Need advice.

[MN Shutterbug]

I have an older Mossberg 500 pump shotgun. It worked great last year but today when I went hunting, the danged gun wouldn't eject the fired shell. It has no problem ejecting a live round, but once the shell is shot and the brass has expanded, it won't eject. I'm using the same shells I used last year. I cleaned and oiled it and it didn't help any. Any ideas anyone?

Thanks

[HunterLee]

It's possible the shells you are using got wet. Otherwise a bad ejector.

[jlm]

How well did you clean and oil it up, once over or a complete break down? I am willing to bet you have some muck lingering that you did not get on your cleaning. Try fire brand new rounds and see if it is the ammo or the gun. If still the gun, do a complete break down and I bet your problems will be solved. Good luck!

[smilee_54]

I am not sure on this question because it will eject a live round but not a spent round. I have a mossy 500 and usually it will jam up if you don't take the trigger assebly out and clean it,but it ejects live rounds. I guess I would try using a differnt box of rounds

[BobT]

I too have a 500 that gave me the same problem. I tried replacing the extractor clips but no luck. Recently I replaced them again and this time I replaced the springs and rocker pins as well. Unfortunately I am unable to tell you if this solved the problem because I haven't used the shotgun since doing this. Aside from replacing these components and making sure the chamber is clean, I don't know what else to do.

We're in the same boat, you and I.

Bob

[MN Shutterbug]

Thanks, guys. I have come to the conclusion that it is a cleaning issue. The more I oiled it and tried to clean it, the better it started working. I would just keep reloading the spent shell, and trying that. The spent shell does fit much tighter in the barrel than a live round. It seems to be working pretty good now. However, I'm still not totally confident that it won't do it again. I've never completely broken down a shotgun. When I open the chamber, all I can see is one screw. Is there something else I'm not seeing. Can someone give me any pointers on disassembling this gun?

[Surface Tension]

The brass of the spent shell will expand to the chamber. If theres any crud at all in the chamber, the brass once fired will be stamped at that spot, Look at the spent hulls brass base, is there grooves/scratches on the brass. When you clean a barrel often times crud will be left in and around the chamber. Also that area can foul and a build up of brass from the hulls. Soak a patch in a copper solvent used for rifle barrels and coat the camber with that and let sit to dissolve any brass that might be there. Keep repeating till the patch is clean. Rust will also make hulls stick and it won't take much. You can try a 3m pad with the solvent to clean that out. In time that sticking will wear out the injector.

[bigbucks]

My 870 has had the same problem, especially with older 3" duck loads, particularly Federals. I used some steel wool or light sand paper in the chamber, per a gunsmith, & that helped it a lot.