Question about a Beretta A390 ST

[GRIFFIN1]

I bought a used Beretta A390 today. I haven't had the chance to shoot the gun yet, but I have been playing with it for a couple of hours. I've read the instructions on how to load the gun. With a shell in the chamber and then two more in the magazine tube, pulling the bolt back with the eject the shell from the chamber, but it will now take the next shell from the magazine tube and load it in the chamber.

Does the gun need to actually be fired to get the next round out of the magazine tube?

update:

I ran to the shooting range before work. The gun worked perfectly. I had trouble sleeping last night thinking about how I was going to try to get my money back from the guy I bought it gun from.

[Kurt_D]

No. There's a button in front of the trigger guard, at the base of the elevator. Press it in and it'll engage the elevator so it'll pick up a shell next time you cycle the bolt.

[GRIFFIN1]

Thanks for the tip. I see where that button should cause the next round to eject form the magazine, but it doesn't. The metal tab that holds the shell in the magazine doesn't release the shell when I press the button. Where there is no shell in the magazine, I can see the metal tab moves like it's going to release a shell. I guess the magazine springs puts too much pressure on the shell.

[toivo]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but are you pulling the bolt back after you press the button?

[Kurt_D]

The shell won't release until the bolt is pulled back. Basically that little button is a manual way to engage the elevator, pulling the trigger does it otherwise. This is supposed to be a feature so you can quickly chamber a different load (say buckshot or slug instead of #6 it was loaded with) without unloading the tube.

ETA: this is the button I'm talking about:
http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/3044/img5271og7.jpg

[toivo]

I was just wondering if the OP knew that, or if he was expecting the shell to pop out of the mag tube when he pressed the button.

Anyway, by the edit on the first post, it looks he solved his problem.

[GRIFFIN1]

On my gun, when I press the button in Kurt_D's picture and pull the bolt back, the shell doesn't come out of the magazine tube. The shell in the chamber is extracted from the gun, but then the bolt just locks in the open position as if the magazine tube is empty.

When I fired the gun at the shooting range, it worked fine.

[Kurt_D]

Ok, I had to try it. I was wrong at first. When you press the button the shell does release from the tube, then when you pull the bolt back the cambered round is pulled out and the new one is feed into the camber. I don't know why yours wouldn't do this manually but yet it works when firing.

On a side note, I can unload mine like you would do a pump. I can press the little lever holding the round in the tube, have it released and pull it out. Using the little button is easier though but atleast you can unload the gun with out firing it.