Hello everyone, I recently bought a Citori (in great shape, paid $600 for it) from a neighbor who recently passed away. After shooting a round of clays towards the end of the trip it started to pop open slightly after the top barrel was fired. I am brand new to O/U's so this is not making much sense. I have tried to do some research online and have called a few gunsmiths to see if they had any ideas.

Most of the gunsmiths said that the shotgun must have been extensively shot and it has worn to a point that it needs to be rebuilt ($325-$400) I opened up the receiver and noticed that there was some dirt around the locking bolt (excuse me if this is not the right term) I got in there with some dental picks, and Q tips and after a generous spray of crud buster it seems to be pretty clean on the inside now. I am going to take it out once again this weekend and see if the problems persists.

Does anyone have any experience with their Citoris needing to be "rebuilt" and have any recommendations on where to send the thing to? Im not very optimistic that this cleaning with fix my problems so I'm trying to get some advice on how to go about getting this thing repaired. So far i have called Arts Gun shop, and Bolsa Gunsmithing. These were chosen just randomly off the browning page.

If anyone has any input I would greatly appreciate it. Being very new to the sport and O/U's in general I could use some guidance on how to proceed. Thanks.

What he said but make sure you use gunsmithing screwdrivers on the external screws slow and careful does it.Give the lock and all locking surfaces a good cleaning.

Put it back together carefully and see what happens;

Good luck

Arts has always been the go to place for Brownings.

Myself, I'd pull the stock and do thourough clean on the receiver.  If you arent comfortable taking the receiver down drop the whole receiver in a bucket of odorless mineral spirits and let it soak overnight.   Brush off what you can, work the opening lever, and let it drain / dry.

Something like gun scrubber works well to.

Clean the forearm iron as well.

Use proper gunsmith screwdrivers, they are hollow ground not tapered and won't damage the screw head.

After the receiver is fully dry and drained, lube the receiver with a very light lube. I use either tetra gun or clp.

The Tetra I use is a drying spray lube, not a grease.  I ran out of it a while back and use mostly CLP now.

I do grease the cocking rods on my berettas.   The bore they follow is a direct pathway through to the receiver internals, I think the grease acts as a seal to a degree.  They are also something of a PITA to remove - you have to drop the trigger group to get to them so they are not something that gets regular attention during a cleaning.   They are not a particularly dynamic part though so as long as they move they will function.  Internally that is the only grease I use.

I like a very light lube on the internals.  Almost like vermouth in a martini - wave the vermouth bottle at the glass so it knows it's there.

Sounds like it's possible that a new Top Lever Spring will help.  Sort of a standard maintenance item when having the gun "serviced."

Time for a service, springs and pins can/do wear but $425 seems very high. Call your local clay field and ask them for a local service smith. Cole gunsmith would be your last ditch if you had to send it off.

Clean it up and get some J&P springs and pins to install. https://www.jnpgunsprings.com/BROWNING-SHOTGUN-PARTS-c20975296