H and R officers model auto eject?

[Snooterpup]

Hello everyone,
I’m new to the forum.
I have recently acquired a pristine H&R officer’s Model trapdoor. I am familiar with the dreaded auto eject that some of these have. I have heard that replacing the latch and cam with Pedersoli’s latch with the square shaft and the cam with a square hole. I understand the cam is held in place with a set screw like the H&R design but the updated design secures the cam on the square shaft that cannot rotate. I’ve also heard an acceptable fix is to grind a small dimple in the H&R latch shaft and secure it with one set screw and add an additional set screw on top of the first one.
Many thanks for any information.
Gary

[Old No7]

I have recently acquired a pristine H&R officer’s Model trapdoor. I am familiar with the dreaded auto eject that some of these have. I have heard that replacing the latch and cam with Pedersoli’s latch with the square shaft and the cam with a square hole. I understand the cam is held in place with a set screw like the H&R design but the updated design secures the cam on the square shaft that cannot rotate. I’ve also heard an acceptable fix is to grind a small dimple in the H&R latch shaft and secure it with one set screw and add an additional set screw on top of the first one.

I had one once -- shouldn't have sold it, but oh well...

I've read about both those fixes on this and other forums. On the latter fix, which is likely the easiest of the 2 to get done; I'd suggest a "flat" rather than a dimple -- as it would give the set screw more "bite". I actually wanted to do that on mine, but for the life of me (and without resorting to heat or more drastic measures), I could not get the original set screw to budge any. I shot it for years like that (BP only) and never had any issues. Good luck!

Old No7

[Malamute]

Auto-eject? Can you describe it?

This is different than a normally functioning ejector?

[Ray Newman]

This malady is known to exist in the H&R Trapdoor M1873 Officers Model. My Officer's Model locks up tight and never ficked open the trapdoor upon firing. But to err on the side of caution, I took it to the local gunsmith who fixed it. If I recall correctly, John Taylor created a "flat" on the latch/cam shaft, re-installed the original set screw with lock tight, then added another set screw with with lock tight.

From what I recall reading on other shooting sites, this phenomenon is not solely related to the M1873 Officer's Model. Seems as if one or two instances of it occurring with the infantry rifle were also mentioned.