A SxS shotgun repair story

I bought an old Spanish 12 gauge SXS from Simpsons, Ltd back in December 2017. This is a boxlock mechanism patterned after the Anson-Deeley design.

It is a Laurona made ca 1968 I believe. Not fancy not expensive but just what I wanted.



Laurona 12 gauge SXS

It kicks but shoots a pretty nice pattern:



rosin paper patterning target at 25 yds

The barrels are supposedly FULL/MOD but pattern a little tighter. The target above was at 25yds.

But this past December the left barrel went “click” instead of”BANG”
The firing pin for the left barrel stayed behind the recoil plate and would not come out.



breech plate

Possibly a broken firing pin, hammer spring (a leaf spring) or hammer; and likely in that order .

With the trigger plate removed and viewed from the bottom (gun upside down); the left hammer does not look right. It is just hanging from its pivot pin. Compare to the right side hammer.



frame (bottom view)

The hammer is broken.



hammer

I scoured the web and could not find a replacement, new or salvaged. Even if I had it would undoubtedly require a lot of filing to hand fit it. I tried a local gunsmith but was told they could not weld the broken hammer.

I posted on this forum asking for opinions about welding the hammer and FIREMANJG pm’d that he might be able to TIG weld the hammer back together and offered to try.

I mailed him the broken hammer and he did a fantastic job on it. It looks like new. The TIG welded hammer was mailed back to me right away. Only by then I was in the hospital.

Right after sending Jason the broken hammer I had a heart attack. And of course when it rains it pours… just one thing after another. But at long last I see the light at the end of the tunnel (hope it’s not the train!).

Finally last Friday I was able to do something about reassembling the shotgun. From the figure above it should be clear that the hammer spring could not be pre-compressed with pliers or vise and a collar- just no room. The parts are shown (below) ’assembled’ on the outside of the frame in the cocked position.



layout of parts assembled on frame exterior, cocked position

The hammer spring and the hammer have to be pressed down (frame mounted in a vise upside down) WHILE rotated into the fired position (shown below) so that the flat of the hammer covers the firing pin. Otherwise the firing pin blocks the hammer from moving down into alignment with the pivot hole in the frame.



layout of parts assembled on frame exterior, fired position

I made a helper from some scrap wood



tool to aid in compressing hammer spring while positioning hammer relative to firing pin

The cut-out at the end of the wood paddle matches the profile of the hammer and at this end it is thinned to fit inside the channel that holds both the spring and the hammer. It is left at original thickness where it is to be held.

It is a wonder, that 5 months after disassembly I could remember how it goes back together. The order is FIRST hammer spring & hammer, wiggle it in to position using the wood tool and tap in the pivot pin, SECOND the cocking lever goes in, then LASTLY the sear. The sear spring on this gun is captive and uncooperative.



sear and sear spring

At this point you can c0ck the hammers by pressing down with a corner of the wood tool where the cocking lever meets the hammer. Test the assembly by lifting the sear lever manually, then recock. If all is correct the safety and firing pin function as expected.

The sear spring also does the trigger reset (when the trigger plate gets re-installed).

Getting the safety to stay assembled while reattaching the frame to the stock requires patience.

Final assembly is to put the frame on the stock, install the trigger plate and test the triggers and safety. A repaired hammer could meet the sear at a slightly different angle than original. This would impact pounds of trigger pull or worse case the sear would not engage the hammer at all. In this case the trigger pull seems about the same as original.

I test fired the gun with Federal Metro field loads … the gun can fire standard ammo but I may not be ready yet.



shells

For this to be the success that it is required precise welding so that the hammer still fell on the firing pin and the sear and hammer faces still engaged correctly.

Thanks again to FiREMANJG (Jason).

Great write up and pic's. That''s a beautiful shotgun and so glad Jason was able to help. Sure are alot of great folks here. And most importantly. HOPE YOU ARE FEELING BETTER! Take care sir.

Wow

Glad your feeling better and glad you got the gun reassembled.
That looks like quite the chore not having the factory tools.

As for the gun appearing to pattern tight, that's common with Spanish built guns of the era.
At that time the Spaniards were not using shotcups in their ammo yet, but using brushwads still.
The shotcups make them pattern a little tighter.
Experienced this same thing with a Ugartecha that I have.
It was closer to Full and Improved Full.
I had the chokes relieved to make it shoot closer to IC/Mod

Dang. Looks like ole Jason does good work. Can't see a seem or anything. Congrats on getting your gun back together i know the feeling, a broke gun- especially a old favorite- hurts your heart.

That is awesome. Glad to hear you are feeling better Sir.

Thanks Janie. I am much better. And yes there sure are a lot of nice folks on this forum!

Thanks HTDUCK. I actually hand loaded some fiberwad shells they did open the pattern a bit but I may buy some spreader shells or brush cutter wads to make my own.

He sure does. There is very little change in the angle between the sear and the hammer separating a wall-hanger from a working gun.

thanks 2Beez

That was the second most surgical welding project I've ever had to do. I hoped I was careful enough to maintain angles, so that it wouldn't turn into a wall hanger, as you said. I am so glad it is working again!

great write, have a speedy recovery

Fishfree, glad to hear you’re up and running again! JG, good on you sir. You’re rackin’up gobs of brownie points with the Big Man upstairs!


FINALLY! I actually know someone who tig welds!

Great story. Get to feeling better soon so you can enjoy it in the field this fall.