Picky about shells?

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Also check and make sure action is locking up tightly.
I’ve seen a lot of these older guns have excessive play in locking lugs. Excessive play increases distance firing pin must travel to make contact with the primer.
 
It sounds like variations in primer hardness brand-to-brand, with the issue being your gun (maybe the spring). That said, my Ithaca 37 has problems with the cheap Winchester bird shells that use aluminum instead of brass getting stuck in the chamber after they are fired, and my Mossberg 930 has had the aluminum section at the back of these same shells rip away from the plastic part and cause malfunctions that have costed me dearly in 3 gun matches. No issue with either guns with other shells- so I don't buy the Winchester bird shells any more.
 
It seems to be less expensive shells that do it. Remington shells never give me a problem. It's all ECI, Nobel sport, and Winchester universal. Haven't tried federal but did load a couple blank shells with federal primers. First went off just fine second dropped hammer on it 7 times with no detonation. Gonna test fire again this weekend since I cleaned the lock which was filthy and appeared to be slightly impeding hammer travel. Funny that I never had same problem with Winchester in my automatic but it was a completely different model
 
FL-NC said:
It sounds like variations in primer hardness brand-to-brand, with the issue being your gun (maybe the spring). That said, my Ithaca 37 has problems with the cheap Winchester bird shells that use aluminum instead of brass getting stuck in the chamber after they are fired, and my Mossberg 930 has had the aluminum section at the back of these same shells rip away from the plastic part and cause malfunctions that have costed me dearly in 3 gun matches. No issue with either guns with other shells- so I don't buy the Winchester bird shells any more.
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I believe those cheap shells have steel base rather than aluminum. Of course I might be wrong. A magnet will tell for sure.
 
Appalachiannative said:
I've never found a shotgun shell that a magnet won't pick up. They quit using brass rims when the went to smokeless powder I think
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Well, you made me curious, so I went and checked. Winchester super target, every Federal, every Fiocchi and every Remington - many of which are traditionally called high brass and look like brass are picked up by magnet. Winchester AA is not, so it appears they are still brass. Interesting, I thought only the bargain shotshells had steel base. WRONG
 
A magnet will pickup brass base shells if the primer is still in the case. I have some AA and Remington STS that are brass base that will pickup if the primer is still there.
 
kudu said:
A magnet will pickup brass base shells if the primer is still in the case. I have some AA and Remington STS that are brass base that will pickup if the primer is still there.
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The AA shotshells I tested were unfired with primers still there. No attraction to magnet.
 
Appalachiannative said:
I've never found a shotgun shell that a magnet won't pick up. They quit using brass rims when the went to smokeless powder I think
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Almost all rims were brass up until @ 1980, long after smokeless powder was introduced. The first to be made with steel rims were (ironically) the "High Brass" field loads; There is no advantage to "High Brass" loads these days, though there were two back when hulls were paper; For hunting in bad weather, they made it easier to chamber, and the brass kept water from getting into the powder. For reloaders, they kept the hull from developing 'pinhole' burns where the brass ended-because it was above the basewad.

AA, Remington STS/Nitro and one of the Federal paper loadings are still brass. All others are steel. I have reloaded Remington Gun Club hulls, which are steel based, but I only will shoot them out of my 1100- The reloads stuck in my Ljutic, though 2 boxes of factory Gun Clubs didn't. Most of my hulls are AA or STS/Nitro.
 
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Winchester AA, Remington STS, Remington Nitro 27 and Nitro Clays, and one of Federal's paper loads. These are the only brass based hulls. The way to test is when the primer has been removed for reloading. Yes, papers are still made for some of us old time trap shooters who still enjoy the scent of a fired paper hull. It is great! As a matter of fact, Remington is reintroducing paper hulls, and they are blue, like my hulls here, from @ 1959 :

hulls in box.jpg


Here's the new Rem-Peters:

https://www.remington.com/peters-pa...l=4589_HTML&u=17987381&mid=524002573&jb=18010
 
Actually, some of the 2 1/2" shells are plastic hulled also. The 16 ga. ones I bought from RST (before they ran out) are Cheddite plastic hulls. I plan on reloading them in the future.
 
Fiocchi primers has had problems in the U.S. Apparently they have a very thick, strong metal
face on some of their primers which some guns just didn't ignite very well. And going back further Browning had problems with their Superposed o/u because, I believe, Winchester at the time had a convex rounded primer and Browning o/u firing pins were slanted and didn't hit the primers straight on. Now, my Beretta Eureka throws fits once in a while, but I can't remember which trap shell it doesn't like. I stick with loading Federal, Winchester and Remington and the problem has gone away. I've been told Beretta makes a U.S. gun and a European gun.
 
Federal primers are dome shaped I notice but everything else I've seen is flat. I got these old cci clay busters that came with a used mec 600 Jr from a gun show that I know ain't much good since the resin has fallen out the bottom. I use them to load into empty hulls and make blanks for testing stuff like this I still partially blamed the gun because my other shotguns still make them go off. This may just be the design of my Stevens since it's pin comes out on a down slope and none of my other guns do that
 
Thomasss said:
Fiocchi primers has had problems in the U.S. Apparently they have a very thick, strong metal
face on some of their primers which some guns just didn't ignite very well. And going back further Browning had problems with their Superposed o/u because, I believe, Winchester at the time had a convex rounded primer and Browning o/u firing pins were slanted and didn't hit the primers straight on. Now, my Beretta Eureka throws fits once in a while, but I can't remember which trap shell it doesn't like. I stick with loading Federal, Winchester and Remington and the problem has gone away. I've been told Beretta makes a U.S. gun and a European gun.
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And I bet that's true of beretta because my Husqvarna can only take small diameter choke tubes. I think shot pellet sizes are smaller in Europe
 
Interesting how English and Euro sizes are different from one another. I know the tubes for my Husqy fit a lot of Russian made shotguns according to Carlson's. I couldn't find the data for Husqvarna on there sight I just ordered more of what was in it when I got it.
 
Appalachiannative said:
Recently got a Stevens 94 12 gauge 3 inch chamber with the snap on for grip at a flea market. Always liked the older single shots with the switch below the hammer that opens it. Used it 3 times squirrel hunting with Remington express xlr and Remington game load, my two usual ammo choices, ammo shortage forced me to purchase some Nobel sport high brass hunting shells and they keep failing to go off. Tested them in my other two guns and didn't have a problem. Trying other shells made by ECI and Winchester in the single shot in question had failure to fire on the first drop of the hammer but upon the second it went off. Tested Winchester AA and universal, same result, consistently fires only upon second attempt. Just today fired half a box of some really old Remington field loads and had nothing but success. How could it be that it only wants to go off with Remington ammo of any type and nothing else? coincidence? Weak hammer spring? Oh and by the way I removed cleaned and inspected the firing pin already and saw no obvious problem there.
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Well I'm happy to report that in my post disassembly/deep cleaning test firing the weapon can now fire all the aforementioned shells that it could not before. I believe it was simply all that WD 40 residue caked up on the hammer pin impeding hammer travel combined with difference in primer density or depth that caused certain brands of shells to have detonation issues. Now the gun shoots any thing I put in it on the first try as it should. Thanks to everyone for the info, advice and encouragement. If you have the same model of shotgun and are experiencing similar issues I hope this thread can be of help.
 
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