PG Trap/Skeet, morning of 12/26 (Fri)

[JoeRinMD]

It was great shooting together today...a great way to spend a clear and pleasant winter day.

If my 391 was jamming here and there on the skeet course, it was really jamming pretty bad on the sporting clays course. Just completely irritating. It would cycle a 1,235 fps 1 1/8 oz Remington Nitro load no problem but would not cycle a 1,090 fps 1 1/8 oz reload of mine. So, I sit here wondering if I should drill out the gas ports a little more to make sure they are clean, cut a coil or two off the brand new spring I put in the gun this summer, or just use it as an oar and get me a Beretta A400 Excel in 12 gauge or a Benelli Super Sport Performance Shop in 12 gauge. Nothing drives me crazier than when my gear does not work like it should. The damn gun was the only downer to shooting today.

Did the 391 reliably cycle the 1,090 load in the past or has it been a consistent problem? If it's something new, you might want to use a small drill bit twirled between your fingers to make sure that gas port doesn't have any carbon buildup. On my son's 1187, I looked up the gas port diameters on the web, then used the proper drill to ream out the port. That helped immensely, allowing it to reliably cycle standard trap loads. I bought the shotgun used, and think it was "rode hard, put away wet" with the previous owner allowing carbon to build up in the port.

JoeR

 

[fabsroman]

It was great shooting together today...a great way to spend a clear and pleasant winter day.



Did the 391 reliably cycle the 1,090 load in the past or has it been a consistent problem? If it's something new, you might want to use a small drill bit twirled between your fingers to make sure that gas port doesn't have any carbon buildup. On my son's 1187, I looked up the gas port diameters on the web, then used the proper drill to ream out the port. That helped immensely, allowing it to reliably cycle standard trap loads. I bought the shotgun used, and think it was "rode hard, put away wet" with the previous owner allowing carbon to build up in the port.

JoeR

That shell with those exact specs has been my go to load for trap since 1995 and I started using it in sporting clays for the vast majority of the targets when I started shooting that in 1997. Was using it in the 391 from 2002 until now. There were a couple of hiccups in 2010 with the 391, then did not shoot for a little while. Started shooting again this year and the hiccups got worse, and are now at the point of unbearable. The shells will not even clear the receiver half the time now.

I took the entire gun apart last month, reamed out the gas ports with a 1/8" drill bit using a dremel. Think I might go up one size on the drill bit and give it another shot. Took the gun completely apart, including the entire gas system, and put all the parts in an ultrasonic cleaner for 20 minutes with heat. Then, re-assembled the gun and used a brand new recoil spring. It was running fine for most of the wobble trap today with only a single jam that I was able to clear quickly and get on the second bird. As I kept shooting it today, it just got progressively worse. Wanted to smash the thing on a tree by the time we were done shooting sporting clays.

If I can find some time tomorrow, I am going to take it apart again, look it over, ream out the gas ports once more, and then give it one more shot. Hope I get a chance to test it again in January.

At one point today I was telling myself, "Maybe I just need to shoot it more and break in the new recoil spring." Shooting it more just made it worse, so I am guessing it has something to do with the gas system.

Just frustrating.