[missing link]

Hello All,

My two sons have Stoeger Condors in 12 gauge that have developed a habit of lite primer strikes. Parts seem to be nonexistent in the retail market. One shotgun has been sent back and completely replaced. It still has the issue right out of the box and had 3 lite strikes in its first 50 rounds.

We are using RIO and Winchester 12ga trap loads. The same ammo our trap team uses (21 kids using 95 cases per season) and these Stoegers have 99% of the lite strike problems.

I do not want to send it back again (would be third time for one gun: once for vent rib solder joint, once for lite strikes and second time for the other gun).

Has anyone experienced this with Stoegers?

Is there a fix that a DIY’er can perform?

Merry Christmas!!

Pete

 

[USMM guy]

I have one.

And I occasionally get light strikes with it as well. I do not really know how to fix it either. Mine does not see much daylight anymore.

 

[Andyk]

I have a SxS and have never had a misfire.

 

[missing link]

It is a funny thing. We ran them for multiple seasons and have LOTS of rounds through them. Now the old ones and the replacement is giving fits.

 

[2lflat4]

Granted this is not the same model gun. My stoeger M3K experiences misfires with winchester white box 12 GA target loads. Same with my Browning Citori feather built in 1980. From what I gather the primers are not fully seated in the shell causing light primer strikes. They light off the 2nd time. Federal target loads are reliable in both guns for me.

No issues with winchester AA shells though.

 

[dezrat57]

just a thought
how about removing the firing pins and cleaning them?

Best of Luck
Dave

 

[TRSOtto]

I'm going to tell you what you don't want to hear.

Ditch the Stoegers O/U's.. They are junk shotguns. Their SxS's are functional. A lot of folks use them in CAS.....but their O/S's are garbage. They're good for driving fence posts but that's about it.

If you have to have a budget O/U, my recommendation is either a Franchi or a CZ. Anything else on the market is more trouble than it's worth.

 

[USMM guy]

No beef with this.

I'm going to tell you what you don't want to hear.

Ditch the Stoegers O/U's.. They are junk shotguns. Their SxS's are functional. A lot of folks use them in CAS.....but their O/S's are garbage. They're good for driving fence posts but that's about it.

If you have to have a budget O/U, my recommendation is either a Franchi or a CZ. Anything else on the market is more trouble than it's worth.

My experience with the one that I picked up just because pretty much confirms this.

 

[missing link]

I have been contemplating fire-selling them and getting into a CZ or something. Was looking for the ‘hack’ fix that could make them work.

Will need to discuss with the kids....

Thanks for the feedback.

Merry Christmas!

Pete

 

[missing link]

After more searching and calling around, including Stoeger service, I found that the SxS do not have this issue and the geometry of the O/U internals cause issues. The guy was not surprised and did not offer any advice other than 'send it back' (understandable). Supposedly all the Stoeger O/U's share the same mechanisms and there is no easy fix.

Back to Stoeger it went this week. Probably will come back as another new unit (not one that has been repaired/tuned) and subsequently get sold.

Oh well.

Pete, a.k.a. missing link

 

[missing link]

FYI - Stoeger success!! A win for cheap O/U shotguns!!

So the saga continues. The Stoegers have gotten small washers installed under the mainsprings (‘hammer springs’ I suppose). I installed them thinking that it will increase the hammer force and I found recommendations on other forums’ older posts suggesting this is a fix.

It works! It works for likely two reasons.

1. It increases the energy transferred to the firing pin. I think the change here is minimal because the washer is thin, approx 1/32” to 1/16” and the spring is long.

2. The firing pins are now pushed into the primer and forced to stay in that position after pulling the trigger.

I theorize that the firing pins are light weight, also possibly have fitting issues where energy is consumed due to rough surfaces or poor geometry, or other issues that can prevent good hard strikes. In the stock configuration, I envision the firing pin hitting the primer and bouncing rearward, back into the hammer because in the stock configuration they ‘float’ before and after firing. I suppose they are ‘inertial’. With the small washer in place the hammers keep the firing pin pushed up against the backside of the breachface and into the primer. Before the trigger is pulled, the pins are ‘floating’, that is, not touching anything, the same as the stock configuration.

The primer indents are now very pronounced and I have not had an issue in hundreds of rounds.
The primers do show where the firing pins wipe them as the action is opened. It takes a few degrees of opening to recess the pins and reset the hammers. I might reprofile the firing pins to eliminate this. I would have to make the pins shorter, which seems in conflict with the original direction the work is going but I think if they hit hard and stay in place it’ll be ok.

 

[K1187]

Huh? I have both a 12 and a 20 gauge Stoeger O/U's that I bought like 15 years ago. Both have a few thousand rounds through them and have gone bang every time. I always thought they were great guns for the price at the time. I think I only paid like $300 used for the 20 ga and $400 new for the 12?