Dear Master Technoid:
I have an older, fixed choke Browning Citori, 12 ga., 28″ barrels. Opening the action after shooting seems very stiff. I am no 98 lb weakling but I really have to work to open the action.
While tinkering around inside (in true Jr. Technoid fashion) I notice the two springs that activate the ejectors. I think these are the cause of the stiffness. The stiffness is in opening, not closing the action. Do you agree this could be the cause? Can anything be done to reduce the heaviness of these springs? Can I purchase less-stiff springs or cut these down?
Thanks for your help and the great site!
T
Dear T,
The only Citoris that I have noticed as being hard to open were ones that just needed a bit more lube here and there or ones that had bits of grit or perhaps bent metal causing the drag. I have never noticed that the ejector hammer springs made them very hard to open, so I would look elsewhere. It could be that your monobloc is just a tight fit in the receiver. In production guns that happens from time to time. Then again, binding metal or a tight monobloc would cause difficulty opening AND closing equally.
Why not try taking the springs out and then reassembling the gun. That will tell you for sure if the springs are the problem.
You can always cut a coil or two off of the ejector springs. It is very common to do that on the Belgian Brownings as it keeps the right hand ejector stud from cracking. Just make sure that you obey the Junior Technoid Rule #16: “When altering any gun part, have a fresh, new spare part at hand- or at least a pal who can loan you his gun for a month or two.” If you don’t, you just know what is going to happen, now don’t you.
Best regards,
Bruce Buck
Shotgun Report’s Technoid
(Often in error, never in doubt.)
Shotgun Report® 
Cutting a coil makes the spring shorter AND stiffer. It increases the spring rate, it does not lower it. To serve as an example, a coil spring is a piece of wire that once was straight. When you compress the coil, it is the same as grabbing a straight piece of wire on each end and twisting it while keeping it straight. (think of a car’s torsion bar suspension for those who are familiar with them). To understand stiffness, think of using extreme differences in length of the same type and diameter of wire, one piece of wire one foot long and a piece one inch long. Twist each of them in the same manner as described and the longer wire will twist easier than the shorter wire, with less force. This illustrates that the shorter coil will be stiffer, all other factors being equal. Factors such as: wire diameter, material, hardness, etc. When I refer to a spring as being shorter, I mean the length of the wire that is wound into the coil. Not just spring height. When examining a coil spring, the number of coils and spacing of coils are a clue to the length of the wire if straight.
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