Stoeger Coach Gun Issue: Light Primer Strikes

jaredm1 · Oct 26, 2009

Was shooting clays at a friend's house yesterday and getting light primer strikes on Remington multi-purpose target loads.

The gun is almost new. I've put 100 rounds of Federal target loads through it (spread out over two outings) with no problems. When I switched to the Remington shells, I fired about 4-5 with no problem, then had one ftf. Put the shell aside and loaded two more and neither one fired. Tried two more and both went off. Tried two more and only one fired. Put it away for the rest of the day.

The firing pins look fine...not sure if they need adjustment? Could it just be a Remington issue? Any other ideas?

K31 · Oct 26, 2009

jaredm1 said:
Was shooting clays at a friend's house yesterday and getting light primer strikes on Remington multi-purpose target loads.

The gun is almost new. I've put 100 rounds of Federal target loads through it (spread out over two outings) with no problems. When I switched to the Remington shells, I fired about 4-5 with no problem, then had one ftf. Put the shell aside and loaded two more and neither one fired. Tried two more and both went off. Tried two more and only one fired. Put it away for the rest of the day.

The firing pins look fine...not sure if they need adjustment? Could it just be a Remington issue? Any other ideas?

Headspace.

tigmaned · Oct 26, 2009

if you bought it new, send it in to Stoeger and they will take care of it. Beretta, Stoeger & Bennelli have a forum on there web site where you can ask question too.

Biggfoot44 · Oct 26, 2009

Does the Rem ammo go bang every time in other guns ?

jaredm1 · Oct 26, 2009

Biggfoot44 said:
Does the Rem ammo go bang every time in other guns ?

We did have two other pump shotguns, and yes, it was fine in those. Makes me pretty sure it's an issue with the Stoeger only.

Thanks for the other suggestions as well; I'll give Stoeger a call to see what they say.

BeltBuckle · Oct 26, 2009

please keep us posted on what you learn. I'm interested/curious and I suspect others are as well. thanks & good luck!

Mdman · Oct 26, 2009

do you have gunk in your firing pin channels?

jaredm1 · Oct 26, 2009

Mdman said:
do you have gunk in your firing pin channels?

No, everything seems clean and clear. I did buy the gun brand new and it's had exactly 100 rounds through it with no problems until now. I've cleaned and lubed after every outing.

Stoeger's offices closed at 5:00 so I was too late in calling them when I got home from work, I will try tomorrow morning from the office and see if they'd like me to send it in.

WSM · Oct 27, 2009

jaredm1 said:
I've cleaned and lubed after every outing.

people clean shotguns?

jaredm1 · Oct 27, 2009

WSM said:
people clean shotguns?

You sound like my brother, haha...I just run a boresnake through once or twice and do some detail work with a toothbrush and q-tip. Nothing major; takes about 4 minutes.

-----

I called Stoeger today. The woman I spoke with said that a 1 1/8 oz load was the MINIMUM for my coach gun and that Remington uses some of the hardest primers to extend shelf life. She told me to try another brand and send it in if I ran into the same problem.

Here's the specs on the shells I picked up from Dick's (buy one get one half off sale last week):
Remington Game and Target Loads
12 gauge, 2 3/4 length, 1390 fps, 7/8 oz, 8 shot.

I cannot remember the load on the Federal that ran through it with no issue. Why does the loading have anything to do with the function of a SxS though? I'm new to shotguns, but I thought that was more of a semi-auto cycling issue.

I have a busy week and weekend ahead, but I will try to find some time to run a few different boxes of shells through it and see what happens.

tdt91 · Oct 27, 2009

jared, it could be the harder primers don't like your gun. I can trade you even up federals/winchesters for the rems if ya want. of course we would want to make sure they work in my 870

araugh · Oct 28, 2009

jaredm1 said:
Here's the specs on the shells I picked up from Dick's (buy one get one half off sale last week):
Remington Game and Target Loads
12 gauge, 2 3/4 length, 1390 fps, 7/8 oz, 8 shot.

These exact same shells are running perfectly in my Stoeger Uplander (same as the coach, but 26" barrel). Something isn't right. When I first got my Stoeger they had gone a bit heavy on greasing the internals so I pulled the stock and wiped out some of the excess. That may help you out, or it may cause you trouble if you send it back for warranty work, assume at your own risk.

jaredm1 · Oct 28, 2009

tdt91 said:
jared, it could be the harder primers don't like your gun. I can trade you even up federals/winchesters for the rems if ya want. of course we would want to make sure they work in my 870

Thank you for the offer, do you think we could meet up sometime soon and trade a few shells back and forth for function checks in either gun? Like I said, this weekend is kind of booked for me, but maybe a weeknight or waiting til next weekend? PM me if you had something in mind.

My gut feeling is with some of the others that think something else is also wrong, but we'll see how it goes. Even if it is just Remington primers causing the problems, that's kind of disappointing anyway...I don't want a picky shotgun.

jaredm1 · Oct 28, 2009

araugh said:
These exact same shells are running perfectly in my Stoeger Uplander (same as the coach, but 26" barrel). Something isn't right. When I first got my Stoeger they had gone a bit heavy on greasing the internals so I pulled the stock and wiped out some of the excess. That may help you out, or it may cause you trouble if you send it back for warranty work, assume at your own risk.

I did have to wipe it down quite a bit when I first assembled it. Was yours having any trouble before you cleaned out the extra grease, or did you just do it to begin with?

clandestine · Oct 28, 2009

It might not be hard primers, it could also be the primer seat depth and I have seen some shotgun ammo back ends that are sorta concave.

If not an ammo issue, I would say its either bad headspace, crud in the firing pin channel, (Are you using WD40?), bad hammer springs, or firing pins that are too soft and collapsed ot the pins are too short.

tdt91 · Oct 28, 2009

clandestine said:
It might not be hard primers, it could also be the primer seat depth and I have seen some shotgun ammo back ends that are sorta concave.

If not an ammo issue, I would say its either bad headspace, crud in the firing pin channel, (Are you using WD40?), bad hammer springs, or firing pins that are too soft and collapsed ot the pins are too short.

Could the headspace change like that. He put 100 rounds of federal in it and on another day used the Rems and had probs. If not the shells it seems it would be a pin spring or pin prob more than likely. If we try other shells and it still has probs, what should he do next, call Stoger

tdt91 · Oct 28, 2009

jaredm1 said:
Thank you for the offer, do you think we could meet up sometime soon and trade a few shells back and forth for function checks in either gun? Like I said, this weekend is kind of booked for me, but maybe a weeknight or waiting til next weekend? PM me if you had something in mind.

My gut feeling is with some of the others that think something else is also wrong, but we'll see how it goes. Even if it is just Remington primers causing the problems, that's kind of disappointing anyway...I don't want a picky shotgun.

This weekend is no good for me either. lets try to get together next week some time. PM me your schedule, I currently am unemployed so I got time during the week

clandestine · Oct 28, 2009

tdt91 said:
Could the headspace change like that. He put 100 rounds of federal in it and on another day used the Rems and had probs. If not the shells it seems it would be a pin spring or pin prob more than likely. If we try other shells and it still has probs, what should he do next, call Stoger

If the heat treat is wrong its possible for the headspace to open, or its possible they just went too far with the reamer when cutting the rim recess and the machining burrs were raised enough to pass headspace, once broke in the machining marks settle down.

Is there any daylight between the breach and the barrel when closed? Is there any play when locked up? It possible the locking lever is not closing enough as well.

S/S's and O/U's are tricky to diagnose sometimes.

Best bet is to send the gun back to the manufacturer, and hopefull they remedy it. I say this because parts for these guns are a pain to acquire.

I believe its a bad batch of ammo from the sound of it, or bad firing pins (Soft)

wyomingboy · Oct 29, 2009

It's not a headspce problem. It's a minimum firing pin length problem not hitting the primers with enough striking depth. Of all of the shotgun primers, Remingtons are the hardest and often give ignition problems if the pins are on the short side. This can happen in any gun. Even if you buy new firing pins, chances are that you'll have the same problem shooting Remingtons. If you're a machinist, you might make a duplicate set of pins that are about .005 longer. If you do that, don't forget to harden them. The easy fix is to not shoot Remingtons. Otherwise, you might buy a set of firing pin retraction springs (if that gun has them) and take a coil or two off them. These guns are not exactly "fine tuned", so the pins might not be bottoming out all the way. Good luck.

jaredm1 · Oct 29, 2009

clandestine said:
Is there any daylight between the breach and the barrel when closed? Is there any play when locked up? It possible the locking lever is not closing enough as well.

Seems like it locks up nice and tight...no daylight or play at all.

wyomingboy said:
It's not a headspce problem. It's a minimum firing pin length problem not hitting the primers with enough striking depth. Of all of the shotgun primers, Remingtons are the hardest and often give ignition problems if the pins are on the short side. This can happen in any gun. Even if you buy new firing pins, chances are that you'll have the same problem shooting Remingtons. If you're a machinist, you might make a duplicate set of pins that are about .005 longer. If you do that, don't forget to harden them. The easy fix is to not shoot Remingtons. Otherwise, you might buy a set of firing pin retraction springs (if that gun has them) and take a coil or two off them. These guns are not exactly "fine tuned", so the pins might not be bottoming out all the way. Good luck.

This could be. My pins were slightly dimpling the primers, just not deep enough.

Stoeger Coach Gun Issue: Light Primer Strikes

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