I Figured it out, I went and borrowed the neighbor kids magnifying glass and too a look at the bottom pin, it had been ground to fit. I went to the ol tool box and blew the dust off the dremel tool and BAM. pins in and working well (so far). were the retaining rod rest the had ground it down just enough so the pin would not "poke out" the hole. Pretty labor intensive for a factory.

Thanks very much for the illustrated cleaning on the Citori. Just what I needed. Just looked at my 625 after several thousand round and looks pretty good.
The question IS: Why is there only 1 return spring? I just realized that the upper firing pin is free to float back and forth without any return spring to keep it retracted like the bottom firing pin.
I have not yet removed the retaining and firing pins so not quite sure if there is any interaction between the top and bottom pins themselves. At any rate my 625 upper pin is free to slide back and forth at least when the gun is in the open position. Not sure if this changes when the gun is closed and cocked.

Any help appreciated

Bill

Big thank you to William R. Wood for posting this. I've also added it to our Articles page at http://www.shotgunworld.com/articles/articles.php

Regards,
Jay Gentry

I have completed this firing pin cleaning procedure twice now on my Citori XT. Both times I did this in the back of my SUV when I had failures to fire during trap tournaments. I used the instructions Mr. Wood so kindly provided. My XT has about 20,000 rounds through it, most out of the bottom barrel. I blame myself for the misfires. I have been using a lithium grease in the breech area, and it gets on the breech face, and then into the firing pin holes, and cavities. I will change that habit.

One question/obsevation: After I removed my lower firing pin, I thoroughly cleaned the cavity, which was dirty, with a degreaser/solvent, and dried it out with a q-tip. When I then looked into the bottom firing pin cavity from the rear, (with the pin removed), I noticed that the firing pin hole has metal missing from around the 6 o'clock to the 8 o'clock position. At first I thought this was a chip in the metal, but it looks more like this was milled/drilled away to make room for the shaft of the top lever, which extends down from the top of the receiver to below the bottom firing pin hole. Does anyone else (who has closely looked) observe this?

Thanks.

bluedsteel

There is only return spring and it is around the bottom firing pin. It is there to keep the bottom pin from scratching across the shell and the bottom of the chamber opening when you open the gun. There isn't a top spring because as the gun opens, it cams away from the shell enough that it does not scratch the shell, and therefore does not need the spring.

I have just purchased a 1 yr. old XS Special. The guy that had it, I was told is an avid sporting clays shooter.
At least that's what John Miller at Miller's Guns told me.
The gun is imaculate with not so much as a mark on it. I shot it for the first time this weekend. Wow, what a nice gun!
I had read this thread prior to buying this gun. I had 6 or 8 misfires due to light strikes on the bottom barrel.
I am now going to perform this proceedure on the gun.

I am hoping this will solve the problem.
Even if it doesn't, this is a great piece of information to know about the Brownings!
Thanks, Bill

If this does not cover the problem, order a pair of hammer springs and a set or two of firing pins. You should have a pair of firing pin retaining pins on hand also.
Look carefully at the tip of your firing pins when you have them out. They should be a smooth radius with no pits or flat spots on the end that hits the primer.

Thanks Curly,
I will do that.
I never had to do anything to one of my guns in my life, and now in the last month I've taken apart 3 of them.
I guess i'm do!

I just wanted to say that Bill's instructions were spot on. My first time trying this and it only took me about 40mins.
Just a note for anyone that doesn't have the wrench. My gun has an adjustable comb on it.{ XS Special} I took the comb off and removed the 4 screw holding the plate in and was able to remove the hex bolt with a regular allen wrench. Kind of a pain, but you can do it.

Gotta love SGW! Thanks Bill

Thanks never had the know how to do this myself. Thanks

Late to the party...but thank you for this post. Had been having problems with lower barrel short striking, especially in cold weather. Used these instructions to disassemble and clean my Citori and it took care of the issue.

I can see something going wrong, getting dropped or me screwing it up. I think I'll go with what one other guy said; "My gunsmithing tools consist of a checkbook."
Syl

It's really not that hard to do with basic tools and a little patience.
In my case, I discovered I had a problem with some of my reloads. Excessive pressure seating the primers can flatten the case head and cause the shell to recess to far into the chamber creating too much head space between the breech. Miller's in Delaware brought this to my attention, so I checked it out and found it was MY problem.

Just to make sure I bought 4 boxes of factory ammo from 4 different manufacturers and the gun work perfect on every shell. Loaded some fresh hulls and have had no more issues with light strikes and misfires.

I can see something going wrong, getting dropped or me screwing it up. I think I'll go with what one other guy said; "My gunsmithing tools consist of a checkbook."
Syl

As my hero Clint Eastwood once said (in Magnum Force, I believe): "A man's gotta know his limitations."

bluedsteel

For anybody with a Pre-Type 1 Citori (1973-1976):

A 10" socket extension and a 13mm socket is a perfect fit for the stock bolt.
Don't forget to remove the screws from the trigger guard... I almost did.

I don't know if the same size is being used for the newer citoris.

Great post and photos. Thank you!

While my gun-show find is not a Citori (a Spanish TriStar 'Sporting') this article prompted me to investigate the F-T-F on my lower barrel - not hideously dirty but the firing pin spring was kinked and 1/8" shorter than the upper barrel. TriStar (Gary, you're the MAN!) has a new set of springs & firing pins on the way. I swapped the springs for now to continue utilizing the lower barrel and deburred some of the articulating pieces.

I was surprised once the springs were removed how stiff the hammer was moving which obviously absorbs what little spring pressure there was so I'll pull those pieces out when the new springs arrive and try to reduce the friction losses. Great article to start things off with - tanx!

are the cynergy firing pins the same to take apart. the last two outings I had three ftf in the lower barrel

No they are not the same, but tell me about your ammo that you were using. Complete details please.

curly I`m using 3/4 oz 8.5 with clay buster grey wad winchester hs hulls cheddite primers 17.3 grains of promo when looking into the receiver at the pins the lower pin looks really dirty or sludgy around it just wondering if this cleaning would help it