OK! Then I think I'm all good then, and my pin is not actually broken. In my naivety about this gun I thought that the cocking mechanism was actually controlled by the act of the action breaking (as it is on a Spanish over/under I own), and some others I know about. On such guns, as the breech end of the barrel angles away from the face of the receiver as it opens, a spring-loaded cocking mechanism is then freed to allow the sear to engage the spring, and then when the barrel is shut the spring is push into tension, and the gun is again cocked.
But in reality, on the 219, it's the act of the lever going to the right that actually does the cocking.
In doing a little Googling I found two references on other forums where people talk about why you cannot dry fire these guns without risking pin damage. Savage 24's are like this too, but the difference is, because the Model 24 has an exposed hammer, one can easily de-cock it by simply pulling the trigger as you hold the hammer with your thumb, letting it down gently.
On the 219, unless I'm wrong, it seems the only way to put the gun back in the cabinet with the mainspring at rest is to pull the trigger beforehand. The GOOD NEWS is, A-Zoom makes a .30-30 "snap cap" (apparently for a time they didn't offer one in .30-30 cal). So I picked up a set of those on eBay for $9, so now I can pull the trigger on the gun and store it that way.
I'm a big believer in extending the life of the internals on all my guns by storing them de-cocked. However this is the first gun I own that you need to actually pull the trigger to get the gun de-cocked (unless I'm missing something, and if so, please tell me).
Therefore, the helpful "snap cap."
Thanks for clarifying, Garnett!
- Sentry44
