Spoke with Savage this past week (after they viewed the video). They said I was using an improper hold (no kidding - I stated that it was for experimental reasons only). Spoke with Directors of Customer Service, Engineering, and Quality - all trained with tactical weapons - some for the police.
They mentioned that in order to shoot a pump, I should be using a push-pull method - pulling back with the trigger hand against my shoulder while pushing on the fore-end. That doing this (the "proper" method of shooting a pump shotgun) will prevent the breech from jarring open so far.
I was ready to ship it back on an offer to have them check it out (again) and shoot 30 rounds through it. I had agreed to this and had the gun packaged, but wanted to try this method first so I delayed the return.
Has anyone else heard of this push-pull method? Is this a requirement to shoot a 12 ga pump gun?
In all the rifles I have shot - from an air rifle to a .30-06 to a .45-70 - I have held lightly with the lead hand - using it mostly for balance - as a rest. I have shot target practice for a long time, and even got my marksmanship ribbon from the Air Force Academy with an M-16 holding it this way. I used to plink a lot as a kid - up in a junk yard on the hill behind my house. I got tired of shooting cans and bottles and started looking for smaller targets. I actually got quite good at shooting flies from about 15-20 feet away - all with iron sights.
The point is, I have never heard of the NEED to hold a forward pressure on a gun of any kind before. I have seen some info on this technique - supposed to decrease the recoil and allow faster recovery for the next shot. But for a requirement to shoot a gun? This doesn't seem right.
I will admit that Savage has been very good at working with me. I am going to get some other people to try the gun, and also shoot their 12 ga pumps in return. I'm still not convinced that something isn't wrong with the feed.
Also - in response to jdh - I did try to rack the slide back sharply after it opened on me - same result. The only reason I slowed down for the video was to show the mechanism to show Savage so that they might be able to figure out what is going wrong.
They know their gun, and I'm pretty sure they know what is going on with the misfeed - even if they are not saying. All the responses from them have to do with my shooting technique, and preventing the bolt from opening in the first place. This is only half the equation. Even if the bolt does open from not holding it forward forcefully enough, shouldn't the feed mechanism still function properly?
I will be back after some more testing.
Oddly - I found a site where someone was complaining about an opposite issue with a Mossberg. They actually shoot while pulling back on the slide - to load faster. Turns out Mossberg locks the bolt in this case and it requires a slight pressure forward to get the slide to work after the shot. All this is according to another posting (I think in this forum), so I can't vouch for the accuracy.
If this is the case, and I can't get some resolution for my Savage, I may opt for the refund (offered by Savage) and pick up a Mossberg instead. It sounds like the bolt lock is working like I feel it should. It would be a darn shame since the Savage package is so nice. I could also opt to use only 2 3/4 shells with it - it works fine with them - only fails with 3" when holding normally.