Stoeger SxS Opening When Fired

[Sedalia Dave]

13 minutes ago, Arizona Gunfighter said:

I tried to PM him, it says he cannot receive messages. 

 

 

 

@Johnny Meadows,SASS#28485L Your inbox is full

 

2 hours ago, Arizona Gunfighter said:

I've been having the same problem with my Stoeger Supreme. I would like Johnny Meadows to remedy this problem but I don't know how to get in touch with him. I only live 3 hours north of him and would gladly drive down to Sahuarita with my Stoeger if I could call him and set up a time to drive down. How can I get in touch with him.

 

[Tex Wilson]

Thanks Sedalia Dave, finally got in touch with Johnny Meadows. Driving down to his place on Thursday, 6/24 with my Stoeger SxS.

Will let everyone know how it turns out, should take care of the opening problem after Johnny is finished with it. 

[Tex Wilson]

Update on my Stoeger SxS opening after firing first shot. On Thursday, June 24th I drove the 3.5 hours down from Prescott to Johnny Meadows home in Sahuarita. He spent a couple of hours fixing the problem with the locking lug on my shotgun, as well as champhering the openings on both barrels, as well as smoothing out the barrels where you load the shells. He also strengthened the lever spring and put a small bend in the opening lever for me. We took the gun out and shot it and it is staying closed. It only cost me a C-note, and it was worth the drive down.  At this time I am shooting Remington STS shells, and Johnny recommended that I go back to shooting the Winchester AA Featherlites like I did when I first got the Stoeger.  Johnny is the man you should talk to when you have problems with your SxS, and he is one helluva nice guy. I'm glad to have met him and I'm looking forward to meeting again him at Border Town in October. 

 

Thanks for every thing Johnny Meadows you are a great pard!

[John Kloehr]

After a lot of thinking and looking and reading, I have come to two decisions.

 

First decision: I am not going to modify the parts of the gun at this time. I will send it to a smith when I have funds.

 

Second: I just ordered two replacement factory impeller springs (I think that is the correct spring, certainly hope so). These are genuine Stoeger parts. I'll install one and see if the opening-when-fired problem is solved.

 

I do expect at that point the gun will not open as easily, so that gives me a second spring I might be able tweak a bit. And I will keep the previous modified spring (it looks modified to my eye) as a reference.

 

For $17, it is a non-destructive low-risk test to see if there is a problem in that part of the mechanism.

 

I have the problem when shooting Winchester Xtra Lites, but they are not the low-recoil version; I could not find the low-recoil version when the supply chain dried up.

 

So now waiting on Midwest Gun Works and USPS.

 

The gun has been sitting on a table disassembled for about two months now.

[Randy Saint Eagle, SASS # 64903]

This discusses the problem you are having and Coyote Cap talks about a cure. It may or may not help but I have gotten a lot of information off of Marauders Old Irons Page.

 

http://marauder.homestead.com/files/Stoeger2.html

 

http://marauder.homestead.com/irons.html

 

Randy

[John Kloehr]

42 minutes ago, Randy Saint Eagle, SASS # 64903 said:

This discusses the problem you are having an Coyote Cap talks about a cure. It may or may not help but I have gotten a lot of information off of Marauders Old Irons Page.

 

http://marauder.homestead.com/files/Stoeger2.html

 

http://marauder.homestead.com/irons.html

 

Randy

Had not come across those pages. Did start laughing a bit where the conversation tried to figure out what certain parts were actually called... I've run into a lot of that on other pages.

 

That aside, awesome pages! Thanks for posting, I will go through them in detail soon.

 

One of the problems described might be the same on mine.

 

One thing I did find on other pages is that the failure to fire on the second shot sometimes turns out to be the gun opening on the first shot, but that not being noticed without more testing and observation. This was my experience too, though I did figure it out within a few occurrences.

 

I'm also going to make some measurements with my calipers.

 

The lever lock, if that is its name, looks to go all the way forward against the lever cam (probably not the right name) whether the barrel is installed or not. What I want to know is how much of each barrel lug is engaged by the lock when the gun is closed.

 

I'll make those measurements when the replacement springs arrive and will post the findings here.

[Ranger Dan]

I did the marauder fix on my stoeger a couple years ago at Randy's recommendation. Once you see what is actually the problem and Marauders solution, it all makes sense. The lock is only engaging about 1/8" of the barrel lug and the lug is cut at an angle allowing the lock to slip off when fired. Lighter ammo and a heavier spring will help, but it won't fix the problem. Lots of filing per Marauders instructions will fix it and you won't need the heavy springs to keep it closed.

[Randy Saint Eagle, SASS # 64903]

27 minutes ago, Ranger Dan said:

I did the marauder fix on my stoeger a couple years ago at Randy's recommendation. Once you see what is actually the problem and Marauders solution, it all makes sense. The lock is only engaging about 1/8" of the barrel lug and the lug is cut at an angle allowing the lock to slip off when fired. Lighter ammo and a heavier spring will help, but it won't fix the problem. Lots of filing per Marauders instructions will fix it and you won't need the heavy springs to keep it closed.

 

59 minutes ago, John Kloehr said:

Had not come across those pages. Did start laughing a bit where the conversation tried to figure out what certain parts were actually called... I've run into a lot of that on other pages.

 

That aside, awesome pages! Thanks for posting, I will go through them in detail soon.

 

One of the problems described might be the same on mine.

 

One thing I did find on other pages is that the failure to fire on the second shot sometimes turns out to be the gun opening on the first shot, but that not being noticed without more testing and observation. This was my experience too, though I did figure it out within a few occurrences.

 

I'm also going to make some measurements with my calipers.

 

The lever lock, if that is its name, looks to go all the way forward against the lever cam (probably not the right name) whether the barrel is installed or not. What I want to know is how much of each barrel lug is engaged by the lock when the gun is closed.

 

I'll make those measurements when the replacement springs arrive and will post the findings here.

I think you can mark the locking lug with a magic marker or sharpie and see how little engagement you are getting and then follow what Ranger Dan said. Stoegar uses the rear axle spring from a ‘48 Dodge to overcome the lack of fitting the parts. It works as long as you aren’t wanting to reload fast!  

 

Randy

[John Kloehr]

24 minutes ago, Randy Saint Eagle, SASS # 64903 said:

It works as long as you aren’t wanting to reload fast!  

But we all do want to reload fast! I want to reload fast.

 

All in good time.

[Long Hunter SASS #20389L]

Hey guys,

Listen to what Johnny Meadows said and your problem will be solved. He knows what he's talking about. You can go to any website or YouTube video you want but he offered his advice. My advice is to follow it.

Good luck!

[John Kloehr]

10 hours ago, Long Hunter SASS #20389L said:

Hey guys,

Listen to what Johnny Meadows said and your problem will be solved. He knows what he's talking about. You can go to any website or YouTube video you want but he offered his advice. My advice is to follow it.

Good luck!

Or save up some gold and send him (or one of a few others) the gun. He does seem to know what he is talking about.

[John Kloehr]

Got the factory spring, popped one in. Now the gun does not drop open as easily as before. So it is stronger.

 

Went out in the driveway, popped in a couple shells.

 

Unlocks on firing.

 

This one is down until it gets repairs. I will post some more pics and some measurements in the next couple days, the micrometer shows where the problem is.

 

In order to get shooting again, I'll be starting a new thread in a minute or two.

[Marauder SASS #13056]

The problem is that the gun is not properly fit in the first place.  As Johnny Meadows and others have explained. 

The lock-up uses too little surface and thus wears that surface relatively quickly.  The "solution" Stoeger does is to make the spring extra strong but that merely "covers" the problem and slightly delays the problem. 

The photos above show how the lugs wear very well.

 

The solution is:

• First, repair the damaged lug - usually with some welding and smoothing it back to the proper profile as was original. 
• THEN work on the extending lug to make it almost fully engage the two lugs together when the gun is closed.  (This may slightly change the angle of the opening lever when closed.  You can legally compensate that by bending the end of the opening lever.)
• Then you can slightly reduce the spring strength and the gun will work better and MUCH longer.