Hit Me Baby… One More Time!

This month our resident gunsmiths are educating us on the inertia-driven single trigger system, and looking at the all-too-common problem of the second barrel refusing to fire.

There is a large array of single trigger mechanism styles – from the common single mechanical systems to the more inane and generally rather special rotating tower of a boss single trigger system. But the idea is the same: to be able to pull the same trigger twice.

From the outside, most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, and simply want to be able to yank the blade repeatedly without fault. We, the gunsmiths, get to see the inside of these things with rather dull regularity, and as such, have a large stock of respect for these seemingly simple, but remarkably complicated inventions.

Today, we shall be looking at the ‘inertia-driven’ or ‘recoil-changeover’ single trigger system, how it works and some of its faults.

The first time most people find out about inertia single triggers looks a little like this (the following man could, of course, be a lady). Man buys gun from shop, man takes gun home, man puts snap caps in gun, man pulls trigger – click! – man pulls trigger again – nothing – man pulls trigger again and again expecting a different result, nothing happens. Man, now rather irate, phones retailer and says “this gun you sold me doesn’t fire its second barrel”.

Retailer replies: “Have you been out shooting the gun? What cartridges did you use? How many did you use?”