Gold Hunter 3 1/2

[cps420us]

I bought one of these 13 or 14 years ago and have had problems for probably the last 10. No matter what size shells I use I have issues with the shells not ejecting and jamming the gun. I had it to numerous gunsmiths and they all just say it needs cleaning. I've taken it totally apart and still no luck. I've heard of this alot with the older ones. Does anyone know how, or who to take it to, to fix this?

[Farley]

gas ports clogged? A feather cleans them out nice. Although you might need something a little stiffer if it's 15 years of buildup.

Hard to say without seeing it function.

[Archerysniper]

Give Keelers Gunsmiths a call

[Gordie]

Give Keelers Gunsmiths a call

X2

My guess its a gas ring or something

[BoxMN]

I have an older 3" Gold. I do have some problems if I go a whole duck season and atrap season without cleaning... but that is a lot of shooting and I should clean it before that

Two problems I have had are these:

1. it gets real dirty in the chamber area, like dry and the sliding action just sounds "slow" and gritty, like from sitting in dusty goose pits too long. It happened to two Golds at the same time one goose pit trip. Or if you put too much oil on - made the mistake of oiling with more than a drop or two once. Also, we switched to using only Break Free and it has helped a ton. I hardly use any oil anymore.

2. This is a biggie - you need to clean the stock, like take it off and clean totally around the spring and in the deep hole where the spring resides. I have also stretched mine out, making it give more pressure on the ejecting action/bolt. This has made my gun a lot faster and reliable again. THere also are after market springs that are supposed to be pretty good and better than stock, but I have found that just stretching it gives it that "oh so new again" feeling

If you have not done that, here is how - take the recoil pad off using a philips screwdriver. Then take the nut off using a (I think...) 9/16th deep well and extention. Just be careful of how you do it so you putit on correctly again. Remove the wood/synthetic stock from the receiver. Then I believe there is another nut to losen to the spring (can't recall this for sure). Take the spring off and totally clean the whole area inside the stock and the whole receiver. Stretch the spring a bit. You will know what I mean when you see it. It will give the bolt more umph to help eject shells.

Good luck. I have never had a problem with the ports but have had the port area get pretty gunked up if I didn't clean it, but the spring area being dirty is one area many would not think would matter, but it really does. When you clean this area and stretch the spring, I bet you will feel like you have a new gun!

[cps420us]

BoxMN, I have actually done that and stretched the spring, it seemed to help for a few trips and then went right back to jamming. That's why I was kind of leaning towards putting a new spring in. Seems like it may be worn out.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

BoxMN, I have actually done that and stretched the spring, it seemed to help for a few trips and then went right back to jamming. That's why I was kind of leaning towards putting a new spring in. Seems like it may be worn out.

Remove the spring, and put a 20 gauge bore brush on 1 length of cleaning rod and insert the cleaning rod in a cordless drill. put some solvent/cleaner in the tube, and run the brush up and down the tube while running it at low speed on the drill. Scrub the spring too. Don't neglect the little plunger piece that sits ontop of the spring either. That thing can get caked with gunk.

As mentioned, you also want to make sure your gas ports are clean. Those suckers can be a pain if neglected for a few years. Also, with the chamber, if you have the 3.5" chamber and consistently are shooting dirty 2 3/4" or 3" loads, take a 10 gauge bore brush and attach it like I described above to a drill and get the chamber cleaned out as well.

Soaking in solvent, scrubbing, and then thoroughly drying the gas piston assembly should clean it up good.

Last, don't neglect the rails that guide the bolt. Get in there with a bright head lamp and small gunsmith picks to really clean them as well.

All of these methods should get your gun up and running again. I have owned a win. sx2 for over 10 years now, and it took me a few years to really put together a routine for a "quick clean" as well as a "deep clean". After everything is clean, these guns need very little oil to run. I also run CLP breakfree. There are some other lubes that are as good or better, but I get it free so its what I use.

I've bought a few sx2's and golds over the past few years that looked and cycled absolutely horrible for dirt cheap, hit up brownells or midway for some new springs and mag followers, tore em down, gave them a really good cleaning, and flipped them for nice profit. Heck Scheels here in town will buy a nice used SX2 for more than I bought mine for new 10 years ago.

[BoxMN]

Good advice carpshooter! I will add those to my cleaning ToDoList. Do you recommend a particular spring if we were to get one? Thanks!

[cps420us]

Thanks carpshooter, I'll give that a try! One question, are the gas ports in the same spot as say a Remington 1100? Are there only 2 of them?

[Farley]

i dont have a gold hunter but I do have a SX3 which I think is pretty much the same system? my 2 gas ports go from the barrel through to the sleeve that slides over the magazine tube.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

The gas ports run through the ring that holds the barrel to the magazine.

As far as spring, I just buy the factory replacement springs from Brownells or Midway. I just put a new recoil spring, recoil spring follower, magazine spring, piston spring, aluminum magazine follower, and a nordic speed bolt handle on my personal SX2 last spring; got all the parts from Brownells. Same with the 2 Golds I've rebuilt. I'm eying another SX2 right now that I would like to build into a FN SLP clone (tactical SX2 basically) for a new 3 gun league that might be forming in my area.