Browning O/U difficult to break open

Shooting Coach · Aug 12, 2014

DON"T FILE THE FOREND LUG! It is fitted to .001" clearance, and will seat in IF you keep clean gun grease on the receiver knuckle and forend iron. I recommend CMD lube.

BTW, the ejector springs are reset when the gun is closed, not when it is opened. From former Browning gunsmith. Me.

SlimCookie · Aug 12, 2014

Shooting Coach said:
DON"T FILE THE FOREND LUG! It is fitted to .001" clearance, and will seat in IF you keep clean gun grease on the receiver knuckle and forend iron. I recommend CMD lube.

BTW, the ejector springs are reset when the gun is closed, not when it is opened. From former Browning gunsmith. Me.

I'm not filing anything! Never planned to. I plan to shoot more and wear it in.

William Perry · Aug 12, 2014

I just had a discussion about this very subject with Bob Miller of Millers Guns. He has been selling new Brownings for years and tells me its how they com new in the box - Tight with a capital T. Shoot it a lot, it will loosen up. I own 5 Browning Citori's I bought new and had the same condition on all of them. Browning repair center once told me to lube the gun with oil, not grease when it was new, then change over to a gun grease such as STOS as it broke in. Worked for me.
I had a new XT that caused a back ache opening it until a thousand rounds. Its the nature of the beast.

Bill

Excellent959 · Aug 12, 2014

50 rounds is nothing, go out and put 5-600 rounds thru it, no filing required

Why not trim 1 or 2 coils of the ejector springs... that will make the biggest difference. Worst case scenario it won't throw the shells 4 ft.. instead only 3, lol.

My friend just bought the exact same gun, was hard to open at first but lightened up allot. You can remove the ejector springs in the forarm and see, if it makes a difference in breaking the action open.

I've shot this gun, very nice feel. Shoots a tiny bit higher than my 725, but that ain't a bad thing. The rib is just the perfect height IMO.

Also no oil, use some marine grease or gimmicky gun grease, they all do the trick. I use gun butter on mine...

Simon · Aug 12, 2014

john c has it right. use spotting blue or dykem layout blue. you will see the hard mark. if this is tight what will happen is you will start galling the forend iron where it pivots on the reciever. TAKE UR TIME AND LOOK FOE THE HARD MARK thnks howard

Slick Mic · Jan 16, 2021

John C Saubak said:
The arrow points to the area I'm describing. The drawing is representative of a Beretta, the lug on a Browning might be a slightly different shape but the function would be similar. This is the area that the forend iron bears against and determines how tight vs loose the forearm fits which in turn is USUALLY the problem with a gun that is difficult to open and/or close. Get yourself a new small sharp file and be careful not to change the angle of the surface and be VERY careful to not remove too much metal, it's easier to file metal off than to put it back on if you find you filed off too much View attachment 260915 .

Hello John, I have a Browning Synergy O/U that has the same problem, its all of 7-8 years old. So the break in is well over. Recently it's very difficult to open and close. I've had it to 2 smiths ~ trust me when I say it's CLEAN. Plus I'm a clean freak so I'm lead to believe that's not the issue. My question is the same .... I see a lug where the forearm snaps in, what does that have to do with the action opening and closing? I'm lost

DonW217 · Jan 16, 2021

A fellow I shoot with had a similar problem with a Browning. Easy to open/close before pulling the trigger, very hard after. A small part of his main spring broke off. A new spring fixed to issue.

Browning O/U difficult to break open

Shooting Coach

SlimCookie

William Perry

Excellent959

Simon

Slick Mic

DonW217

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