Handled an A400 and a Versa Max today

[Milkmaster]

I was at Dick's to pick up some ammo this evening and had an opportunity to handle both the A400 and the Versa Max side by side. The A400 was the 3" model. The Versa Max was able to handle the 3.5". I never shoot anything but 2 3/4", so either choice works for me.

The A400 felt light and nicely balanced. However, the LOP was a bit short for me. My nose was almost eating my thumb knuckle if you know what I mean. The action seemed slick and the wood was acceptable. I was a little surprised by the less than stellar bluing and overall finish on the barrel. The receiver was nice, but a bit more effort should have been made on the barrel for a shotgun in this price range.

The Remington ergonomic measurements always feel good to me, so I picked up the Versa Max after the A400. Right away I noticed the heavier gun and barrel heavy balance to it. The dimensions may be better, but I didn't especially care for the balance. I will wait until I handle a wooden furniture model before passing final judgment if they ever manufacture one like that. The finish was matte back and decent if you like the synthetic furniture / matte black look. Overall I was surprised how nice it looked after hearing so much negative about Remington's quality lately.

There IS a third shotgun that I have been keeping an eye on for two years at Dick's. Beretta manufactures a Urika 2 model just for Dick's that has the bright finished receiver. It is a nice handling shotgun and goes for $400 less than the other two previously mentioned shotguns. Sometimes Dick's offers an additional $100 off on that gun too. That Urika 2 may be a better value if Dave McCracken's mad disease doesn't convince you to buy the latest technology

Merry Christmas to all.

 

[oneounceload]

Dick's carries an expensive Beretta semi?
Have never seen anything except the cheap, mass-market stuff from Mossberg, Remington, Stoeger, etc......

 

[Milkmaster]

They have the guns you speak of here too, but they also carry the models I described along with usually a couple of Browning or Beretta O/U models. The more expensive models are more numerous around the holidays. The Urika 2 I wrote about is always there.

 

[oneounceload]

I'll have to give mine a more closer look next visit. Wife has the A400 Xplor Unico - with the KO system, LOP is about 14-3/8 or so; surprised the one you tried was so short

 

[DaleCooper51]

The Remington ergonomic measurements always feel good to me, so I picked up the Versa Max after the A400. Right away I noticed the heavier gun and barrel heavy balance to it. The dimensions may be better, but I didn't especially care for the balance. I will wait until I handle a wooden furniture model before passing final judgment if they ever manufacture one like that. The finish was matte back and decent if you like the synthetic furniture / matte black look. Overall I was surprised how nice it looked after hearing so much negative about Remington's quality lately.

I've heard rumors about a wooden clad Versamax, but nothing that could be substantiated. As much as I like Walnut and polished blue, I worry about the fore arm being overly large to hide the gas system. The synthetic is on the large side. I think it would be clunky if it was wooden.

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

If I had the money, I would replace my 1100 with a tactical Versa Max in a heartbeat. That gun is, in my opinion, impressive!

 

[Milkmaster]

Bonus time is getting close for me, so I went to Dick's to see if they had any specials going on semi-auto 12 ga potential skeet guns. The 391 Urika 2, and A400 models were still there and seemed the same. I was hoping to find the recently discontinued 391 with a discount price, but no luck.

I am going to back off my initial December report on the Versamax above.
The Versamax I held today was terrible! This time the general quaility REALLY looked bad. I was shocked at what I saw. The machine marks reminded me of the Baikal I have. That is unacceptable to me. Remington needs to do better. It is also hard to understand the difference between the model I saw in December and the one I am seeing now in late February. The quality control inspector needs new glasses if he cannot tell the build difference I am seeing from day to day.

I want to buy American if possible. I just can't see it yet in the Versamax.

 

[DaleCooper51]

I am going to back off my initial December report on the Versamax above.
The Versamax I held today was terrible! This time the general quaility REALLY looked bad. I was shocked at what I saw. The machine marks reminded me of the Baikal I have. That is unacceptable to me. Remington needs to do better. It is also hard to understand the difference between the model I saw in December and the one I am seeing now in late February. The quality control inspector needs new glasses if he cannot tell the build difference I am seeing from day to day.

I want to buy American if possible. I just can't see it yet in the Versamax.

Since you had been considering a Versamax, I thought I would offer my thoughts on mine.

I picked up a Versamax last August after having a chance to shoot one. I ended up paying about $1050 for it shipped. After 6 months and about 4,500 rounds, I have to say that I love shooting it. I have it dialed in to fit me very well so it hits where I look. It is a soft shooter and will run everything from 1200fps 3/4 oz loads and up. I haven't run any 3 or 3.5" shells through it and probably never will. The finish is holding up well aside from the buggering of the ejection port from steel based hulls. This is pretty common and happened to both the Montefeltro and Black Eagle I used to own.

All that said, I completely agree with you on the non existent quality control at Remington. The gun got out of the factory with a cross threaded gas port ferrule. Once I noticed it, I called Remington and they had a new barrel on the way to me the next day. About a month ago, I was getting ready to send it for the complimentary cleaning and evaluation but we had a few warm days so I went and shot it. I figured I would send it the following Monday. Well, I got to high 3 on the skeet field and it went click instead of bang. I tried to unchamber the round to see what was up and the bolt got stuck half way back. I had to remove the barrel to get the shell out. I called Remington and go a call tag to ship it in. They replaced the bolt, the bolt handle, the hammer, magazine spring, retainer, cap, and two springs in the trigger group. They had it back to me in a week. Remington wouldn't tell me what broke, but I suspect a roll pin in the bolt worked its way out and locked up the action.

Since getting it back I have run 500 shells through it. The hammer looks worse than the one that was replaced with 4k rounds on it. It has peened a little bit where it is hitting the back of the bolt. I kept an eye on it and it hasn't gotten any worse. I hit it with a ceramic stone to knock it down a bit. I was going to send it back to Remington, but then I would be without the gun for a week or two and they would have done the same thing anyway.

I have 18 months more warranty on the gun, so I am going to keep shooting it and see how it does. Customer service is great, but they need to work on quality control a bit.

//PS. I forgot to add that all the stuff you hear about it shooting clean and being able to go for thousands of rounds without cleaning the gas ports is complete BS. I had a huge week where I shot about 1500 rounds over the course of 10 days. The gun did still function, but there was so much soot build up in the gas ports I could not get the pistons out of the ferrule. I had to blast it Break Free and it cleaned up enough that I could get the pistons out and scrub the ferrule.

Regards,

Dale

 

[Milkmaster]

Sorry to hear you are having difficulties with your Versamax. I ask you to tell me how difficult it is to clean the Versamax compared to other semi-autos you may have used? The gas system seems so different than others, and I have not witnessed a Versamax in pieces to judge for myself. Would you share that with me?

 

[DaleCooper51]

The only other gas gun I have ever used and cleaned on a regular basis is the 1100. I much prefer to clean the VM than the 1100. It takes a little more time to clean as compared to a Benelli, but not much.

After making sure it is empty, the fore-end and barrel come off like other semi autos (Unscrew the cap, remove the forearm, then the barrel slides out). The trigger group has one retaining pin and will just drop out once you hit the bolt release button. The bolt slides out the front after removing the handle. I can break my gun down to this point in about 30 seconds.

When done on a fairly regular basis, the gas system is easy to clean also. There are two gas pistons and each has a hex screw on the front. Remove the screw and the piston slides out the front. I spray the pistons with Break Free and scrub them with a small nylon brush. For the gas port ferrule, I use an old bore brush on them. I am not sure if it is a .410 or 30 cal brush. It was in a box of stuff I had around and fits perfectly.



All in all, I am still happy I bought the gun. With the shim and the higher cheek piece, it fits like a glove. My scores have increased since getting the gun. I got both my first straight and first 50 with it shooting low gun skeet. I would be happier if I didn't have these issues with the gun and sometimes question the longevity, but Remington customer service has been excellent. I still have 18 more months of warranty and I hope to have 20k shells through it by that point. If you ever find yourself in eastern PA, you are more than welcome to come shoot it.

 

[NOLAEMT]

I looked at all the above guns, and came to the same conclusion, I just can't convince myself to give any of my money to the company that calls itself remington. The quality control on many of the examples of 11-87's, versamax, etc, is non existent.

Even though it was a little more, I went with the Benelli vinci. It isn't going to win any beauty contests, but it shoots well, and i've had no problems at all from it.