Lately my SBEII is having some issues while out duck hunting after just a box or so of shells have been run through it that day. Basically the bolt get's where it closes very slowely and must be opening slowly on ejection also since about 3 times a trip it fails to eject. If I clean it with carb cleaner each night it works fine again the next day for a box or so then slows right down again. I'm not lubing the bolt or anything, just like I have never done on any of my other Benelli over the last 10 years and the others work fine. To determine if it was the recoil spring or bolt, I just cleaned the bolt last time and it started slamming shut again, so the recoil spring is not the issue.

My thought is that since I have the shim in the stock that is the thickest at the top that the angle that the recoil spring is pushing the bolt might be binding it against the top of the rails the bolt slides on. Once it get's dirty, it probably slides a lot harder than when clean ans slows down. This is just speculation at this point, but considering that the bold only starts to close slowly after 25 or so shells and none of my other Benelli's have had this problem, I think it is a likely culprit.

What I was wondering, is if there is a way to polish the "runners", or whatever they are called, that are on the bolt and fit into the channels on the receiver to smooth them out more and possibly also smooth out the channels on the reciever.

I Argentina I had a different shim in with no issues with thousands of light loads, so I really think things point to the larger shim and the groves the bolt slides in. Either that or the Kent shells that I'm trying out this year are just really dirty.

Is your chamber clean?

It is not possible to be any cleaner. Plus, one of the last times it happened I took just the bolt out and cleaned the rails it slides on and the bolt, put it back together without any other cleaning and the bolt started to slam shut fine. So the issue is with the bolt, even while unloaded, whating to slide freely.

Like I said, my "guess" is that due to the pitch between the reciever and the stock that the back of the bolt is being pushed up into the top of the rails that the bolt slides on. When any kind of powder residue get's built up from just a few shells it is just enough to make it not want to slide anymore. I guess I could put a shim in to change the pitch to not be as extreme, but then the POI would change.

The recoil spring in housed in the recoil spring tube. It would take a fair amount of pressure to bend that to a point of interferring with the recoil spring plunger and link. You might try pulling the stock bolt and making sure that the "drop plate" is positioned correctly.

If the stock is indeed putting a bind on the recoil spring and plunger assembly, then there are other less drastic ways to alleviate that problem without having to remove material from the bolt ways.

How many times has this been said by me:

If you own a Bennelli, it ain't a question of "IF" it is going to fail, it is a question of when.

I am not a Bennelli fan, but, if you take the buttstock off and then disassemble the tube in the back, you will probably find it is full of crud. The tube needs to be cleaned and possibly a new spring put in.

They are the most over marketed gun in the world, and the most overpriced. IMHO

The only time my Benellis run right is when they are dripping oil.

It's a fact that firearms with the recoil spring housed in a tube, the cycling of the action will make the spring plunger work like a vacuum pump sucking in anything that comes near it. I have removed the usual dirt as well as vegetation and small seeds.

I really want to like my SBEII. Under ideal conditions, it shoots great and I hit a lot of birds with it. Mine doesn't like any fine grit in it (i.e. goose field dirt). It's great in the wet but not in the freezing wet. 3.5" shells only seem to work in ideal conditions and I no longer use them.

When it's working, it hits birds and I enjoy shooting it.

After every trip to the field, I have to completely dissasmble it, wash the whole thing out (I use shooter's choice polymer safe quick scrub). Dissassemble the bolt and flush it out. Then I wipe the internals off with shooters choice rust prevent. Then I reassemble. I then have a good running auto through the next trip out.

If I know that I will be laying down in the dirt in a goose field or it's going to be freezing and wet, I usually take my 870