Winchester SX3 first two range trips - failures

[IMtheNRA]

While the gun fits me perfectly, I'm concerned about malfunctions during the first two range visits. I bought this new SX3 on Thursday. This is the synthetic model, 3" chamber, 26" barrel, manufactured in February. The gun was broken down, and I wiped the sticky oil residue from it. The shotgun was then oiled with Remoil and reassembled. Here is the summary of the failures:

Day one - trip to pattern the shotgun, aprox 40 rounds fired:

a. Winchester Xtra-lite target load, 2 3/4 Dr Eq, 1 oz, 7.5 shot, "AAL127".
5 round fired, 3 failed to eject. Does not like light loads, so I stopped using them.

b. Winchester Heavy game load, 3 3/4 Dr Eq, 1 1/8 oz, 8 shot, "XU12H8".
25 rounds fired, 1 failed to eject.

c. Federal Tactical buckshot, 00 buck, 8 pellets, "LE133 00"
5 rounds fired, 1 did not chamber. My usuall method of loading one at time is to toss the round into the ejection port without making any effort to line it up with the chamber. In this case, the round became wedged between the partly closed bolt and the chamber. The round was pointed up at about a 45-degree angle. As a result, the plastic hull had heavy cut marks. This problem will continute the following day during a sporting clays trip.


Day two, 130 rounds of sporting clays:

All rounds fired were Winchester Heavy game load, 3 3/4 Dr Eq, 1 1/8 oz, 8 shot, "XU12H8".

a. One failure to eject.

b. Three failures to chamber, using my favored method described above.


The SX3 runs perfectly when the shells are fed from the magazine. In single shot mode, it seems that shell placement is important in order for it to be chambered correctly.

I'm hesitant to draw any conclusions about reliability until I put a couple hundred more rounds through this Winchester. While I can reasonably hope that the ejection problem will work itself out as the gun becomes broken-in, I don't have such hopes for the loading problem.

I'm glad I did not trade in my trusty 1100 before trying the Winchester...

 

[rbernie]

Sounds like a cut finger may be a reasonable trade-off, every now and then...

Seriously - hope it burnishes in and starts behaving for ya.

 

[Snarlingiron]

Sorry to hear that, I know how frustrating a gun that is less than 100% can be. I thought that the ability to cycle a wide range of loads was the SX3's claim to fame.

As rbernie says, maybe a few hundred more rounds will get it going.

 

[MAX100]

I polish the chamber on every new shotgun I get. I consider that as part of breaking in a new shotgun. It won't hurt, only help.


GC

 

[Milkmaster]

I think you should hang with it for a few more rounds as you said. Give it a couple of more outings with cleanings afterwards to see if things smooth out a little. Congrats on the new shotgun btw. I hope it works out in the end.

 

[Pete409]

I think that with a good THOROUGH cleaning (more than just wiping off a little "sticky oil residue") and the shooting of another 250 to 300 heavy 1 1/8 ounce shells, the functioning problem will be solved.

As for how the gun will work when you just "throw" shells into the ejection port without any concern for how it lands or how the shell is oriented, well........ I don't know about that. I've never tried loading a shotgun like that.

 

[berettashotgun]

I never have polished the chamber on any of my eyetalian stuff - chrome is too hard to polish properly
Never have seen a SX3, how are they different from a SX2?
My SX2 works great - during turkey season

 

[IMtheNRA]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I called Browning's service center in MO and spoke with a tech. His only questions were "when did you buy it" and "is it oiled properly". He asked that twice in a tone that could make a guy question his oiling technique.

After I assured him that I have no reason to suspect that I oilied the shotgun wrong, he told me that the only thing left to do is to send it in. I politely prompted him to offer me a shipping label. After asking for the serial number and again asking when I bought the shotgun, he put me on hold and then told me the shipping label will be mailed to me.

This weekend, I plan on about 150 rounds of trap on Saturday and about 200 rounds of sporting clays on Sunday. If the gun does not get "broken in" with that, off to Browning it'll go on Monday morning.

If I can figure out how to oil it, that is.

 

[JohnBT]

When in doubt, add more oil. Heck, add more anyway.

I have an SX-2 Waterfowl, so I have a little experience with these things.

I like Remington shotguns, but I detest Remoil for anything except cleaning Remington trigger groups. Why? Just because it's thin. Still, it should work.

Good luck.

John

 

[Pete409]

Apparently the tech didn't ask the most important question, IMO, and that is "Did you field strip the gun into its major components and clean it in solvent before shooting it?"

If you haven't already done this (and you haven't said that you did), then what are you waiting for? You need to learn how to do it sooner or later. Why not now?

You may not know that many (perhaps most) new guns come from the factory with a sticky rust-protectant on them. Just wiping off what you can reach with your fingers and a cloth doesn't do the job of cleaning adequately.

 

[chas08]

Dumb Question?

I called Browning's service center in MO and spoke with a tech.

If its a Winchester SX3, why are you talking to a Browning Tech?

 

[JohnBT]

Because FN Herstal in Belgium bought both of them.

www.herstalgroup.com

John

 

[chas08]

Another American icon sold to the highest bidder.

 

[MAX100]

I still say polish the chamber well. It won't hurt, it will only help.

Another American icon sold to the highest bidder.

All of America is being sold to the highest bidder.




GC

 

[Pete409]

Max100,

I'm not a Moderator, but I would suggest that you keep political comments out of any gun discussions.

 

[JohnBT]

FN bought Browning in 1977.

Fn bought Winchester/USRAC in 1989.

If FN was good enough to make the A-5, Superposed and many others for John Browning, it's certainly good enough for me. They started making guns for John Browning well over 100 years ago.

FN is the icon.

John

 

[JohnBT]

What the heck, time for a history lesson.

http://browningmgs.com/FN/FN.htm

"Some of John Browning's finest work came out of his collaboration with Fabrique Nationale in Belgium."

"When John Browning was refining his gas hammer, and the later gas/recoil-operated machine guns, he approached the U.S. military hoping to interest them in adopting this new technology. Unfortunately the United States military was not ready to move beyond mechanical gun operation, such as that employed by the hand cranked Gatling gun. Looking for other buyers, in 1898 John Browning entered into a relationship with Fabrique Nationale D'Arms De Guerre (National Factory of War Arms) in Belgium to sell to the European market. In the years that followed, some of the finest weapons Browning ever designed came out of that factory. Fabrique Nationale d 'Armes de Guerre had been established in 1889 to manufacture 150,000 Mauser rifles ordered by the Belgian Government. They were a young company and eager to expand. The collaboration would last until John Browning's death in 1926, though FN would continue to build Browning's guns for decades, and still manufacture the .50 caliber machine gun to this day."

______

Not only could they do mass production...

"The FN factory in Herstal Belgium in the early 1900s.
Source: FN 100 Years by August Francotte & Claude Gaier"



...they could do work of the highest quality... (shotgun content )

"An excellent example of the exquisite embellishment seen on the finer FN sporting arms."




As you see, they were Browning long before they bought Browning.