Hi folks, i'm having a problem with a gun that hopefully someone can shed some light on. I recently inherited an older 12-gauge Ithaca 37 with a 28" barrel and took it out for the first time this weekend to test it for functionality after giving it a 100% complete takedown cleaning. I've owned other rifles and handguns for some time, however, this is essentially my first shotgun so i'm a bit in the dark here. My experience is limited to using friends' models at the skeet range from time to time so i'm not sure what is going on here. Basically, when using shells with what seems to be higher brass, the shells seem to get firmly stuck in the chamber after firing. In my first time out testing, I started mild and ran a few skeet shells through it. Low brass, low recoil, everything seems ok. Set up a target, loaded up some 2 3/4" 00 buckshot and it went bang with that too. Went to extract that shell and it was so stuck compared to the ease in which it extracts the skeet loads, i thought there was something wrong with the mechanism. I had to pull so hard on the slide handle that when the shell did finally let go, the gun kicked it out about 15 feet in front of me. I carefully inspected the mechanism and there was no sign of binding or damage when cycling it with no shells. I also tried some more skeet and everything was easy as can be. I then tried a few more rounds of buck and the same thing. I then loaded a couple slugs and they stuck in the same manner. Any idea what is going on here? Is this a function of the higher brass expanding in the chamber and causing excessive friction to extract? Could it be that this gun will not take shells with higher brass and this is user error (is there such a thing)?
Thanks,
Jon.
Thanks,
Jon.