Winchester 101 shotgun refuses to open

[Arizona Jake]

My Winchester 20 gauge 101 o/u shotgun gets difficult to open after both barrels are fired.
No problem when only one barrel is fired.
No problem with ejection either.
This started last week during dove season.

Has anyone out there run into this ?

Does anyone have a cure available?

As always, any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

[gunnut69]

It's very difficult to diagnos a problem such as this from a distance. If the resistance to opening is not a top lever thing but a resistance to breaking the gun and one that worsens as the second round is fired we can surmise it's related to the cocking of the hammers. A dry fire should confirm this. If the guns is hard to break after the 2 barrels are dry fired, it's likely a cocking cam problem. But what problem?? Well there are many possiblities. It may be simply dirty from all the shooting(especially if your dove shooting is even remotely like mine). A good cleaning and relubing may solve the problem. I will also mention the 101's propensity for breaking firing pins. If the fired woulds show drag marks around the firing pin indentation then it may be a firiing pin proble. Replacements are available and they generaly fix the problem with better material/design. I mainly mentioned this in the interests of safety..but it should be checked.

[Arizona Jake]

Thank you for the information.

I did notice some drag marks, but don't remember which barrels the shells were ejected from.

I'll check-up on that this weekend.

Regards,

[Feldhege]

My 12 Ga did this. I ended taking it all apart and throughly cleaning everything. Then I applied the appropriate lube and put it back together. Never gave me any trouble. Mine had a problem with the firing pins not retracting fully according to a buddy of mine. Might check that too.

Robb

[Arizona Jake]

Thanks for the input.

I will disassemble the shotgun, clean and polish as necessary.

Regards,