1878 TTN Coach Gun won't open

[Tater Pickens]

Went to the range today and ran about 30 rounds of BP Magteck shells thru my coach gun, then it suddenly decided to lock itself up and not open. The lever won't move left or right.

Any ideas as to what the problem or the fix? I'm going out to the garage shortly to clean my rifle and pistols, then try to start taking trigger mechanisms and side plates and hammers off to see what I can see. Never heard of anything like this before so would be interested if any of you fellas have ever had this problem.

I always get good advice and feed back from you fellas on things cowboy and I am sure someone out there knows the cause and solution to my problem so I would appreciate your thoughts and expertise.

Tater Pickens

[Coffinmaker]

It sounds like you may have some garbage down in the locking lugs.  You'll also want to check to see if it's completely closed.  If partially open (a few thousands) the locking lugs would jam.  That's about the only things that would cause the opening lever to jam.

Coffinmaker

[Tater Pickens]

problem solved.

You were right coffinmaker. there was crud down in the locking lug area=black powder fouling!!!. I had not done a thorough job of cleaning down underneath where the lugs slide to engage and lock . Lesson learned.

Tater

[Montana Slim]

Might want to revist your barrel cleaning technique & general housekeeping......All my fouling is in the bore, except for a slight ring of fouling on the breech face. A drop of CLP on the sliding parts of the mechanism a couple times a year is all that should be needed to keep it running freely.

Slim