Auto Jamming Problem

[Duck-o-holic]

Fellow shotgunners-- anyone ever had a problem with their semi-autos jamming or not cycling their second shell? I had a hunt ruined by this on Thursday morning, but in the process learned a bit about this dilemma, and a common solution to the problem. Hopefully this will help some of you out there that may be having this problem.

Here's the short and condensed version of my story...

BACKGROUND: Last fall I sold my 3" Benelli to my brother as I wanted to move up to a 3 1/2 " gun to up my odds against all of the geese I pit myself against (no pun intended). This was a hard decision, as my Benelli had performed flawlessly in the field, (except for a couple EXTREME cold weather situations) and I had never had a problem with the Inertia based system cycling shells. Enter the Franchi 912 Variomax, which was my choice for a 3 1/2 incher after much researching and debate (which was also my first gas operated semi-auto). What sold me on it was that is is imported by Benelli, very similar-- but $400 cheaper than a Super Black Eagle.

THE HUNT: Went out early goosing by myself on Thursday and after having a single and a double decoy, only had one bird down and crippled another. Due to the gun not cycling the second shell, I basically had a single shot. Then the birds really started to fly... had a pair coming in to the dekes, went up to shoot, and the trigger wouldn't budge (making the gun a zero-shot) which I believe had something to do with me fiddling with it after not being able to polish off that cripple. Now I'm getting frantic-- birds are piling off a slough 300 yards away, and heading to the dekes. I try messing with the safety and the action... in come a triple 10 yards to my right, and 20 feet high. I pull up, take aim at the farthest bird... and nothing. The trigger won't budge. My next option is to pull apart the trigger assembly using a needle nose. This gun had 2 pegs to remove, neither of which wanted to cooperate. Two bleeding puncture wounds to the palm,and several swear words later... I had her disassembled. Meanwhile a flock of five and a pair are circling the spread and swinging 15 yards over my head. Kind of figured out what I thought was wrong and put her back together. Didn't even have the second pin all the way in, and a dozen geese are heading right at me at treetop height. Wait until they are almost over me, pull up... and NOTHING!! Not even the first shot again!! All the while, the rain was picking up, and I was becoming a WET, [PoorWordUsage]ed-off anti-Franchi hunter-- so I picked up!

The SALVATION (Remedy): Went to check in with the farmer whose field I was hunting, and he wasn't there-- but his wife wanted to know how I did. After telling her the story, she told me of a gunsmith that worked out of his house about 3 miles away. Skeptical, I headed to his shop. This guy turned out to be a pro! After boring out the gas ports in the barrel 1/1000th of an inch, she was ejecting low-base shells like nobodys business (which was also a problem I had right out of the box)! He went on to say that Remingtons-- and 1100s in particular, are NOTORIOUS for having this problem as well. He said that he's had several that he's seen new in the box, be up to 3/1000th of an inch off what their own standards are. So if any of you have experienced this problem, I would get to a trusted gunsmith and get your gas-ports bored *And I no longer hate Franchis!!

Good gunning!!!

Duck-o-holic

PS-- To complete my emotional roller-coaster of a day, I headed for the gravel pit area where my cripple had looked to be heading. I pulled in-- and there he was, standing in the road!! LOL! My gun didn't fail me, and it even cycled the unneeded second round!! Hunting... ya gotta LOVE IT!!!!!!!

[Sartell Angler]

Duckoholic, I really enjoyed reading your post. I'm sure you're dilemma will help other hunters solve their autoloader problems. You should submit your story to an outdoors magazine -- it was informative and fun to read!! Good luck this weekend, maybe i'll see you in the field sometime.

Sartell Angler/Hunter

[Guest]

Hey DUCK--
I might have the same problem. how much did it run you to get this fixed??(just curious) I usually get my ejector pin fixed and that takes care of it, might have to try this as my gun is getting old and the parts are getting hard to find.

Broncosguy

[Duck-o-holic]

Sartell--

Thanks for the complements. You never know-- I may run into you someday. I used to hunt the St. Cloud area a lot during college there in the mid-90's. Is that where you do most of your gunning?

Bronc--

It cost me $25 for the gas-port boring. I was glad to pay it, knowing it solved my problem. Hope you get your problem figured out! Only three more days!!!!!

Good Gunnin'!!

Duck-o-holic