Old Lanber O/U question

[Fridge]

Hi,

This might be a silly question, shotguns are not really my thing.

Picked up a cheap and cheerful Lanber Sporter O/U for the missus for very occasional clay use. It's non-ejector, fixed choke, looking at the proof marks probably mid 80's provenance.

My question is dry firing it you have to switch the barrel selector over to dry fire the second barrel. Does that mean you'll need to do that between shots when using it?

Thanks in advance, Lee

[Robert303]

In my limited experience the answer is NO. The selector is used to select the FIRST barrel that you use. The second should go automatically when the trigger is pulled the second time.

[Billett]

No you shouldnt. The recoil causes a mechanism inside to change the barrel.

You can test this by dry firing the first barrel and then giving the butt a good thump with your palm to simulate the recoil and then try firing again.

[Fridge]

No you shouldnt. The recoil causes a mechanism inside to change the barrel.

You can test this by dry firing the first barrel and then giving the butt a good thump with your palm to simulate the recoil and then try firing again.

I suspected that might be the case. Good idea. Just gave it a good whack and voila, 2nd barrel fired.

Thank you both. :)

[Swamp Donkey]

Don't dry fire shotguns, its bad, very bad.

Ok with snapcaps, but on an empty chamber, the firing pins have nothing to hit against, and break easily, ejectors where equipped can break easily too without anything to throw out.

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[Fridge]

Don't dry fire shotguns, its bad, very bad.

Ok with snapcaps, but on an empty chamber, the firing pins have nothing to hit against, and break easily, ejectors where equipped can break easily too without anything to throw out.

Sent from my mobile using "An application"

I do have one set of snap caps but when I'm putting the shotgun away I do dry fire it without them. Better to leave it cocked or snap caps in?

[ovenpaa]

Fire it onto snap caps to relieve the springs.

[Blackstuff]

If its a non-ejector then there is some merit in firing off the action as mentioned to relieve the spring tension.

Be aware that some shotgun grounds/clubs don't like people turning up with snap caps in their guns though because of the "Christ did he just carry a loaded gun to the line" moments. Neither of the clubs I'm a member of would be bothered as long as its pointing in a safe direction when you open the gun/remove the snap caps. YMMV. Best practice could be to simply remove them when you take the gun out of the safe.

If it was an ejector model then its even less of a benefit to fire off the action as the tension then simple gets transferred to the ejector springs. Swings and roundabouts.