Road_Clam
09-03-2018, 06:37 PM
Just posting an FYI for those of you who have a Pedersoli Sharps. I had my most recent range trip scrapped from a rifle lock malfunction. Could have been a serious safety issue as after firing a few shots my hammer would not lock back at full cock. My rifle was also able to fire from the 1/2 cock position. If I set the triggers first , then cock the hammer they seemed to function correctly, however there was something serious going on . Once I got home I disassembled the lock and first off the 3 screws that hold the "bridle" bracket were all loose. I further realized you can't lock down one of the 3 screws as it jams the sear and won't function properly. So I ended up using red Loctite and setting the correct screw tension just enough to allow the sear to pivot smoothly. Reassembled everything and still no go. No engagement at full cock. Now I'm getting aggravated as nothing looks visually bent or broken. I revert to the manual and start reading on the double set trigger adjustment procedure and there's info on adjusting the trigger mainspring preload. I started playing with small adjustments on the screw and low and behold adding 1/2 turn on the screw allowed the hammer to positively lock at full cock. Backed the adj off 1/2 turn and yup the hammer would not lock. There is a small window of ideal adjustment on the mainspring. Too much preload and the hammer won't fall when the trigger is pulled. Too little preload is dangerous and can cause the hammer to not lock securely and drop, or worse fire unintentionally. I erred to the safe side and set the preload as tight as possible and still allow the trigger to drop the hammer. Bottom line somehow my preload adjustment screw backed off a tad and allowed the hammer to not lock. Thank god I had a firm grip on the hammer when the issue first surfaced. I took photos of the bottom of the trigger plate, and I measured the depth of the mainspring adjustment screw and created a Word doc for quick maintenance reference for future.