on the Wire.

;)

 

Hey Palewolf,

Does this mean we can now tell a cowboy to "Get bent!" without him taking offense?! :lol::blink::wacko:

Howdy MM,

Try that & let me know what happens.

:P

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Oh that tears it. First mouse farts, then short strokes, and now this. Don't nobody shoot them the way they were made in the old days? I think I'm gonna quit.

 

I guess nobody realized I was kidding without putting smiley faces on my remarks.

 

Seriously though, I don't really care too much how anybody else chooses to shoot. My old Stevens SXS will not allow me to cock the hammers before opening it, but I'm not going to try to bend the lever on a 100 year old shotgun. But I don't mind if others want to.

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Why Should they????

 

This Ain't the "Old Days"!!!

 

 

Heck, Jack. If I remember correctly, mosta them boys down yer ways don't use the lever atall after removing the locking mechanism.

 

 

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Duece, I have NO idea who was doing it, but a few years ago someone was removing the locking mech. on dbls. It was stopped as soon as it was discovered.

 

Cheyenne, see u at WR, Culpepper

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Yeah, I seem to remember that. They thought that just holding the forearm firlmly would be enough to keep it closed. Pretty dumb idea.

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Yeah, it's a good thing nobody disables the locking mechanism in 97's, hmm? :blink: Personally I never saw the danger that raised red flags with others. There was talk of an out of battery discharge. But if you think about it, if the gun is not in battery the FP cannot strike the primer. Tell you what you do, at your next shoot watch a few shooters, particularly slicked up Stoegers, and see how many you see that open up between shots. look like humpback whales. And until the shooter figures out that they have to hold them tighter you usually hear a click on the second trigger pull. Perhaps we should have shooters hold the gun in one hand and pull the trigger. If it opens on it's own it is illegal.

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