Shotgun problem

08 September 2006, 13:34

ErikD

Shotgun problem

I know most of you deal with rifles, but I'm hoping some of you might know a thing or two about shotguns also! So I'll post this here, in addition to on the shotgun forum:

quote:
Hi Guys,

I've had a Beretta 471 Silver Hawk in 20/76 that started having a hard time ejecting cases after a few hundred shots. With various makes of rounds, and both with 70mm and 76mm cases. So I started checking it over, and eventually saw that there is a gap in the action where the water table meets the standing breech (as seen where the red ring is in the picture below). If you hold it up to the light, you can see straight thru to the other side. No other shotgun I own, or have owned have ever had such a gap. To me, this looks like it's "off face". And as the gun has had a total of maybe around 800 rounds thru it, there's no way it should be like this as far as I can tell.

The gun was sent in to the importer, who then sent it in to their gunsmith. The gunsmith told them that it should be sent down to Beretta in Italy for fixing, or replacing.

Eventually though, the importer decided that instead of me having to wait, they'd give me a new gun. And while going thru their inventory to find me one with a nice stock, they saw that all their 471 Silver Hawks in stock have the same gap. So now the importer's saying that the 471 is made this way intentionally...

This may be correct, but I thought I'd check around with Silver Hawk owners in other countries to see if theirs has the same little gap. If so, I guess it's supposed to be so. If not, I have to wonder if our Importer got a shipment of lemons???

Also, if this gap is standard, we'll then have to find out why cases have begun to become sticky when being ejected.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

Erik

08 September 2006, 20:33

yeti

Erik,
That gap is as designed. The case sticky issue is not uncommon, the first thing I'd do is really clean the chambers (000 steel wool wrapped on your cleaning brush chucked into a drill), plus try some different flavors of shell. Reloads are notorious for sticking in new guns (< 2,000 shells = new to me) and some brands work better than others.

08 September 2006, 21:00

ErikD

Thanks for the input Yeti. Could you tell me why they made this gap in the design? Since no other shotgun I know of has them?

As for reloads, I only reload for rifles. So the shells have been store bought. And have consisted of quite a lot of various makes; Eley, Federal, Remington, Norma and a few others.

The odd thing is that this only started happening after a few hundred rounds were shot. And not in the beginning. So I wouldn't think the chamber is tight. I haven't used steel wool like you mention, but have used a bronze brush. It didn't seem to make a difference...

The importer is sending it to a second gunsmith, and it'll be interesting to hear what he eventually finds out.

08 September 2006, 21:15

yeti

All of the Fox SxS's have that gap too.
I'm interested to hear what the B-smith has to say.

*wondering* It's possible that the chrome lining is a bit thicker than usual?

08 September 2006, 21:15

malm

quote:
Originally posted by ErikD:
Thanks for the input Yeti. Could you tell me why they made this gap in the design? Since no other shotgun I know of has them?

As for reloads, I only reload for rifles. So the shells have been store bought. And have consisted of quite a lot of various makes; Eley, Federal, Remington, Norma and a few others.

The odd thing is that this only started happening after a few hundred rounds were shot. And not in the beginning. So I wouldn't think the chamber is tight. I haven't used steel wool like you mention, but have used a bronze brush. It didn't seem to make a difference...

The importer is sending it to a second gunsmith, and it'll be interesting to hear what he eventually finds out.

Some folks around here use their fired hulls as snap caps when releasing the hammer tension before storing their guns. The fired hulls remain in the chamber during storage and rust forms between the hull and the chamber. This is probably the number one cause for sticky cases around these parts.

08 September 2006, 23:57

ErikD

Malm,

Nope, don't have that habit. And with my climate it wouldn't be a big problem anyway even if I did I think. Thanks for mentioning it though.

09 September 2006, 00:43

brianbo

Hi Eirk,

I would be surprised if the gun is already off-face having so few rounds fired through it. You've probably already check for this, but try assembling the barrels on the gun but leave the fore end off. With the gun closed see if you can determine any wobble of the barrels. If so, then either the pin or the hook has worn. This can be repaired by a good gunsmith familiar with doubles. If the barrels are tight, see if there's any gunk in the ejectors, check for a broken spring. I only have one ejector gun, a Parker DE, all my other sxs's are extractor guns. I hope this helps.