Minnesota Waterfowl Hunting

Get N Birdy, I almost never oil mine. I had heard not to when I bought it. When it does see oil it is minimal and gets removed.

Unfortunately I am a bit too far from Morristown. I have confidence in the gunsmith I am going to bring it to. If they can't fix it I'll be switching to a Beretta next year. I don't like the muzzle weight of Beretta's but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

If the recoil tube/plunger assembly has debris or rust, then it needs to be thoroughly cleaned and very lightly lubed with a synthetic lubricant. As long as you are that far with the tear down of the gun, I would still recommend replacing the standard spring with a heavier magnum spring.

Let us know what your gunsmith finds.

Yeah, curious what's going on.

Hope you get it fixed, if you do switch take a look at the versamax. The camo wears off but other than that zero issues cycling a huge variety of shells, and I have only given mine one full cleaning in 6 years

maplelakeduckslayer wrote:Hope you get it fixed, if you do switch take a look at the versamax. The camo wears off but other than that zero issues cycling a huge variety of shells, and I have only given mine one full cleaning in 6 years

Or the Browning Maxis. 0 issues from Trap to 3-1/2" . Lots of rounds in 3 years

Where the guns gang up probably varies. The two i've fixed were different. I have one that worked fine right out of the box.

I will say this...as I rarely have an issue with any Benelli. I keep my guns well maintained. Full teardowns every month and regular cleanings. Your bolt spring and tube are not sealed, and get very dirty. This kills the performance. I also keep my gun well lubricated. I have gone through a perfectly clean gun to a dirty, dry gun in the course of a day...many times...and I can assure you they work much better when wet.

On the flip side, I know guys say they never cleaned one in several years without issue. I don't really believe them, but it's possible. For myself and others I hunt with, we keep them clean and rarely have issues.

I like the older hk models much better. Just personal preference and opinion. Am not fond of the newer feel of the bigger bodied benelli's. The older ones had certain issues but still feel way better imo and have less cycling issues. There's certain models from Beretta that seem like great guns. My first gen sbe is a pile of crap. It's bent, twisted and finally did both upgrades to both springs that needed attention badly. The choke tube is welded in the barrel from lack of proper lubing. Have shot the gun for 20+ years and if it got lost or stolen I would be looking for another older hk sbe or m2.

If I had that much trouble with a benelli I'd go with Beretta or a maxus. Even though I'm not a fan of gas auto's. Have an old Franchi 20 ga 48AL that is an old school inertia driven gun with the barrel coming back at you, that weighs in at a hair under 5lbs. Gun cycles all day long and twice on Sundays. Have seen gas auto's be more problematic trying to take down and clean in the field when a problem arises. And problems arise with all guns, even break action o/u's, side by sides and pumps, just not as often.

I'd say Bullet is spot on, it's hanging up or slightly catching somewhere in the cycling process and I would be looking for that and doing what was needed to stop the problem by getting rid of the reason for the hangup.

Good luck with it and keep us posted.

For $1800 the f'ing thing should work out of the box.

The fact that anyone invests so much time/cash to the continued operation blows me away.

So help me out: what makes them better!

Fit and feel, that's basically it for me. I bought my kids used older ones. Would never buy a new one now. Bought mine new 20 years ago. I would buy a used old hk model before I would ever touch a newer one. I'm not a product fan boy, fit and feel trump a lot for me. But a product that doesn't function is not tolerated imo. Friend just bought a maxus and it wasn't cycling well at all out of the box. A little tweaking and it's been flawless for him. Nice feeling gun and his dad shoots a nice older Beretta. Fan boy loyalty to one brand or another is stupid. My theory is find a gun that fits and you like. Find it's quirks, figure out how to keep it working and shoot the piss out of it. We could of bashed browning, but the gun fits him well and he shoots great with it.

lanyard wrote:For $1800 the f'ing thing should work out of the box.

The fact that anyone invests so much time/cash to the continued operation blows me away.

So help me out: what makes them better!

Just stick with the 870.

We all know those are the bestest.