T. D. Dick

     What you've described RE: the H & R Springfield Trapdoor reproduction rifles is a direct result of the way H & R made their cam action at the rear of the breech block door.

     I won't discuss the original Springfield armory design because you have seem enough of them to know the original gov't. design

     What H & R did was to make the locking cam a separate and distinct piece from the cam latch shaft.  The H & R cam piece has a round hole through it and the cam latch shaft is also made round in order to accept the cam.   

Upon assembly of these two pieces, ( *which in the original gov't. arm it was one forged piece* ), the cam piece was place unto the cam latch shaft and the two pieces were held together with a small roll pin inserted through corresponding pre-drills holes in both the cam and it's cam latch shaft.

For those knowledgeable about the Springfield trapdoor engineering, you know that the cam fits into it's corresponding recess in the breech plug/tang piece and there is much stress at that juncture point.  The stress point is the same in the H & R reproduction, however the rotary stress on the cam piece wanting to rotate the cam latch over time first weakens the one small roll pin holding the two piece together, until finally there is a failure of the roll pin in it's entirety.  That is the point the breech door will come open on ignition.

There are visible signs that a failure is imminent, but apparently, some owner's of these arms fail to act or totally disregard the warning signs, which I need not describe now.

For a solution to this problem, I would suggest that one familiarize oneself with the re-designed parts changes that Pedersoli adopted at the point when they, Pedersoli, acquired all of the H & R tooling, design drawings and spare parts when H & R discontinued their production of the Springfield Trapdoor repros.  The H & R tooling was thereupon sent to Italy.

    C. M.M

    Dick, you've done to a great deal of work and some expense retrofitting an original Armory block to a reproduction action, but it may well be your own rifle.

    For some one else who owns an H & R, they all were manufactured to the same specification, so if it is a shooter and not a wall hanger the problem is there.

    For the gunsmith reader of all this, the Pedersoli corrective action was to discard all of the H & R manufactured recoil cams and all the cam latches that came from the U.S. as previously manufactured parts for assembly.

    THE SOLUTION, which you've all been waiting for;

       The Pedersoli re-design was a recoil cam with a SQUARE hole through it,   .   .  .   .   .and a re-designed cam latch with a SQUARE shaft on it to accept the new cam.

   Problem solved:   the cam could now not rotate on the square shaft, therefore, the breech block door could not accidentally open as a result of that particular problem.

   Perhaps it might due to an over charge of smokeless.

   Thanks for listening,

   Creedmoormatch

I had an H & R that had the auto eject problem No amount of lock tite would keep the set screw tight. I took it to a single shot gunsmith and he could not fix it, then sent it to a shop in Alabama I think and whatever they did turned the trick. This appears to be one example of a manufacturing shortcut that should never have been made. Joe S

Dick
Mine is the Officers model. I replaced the rear sight wit one that will adjust properly instead of floating around. Gun will shoot into 2" at 100 all day. I think most of the problems are user related.
Tom

   T.D. Dick

   I was unable to attend the ASSRA gathering that Jon hosts every year in Hay Market, Virginia, but I do remember that you were going to be there, if I remember correctly.  So we have not met to this point.

   If you are interested in learning more about the situation that I've discussed with you above, I would be happy to be more particular about it, but will leave out the legal ramifications to keep it less particular.

   Perhaps you can use what additional information I am able to provide you for the repair of these rifles if and when other owners contact you.  I would say you are a very knowledgeable and competent smitty to have accomplished what you've shown in your photo above.

   I have mechanical drawings of the re-designed parts that Pedersoli is presently incorporating into the production model Trapdoors.  I also can furnish you with Pedersoli O.E.M. part numbers and pricing for the necessary parts, although a bit out dated.

   I have a complete chronicle of the upgrade with photos, including photos of the original factory H & R parts, plus the original parts themselves.

   Can you believe the guy would actually say a rubber band will keep the door closed upon ignition.  You and I have been around long enough to not have our intelligence insulted by such non-sense as that, but there you are.

   I'll be going out of town on business tomorrow morning, so it will be later in the week before I get that file out and get back in touch with you.

Hope this is helpful, 

Creedmoormatch

T.D. Dick
Stock it with the trap door on the bottom . Make it into an underhammer. you will have plenty of room for scope then
Tom

PS Tom. In a more serious nature, I am not aware of any further damage being done to any of the auto-eject rifles. If you have one with the H&R system, there is no way to guarantee it won't come open. I do have the breech block I took out of the rifle I changed. I can take pictures of the system to show you how it happens if you'd like. 

Dick