Beretta 391 not ejecting shells

[distra]

I have a friend (really it is my friends I'm a die hard 1100 fan) with a Urika AL 391 that is giving him fits. He picked it up used and it will not cycle properly. The bolt comes back, but not far enough to eject the shell. These are factory loads as well as some reloads. It's a 12ga any ideas? He is cleaning the p#ss out of it now, but it was quite frustrating for him. He wants to shoot in it a match this weekend, anybody have experience with these? They are supposed to be built better than an 1100, but I've having doubts about it.

 

[Ed Ames]

My bet is it needs to be cleaned.

I bought a used AL391 a while ago. I took it apart and did what I thought was a good/reasonable cleaning... really concentrated on the gas system, verified the gas ports were clear and so on. Everything was clean when I stared (it had obviously been cleaned before sale and no plugged ports) but I made it cleaner. Got it out to the range and it wouldn't eject spent shells or cycle reliably.

The usual "oh no a lemon" thoughts....

I took it home and gave it a good cleaning/lubing, especially the recoil spring/spring guide area. Took it out again the next day and it performed flawlessly with exactly the same ammo. It works very nicely now and no o-rings.

 

[chevyforlife21]

maybe he is using to light of shells to cycle the bolt properly. try shooting pheasant loads or turkey loads, or duck and see if it cycles normally then.

 

[Milkmaster]

Oh no! I thought the die hard Beretta fans here say their guns NEVER fail!

Seriously...go beyond the normal cleaning and look at the recoil spring area. See if that isn't really dirty as well.

 

[renegade1alpha]

If there is not enough gas to cycle the action, no matter how clean the rest of the gun is, it will not cycle completely. Trying cleaning out the gas ports and see if that helps. Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber with the little tube works great for that.

 

[distra]

Update

I happy to report that after soaking the beast in kerosene for several hours it functioned just fine this morning. Cycled and ejected shells without any issues. I thought these were supposed to be bullet proof? I guess you still need to clean the p#ss out of them from time to time.

 

[Ed Ames]

I have a theory, based on almost no information, that people buy these things, shoot them until the recoil spring is gunked up, clean the gas system, get frustrated because it doesn't help, and sell the guns.

That, or the oil they use on the recoil spring gums up in storage.

Mine fired another 100 trouble-free rounds today. I haven't done anything special to it other than keep it moderately clean since I ungunked the recoil spring.

 

[BlueSheep]

clean it well around the recoil spring and around any moving part, I would use some rem oil for lub, works great also it can be the rounds sometimes if the gun powder is too rich the gun gets gunked up quickly and your at a higher chance to jam it or not full ejection of round

 

[dmarbell]

A properly maintained 391 will not have these problems. My guess is that the gun was never properly cleaned. I'll find the thread on another site which shows how to maintain these guns.

I bought a 391 trap gun that probably had NEVER been cleaned. I spent two weeks cleaning the piston and the chamber the piston fits into. After some work, the gun functioned perfectly.

My Berettas have cycled everything properly, including McCracken's 7/8 oz loads.

Danny

 

[redactor]

I'm glad you got it working. I'm not sure about the 391 models, but I do know on the 390 that it's possible to assemble with the gas piston reversed. Just something to keep an eye out for.