New Beretta 687 III - Second barrel will not set to fire after the first shot

[whatnickname]

I have several Beretta O/U shotguns. This is the first time I’ve ever taken one out of the box that wouldn’t set the second barrel to fire after the first shot. It didn’t matter if I fired the top or bottom barrel first, the only way to get the inertial trigger to set for the second shot was to smack the butt of the gun really hard with the heal of my hand. My guess was a bit of congealed oil or debris in the trigger group.

Went on line at YouTube to see if others had experienced similar problems and found a video where this was exactly what had happened. The recommendation was to remove the stock and hose the trigger group out with brake cleaner. Not a big fan of brake cleaner as some of this stuff has chlorine in it. Decided to use carburetor cleaner...recommended by a gunsmith I know. 2/3 of a can of carb cleaner later...blew the excess cleaner out with an air duster and then applied some synthetic gun oil. Problem solved.

So here’s the question: The guy that set the video up on YouTube recommended pulling the stock off of every new O/U shotgun and hosing the trigger group out before heading to the range the first time. Does anyone else follow this procedure?

 

[Armored farmer]

Nope.

But you reminded me that I need to perform the same maintenance on my Charles Daly o/u as my inerta triggers are sticking too.

I had this happen to my mossberg silver reserve 28ga bird gun. I removed the stock and found that the hammer guides were bent. I eventually got parts and fixed it.

 

[whatnickname]

Nope.

But you reminded me that I need to perform the same maintenance on my Charles Daly o/u as my inerta triggers are sticking too.

I had this happen to my mossberg silver reserve 28ga bird gun. I removed the stock and found that the hammer guides were bent. I eventually got parts and fixed it.

I like the Birchwood and Casey synthetic gun oil or Clenzoil. Both are light and do not gum things up over time.

 

[Bill M.]

Maybe I do not understand. But if I do I think the gun is fine. Does the second barrel work correctly when you actually shoot the gun? If you are dry firing it is perfectly normal to have to bump the stock hard to set the inertial trigger. No, do not use a strong cleaner. Okay to remove stock, inspect, and clean and oil as needed. I have only bought 1 new Beretta O/U. It was fine right out of the box.

Have you shot the gun? Did it work then?

 

[1KPerDay]

Edited.... OP has resolved the issue

 

[whatnickname]

Maybe I do not understand. But if I do I think the gun is fine. Does the second barrel work correctly when you actually shoot the gun? If you are dry firing it is perfectly normal to have to bump the stock hard to set the inertial trigger. No, do not use a strong cleaner. Okay to remove stock, inspect, and clean and oil as needed. I have only bought 1 new Beretta O/U. It was fine right out of the box.

Have you shot the gun? Did it work then?

When I fired the gun the first shot, the inertia trigger would not set the gun to fire the second shot. Using live ammo on a range…not dry-firing. The only way the second barrel would fire is if I smacked the butt with my hand really hard.

 

[Bill M.]

Sorry,. I miss understood the problem. What loads were you shooting? Makes it tough to figure out if it works with a hand bump but not from firing a shell. I guess a good cleaning and oiling is in order. One of my 2 Beretta I have owned would not reset with 3/4 oz loads but everything heavier worked.

 

[whatnickname]

Using standard 7/8 ounce field loads.

 

[Bill M.]

deleted. I re read OP and now realize his gun is working after he cleaned and lube it. Good job.

 

[Mizar]

So here’s the question: The guy that set the video up on YouTube recommended pulling the stock off of every new O/U shotgun and hosing the trigger group out before heading to the range the first time. Does anyone else follow this procedure?

Not with a decent quality shotgun (you just had a lemon with that Beretta), but a must for the cheaper ones - Russian, Turkish, lowly Italian ones... You ain't going to believe the amount of crud, wood and metal shavings I have to dug out from some brand new Baikal IZH-27's. And you can check stock fitment to the receiver also, because very often it's far from optimal and can result in a crack, soon or later.

 

[whatnickname]

Not with a decent quality shotgun (you just had a lemon with that Beretta), but a must for the cheaper ones - Russian, Turkish, lowly Italian ones... You ain't going to believe the amount of crud, wood and metal shavings I have to dug out from some brand new Baikal IZH-27's. And you can check stock fitment to the receiver also, because very often it's far from optimal and can result in a crack, soon or later.

Really wasn’t much wrong with the gun...looked like some grease had solidified. That could happen to any of them. Figured as long as I had the stock off I was going to give it a good hosing down. Gun works just fine now. My reason for the post was to see if many others just routinely pulled the stock off a new gun to hose it out.

As for cheap guns, the old adage “You get what you pay for” is particularly true when it comes to double barrel shotguns. The only inexpensive shotgun I’ve ever owned was a Stoger Coach Gun...had a gift card at Dicks before guns were evil. That’s all they had that interested me. Reasonably well made deluxe model. Looked good and had an honest piece of walnut on it...nice color no figure. Only problem was that the barrels were not well regulated and shot to two completely different points of aim at 30 yards. Traded it away.

 

[Milkmaster]

I would have used non chlorinated brake cleaner and not carb cleaner. Carb cleaner can remove the finish on some metals. My opinion....should be yours!

 

[desmobob]

So here’s the question: The guy that set the video up on YouTube recommended pulling the stock off of every new O/U shotgun and hosing the trigger group out before heading to the range the first time. Does anyone else follow this procedure?

If you're the handy type that's not afraid to do so, I think it's not bad advice. I bought a new, old stock, 28ga. Franchi 48 AL Deluxe a while back. I ran a bore snake through it and proudly brought it to the skeet range to try it out. Midway through the first round it stopped functioning... nothing happened when the trigger was pulled.

When I got home and took it apart, I found that a small ball of Styrofoam from the packaging had found its way inside the trigger group and caused the issue. I've noticed that when semi-autos come shipped in a box padded with Styrofoam, the bolt handle often chews a hole in it. That's what happened to mine and was where the offending piece of foam came from.

It was a quick and easy fix but I couldn't help but think about the guys who witnessed the new gun breaking down but never got to hear the explanation... they might have formed a bad opinion of the gun. And I think about the guys who aren't handy and willing to take their gun apart... if it was their brand new gun, that little incident would have been a much bigger disappointment.

These days, I do a pretty thorough disassembly, cleaning and re-lubing of any new or new-to-me firearm. I suppose it shouldn't really be necessary but...

And, as for the brake cleaner vs. carb cleaner, I avoid both and flush things out with Hornady One-Shot. I've wrecked some things with brake cleaner and, as effective as it is, I'm extremely cautious about using it.