Double Barrel Double Discharge

T

Tom Roberts

Well-known member
I have a 1960's Antonio Zoli Silver Eagle s x s 12ga with single selective trigger, ejectors, 28 inch long,3inch magnum barrels that I've been using this season. I've never had any problems and have been shooting well with it but this past weekend I had an incident with it. I'm standing in calf deep water in brush with feet in mud and a G.W. Teal breaks to my right and while in a crouched semi twisted position I pull the trigger. KABOOM! While in my twisted, slightly off balanced,slightly crouched position both barrels discharge knocking me on my rear in the water. A somewhat hilarious, but definitely shocking event! It's never done that before and I nervously continued shooting it after the misfire with no problems. What would cause that to happen? Incidently, I got the teal! HA!
 
Tom
I had an SKB O\U that did the same thing on a wood cock. Needless to say the bird fell and so did I.
We took it apart and found some shavings from the stock fitting but never ID'd the cause. It did it twice more before I sold it. Miss that gun a lot and would have liked to figure out the issue with the field loads. It never did it with skeet stuff which the new owner uses.

Bob
 
I've only run into it once. I had a Remington 3200 4-bbl set that I just loved. I was shooting skeet with it and a buddy, Mike Petitpren, wanted to shoot it during the round. No problem, have at it. Don't know what he was doing but everytime he pulled the trigger, both barrels would discharge....every time. Made him a little gun-shy of that weapon. ;) No matter how I shot it myself, I couldn't get it to reproduce the doubling. Still don't know the answer.
Lou
 
I wonder if there is some way the trigger could be slightly pulled but not to the point of discharging the first barrel and at the same time set the second so that when actually/fully pulled discharges both barrells? Like I said this has never happened before.
 
My Browning Citori did that a few times, each time it was because the lock
needed rebuilding, it would ever s slightly open/close and fire the other barrel
quicker then you could say kaboom.
No big deal, gunsmith fixes it and back to shoting in a day
 
Wow, scary thing to have happen. Good thing you weren't standing in a boat when it happened. I have never had this happen to me but have observed it happen at the range with a friend's Ruger Red label. As I recall the cause was a piece of dirt in the trigger assembly. He hasn't had any issues with it since. Glad you weren't hurt.
Ron
 
Do you know how many pounds your trigger pull is? It should probably be at least 5lbs for a magnum 12ga. In addition the second trigger pull should be more than the first.( This is the case on double trigger guns, but I would expect the same for a single trigger.)

W.W. Greener came up with his 96/1 Rule, which was fine for black powder, but should be at least 108/1 for nitro powder. (example: 1.25 ( 1 1/4oz load) x 108=135, 135 divided by 16 ounces = 8.4375 pounds. In other words your double should weigh around 8 1/4 pounds or more. If not it it is to light for those shells)

Also, on some inertia trigger guns, not having a firm seated gun will sometimes double.

Hope this helps.
 
I know the gun is not 8lbs. It is stamped "magnum" for 3 inch shells. The action isn't inertia.I've been using it all season long and never had any problems before. Hopefully it was just a freak incident.
 
Everyone of my doubles is double trigger gun, and only one has ejectors I prefer the KISS method. I don't know if there is any manfacture or patent of a signle trigger that is 100%. Italian guns seem to do better than some, but from my prespective they all have issues. I would suggest doing some research on gunsmiths, some out there are more versed than others in certain designs of single triggers.
 
Can happen on double trigger guns too - I had a doubling problem with a used 12ga AYA XXV BL. Took it to the gunsmith and he made some minor adjustments, then he tested it with high brass loads to be sure. No problems since.
 
I had a 10 ga O/U that would double fire every once and a while. after taking the trigger out. there was a flat piece of metal with a small groove cut in it that would hold the two hammers back. it was only a matter of making the groove a bit deeper to hold the second trigger steadier. seemed to stop the problem

that thing doubled once turkey hunting when I was resting my back up against a tree. both barrels went and man did that hurt missed the bird also


I shoot a pair of berretta's now and have not had any type of problems or malfunctions
 
A couple friends of mine have experienced this phenomenon... one guy had an american arms 3 1/2" 12 ga o/u...it would double every so often and he solved the problem by selling it...later another friend of mine revealed to me that his Parker (trojan ???) had the same problem...a master machinist/gunsmith friend of ours(RIP) fixed the problem by tinkering with the triggers...I never found out exactly what he did but i'm pretty sure he strengthened the springs or increased the sear engagement.I'm sure that professional gunsmith would be able to confirm this. I have seen where semi autos( rifles especially)can be coaxed into doing this where you either hold the rifle very loosely and/or keep light pressure on the trigger. A friend of mine was shooting my M1A supermatch off the bench when it happened to him... it surprised both of us to say the least...the rifle was barely touching his shoulder,riding the bags smoothly and he was very slow on the trigger... It has never happened to me but I usually hold the rifle firmly while standing or use a sling while in sitting and prone position. Again, I'm sure any gunsmith worth his salt could correct this problem.
 
Looking at some of these responses I'm convinced it had something to do with my finger pressure on the triggers from my contorted/awkward position when aiming.
 
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