JWS_61

Just a couple of quick thoughts and you may have already checked these. Is the barrel tight in the receiver (mag tube tight)? Are there any burr's in the barrel at the gas port holes? Jeff

You Guys are scaring me... I seem to have mine working very near 100% (fingers crossed). Thursday I leave for a 3 day match and will see if it holds up. I'll have my spare trigger group in my bag just in case. FYI, had a bead TIG'd across the back of the lifter bump to increase engagement area which stopped the ghost loads. Bent the fence on the lifter inward to keep the shells lined up with the chamber because my lifter sets in the gun cocked toward the ejection port. Filed down the tab that contacts the magazine interceptor latch tail until it stopped jambing against it. After all this time I finally heard back from J. Kenny last Friday, he asked a couple of questions which I answered in a response but I am doubting I will get anything useful back, we will see... Jeff

When these issues occur how clean is the trigger? I found out last weekend that it does not take much dirt, crud or powder to cause a trigger tech diamond to act up. I had a primer fall out of a trashy reload and spill some TAC into the action. The trigger immediately started doubling, tripling and I think once it even ripped off 5 rounds. Pulled it apart and cleaned it the best I could at the range (I couldn't see anymore grains of powder in the trigger) and upped the pull weight 3 clicks which all helped but it would still occasionally double. Hosed it out with brake cleaner when I got home and cleaned out the rest of the action. I'll find out out if it is happy or not this weekend. Jeff

Well it has been several weeks since I first contacted J. Kenny about the issues I had right out of the box with the 1301 auto-lifter and still have not heard a word back from him... But I think I am close to having the auto-lifter working near 100%. To address the minimal engagement of the lifter bump and the shell release button I had a friend TIG a bead across the back side of the auto-lifter bump to increase the engagement surface area and filed it smooth. This seems to have cured the ghost load issue at least for the 75 rounds I put through it yesterday practicing. The other major issue where it seems the bushing pin holes in the lifter are not directly across from each other causing the lifter to be canted toward the ejection port and letting shells sometimes get out of alignment with the chamber and jam on the chamber mouth I bent the "little guide fence" (yes, technical term) in-board a little to better keep the shells lined up with the chamber. Hand cycling with the ejection port facing down I have not been able to get it to jamb so maybe that is taken care of... I'll live-fire test it next weekend and see how it goes. Jeff

Blockader, Thanks for the info! Jeff

OK, could it be the little tab on the auto lifter jamming against the tail of the shell catch? I had to file that little tab down just a bit so that it didn't jam on the tail end of the shell catch. I took just a little off at a time and then tested it until I got it work and then smoothed the rough edges. I had to do this before mine would function. Question, is your auto lifter straight in the loading port or is it cocked off to one side? Mine is cocked off to one side toward the ejection port, it seems the two bushing holes are not straight across from each other on mine. This occasionally lets shells get out of alignment with the chamber and jamb on the edge of the chamber. My other issue is the minimal engagement of the lifter ramp and the slightest bump causes it to ghost load. I have been hoping to hear back from J. Kenny about these issues but it has been about 2 weeks since I first contacted him about the issues and so far just crickets. I'll give him a few more days before I send another E-Mail and then I'm going to work on fixing it myself and see if I get it to work reliably. Good Luck, Jeff

gnhowell1, Are you talking about the J. Kenny autoloader not working?

Wow, Thanks for the info on the Comp Pro, I had not heard that before and was actually going to get one. On my current 1st gen 1301 Comp's I had a bump TIG welded to the lifter under the button and it is further back under the button instead of right on the edge and I haven't had the ghost load issue, although this bump is not as high as the typical ramps either, I am thinking about going higher with it to raise the lifter more. I can always grind it back down if I start running into issues. Still no E-Mail reply from J. Kenny about the issues but he may not work on Mondays. I am sending him pictures of the issues tonight. Jeff

Yes, I have an early 1301 comp that does not have the spot for the 2nd washer, but you can purchase a new style plastic trigger group housing from Midwest Gun Works or other stocking Beretta dealer that does have it. I was lucky that also have a newer one to try. But, I received mine and installed it. I noticed that the main (long) lifter was cocked off to one side (ejection port side) I am guessing one of the holes is off a little. But I thought maybe it was for a reason. I also noticed that the ramp of the shorter lifter that keeps the main lifter up to help reloads does not engage much of the release button, seems like it should be further back, it is easy to hit with shell bases and release a round out of the mag tube onto the lifter when trying to load, then your hosed. After I installed everything I hand cycled a bunch of dummy rounds through it and when you don't trip the shell release button while loading, it works pretty good. But the main lifter being cocked off toward the ejection port allows some of the rounds to get a little off center with the chamber and then they hang up on the chamber edge. Maybe I just received a bad one that got through QA and a good (straight one) would always center the round so it chambers. But the issue with the ramp not engaging much of the shell release button is a tough one to get around unless the ramp was moved closer to the trigger to engage more of the button. If you have already ordered one of these I hope you have better luck than I have. I did take it out last Saturday and run about 40 rounds through it and had the same problems as when I hand cycled dummy rounds through it. I have sent J. Kenny an E-Mail outlining my initial issues and will be sending another one tonight with pictures to see what he might suggest and if he will stand behind his product. I'll let you know what I find out. Jeff

I have one on order so when I get it installed and tested I'll let you know how it goes. Jeff

Cool, I think I am going to have to give one of these a try.

Nolan, Thanks for the reply, it looks to me that you don't loose the raised lifter with the auto-loader for the 1301. Jeff

Just curious if anyone is running the J. Kenny Auto-Loading Lifter in their 1301 yet? I played with one in a M2 and it is pretty amazing, made me smile every time I loaded it... Thank You, Jeff

Contact Texasshootersoptical.com I just started looking at what they offer and may place an order in the near future.

Have you tried hotter ammo?

+1 on what Inertia stated. I am still running a gen II and have no real complaints other than the stock trigger which I changed to a Hiperfire. If I ever get truly serious about it I will also replace the hand guard with a smaller lighter one. I have the early mag-pouches made by blade tech for sig with tech-locks which so far have worked well.

Cool, Thank You for the info. Jeff

Assaulter, do you have any time behind the original 1301 comp and do you think there is that much difference between it and the new comp pro? Thank You, Jeff

When you look into the ejection port on the lower edge you see a little hole in the side wall of the receiver. Within that hole is the interceptor latch pin or as Winchester calls it "carrier latch pin" There is also a little Hair Pin "carrier pin retainer" that keeps it in place. This is the pin that the carrier latch/interceptor latch/shell stop pivots on. If you go to Brownells.com and look up the Winchester SX 2 shotgun (basically a FN SLP) and select the schematic view you can see and exploded view of all the parts and then select the SKU tab to get a little more information, SKU #, cost, etc on the specific part. Like I previously mentioned above this may not be your issue but I had similar symptoms when this pin broke in my SLP. Hope this helps, Jeff

If you have not already checked, see if your interceptor latch pivot pin is broken. I had this happen a couple of times when I still ran a SLP. When my pin broke it would still allow the interceptor latch to look like it was working until it had the pressure of a round against it. The broken pivot pin would allow the interceptor latch to move just enough out of alignment that it would not operate with pressure against it. Both halves of the broken pin in place still kept the interceptor latch basically in place. Hope this helps. Jeff

When you say "Long Range Matches" are you talking about Precision Rifle Series, NRA High Power or something else? Google, Precision Rifle Series and select bolt gun or gas gun and you will see a selection for the rules. If it is NRA High Power, Google NRA High Power Rules. Hope this helps. Jeff

gerritm, if your running adjustable gas and have it turned down to minimum it can also cause this but if it is running fine with a heavier buffer and spring and you did not increase the gas then it sounds like you found the problem. The top round in the mag can rub on the bottom of the bcg and slow it down a little and it gets worse when you monopod. I use heavy monopoding as the acid test for my adjustable gas level. Jeff

So I ran an SLP for a number of years (basically wore it out). The SLP is a very well built and rugged duty type shotgun. Then I had the opportunity to try a demo 1301 at nationals and fell in love. The 1301 just seems to fit me very well but it is also lighter and quicker handling than the SLP, IMO. I have never shot any other shotgun as well as I can shoot the 1301. Try and find someone with a SLP/SX2 you can try and the same for the 1301 and go with the one that suites you the best . Best of Luck, Jeff