Terrato

I have been busy with work and shooting things other than shotguns, but I finally got a chance to take a closer look at my Benelli last week. There was a definite burr at the leading edge of the chamber, in the extractor groove. I carefully smoothed it out with a round file, sand paper, and the polishing wheel on my Dremel tool. I also clipped a few coils off the magazine spring, so it is now 15.75". I ran two boxes of ammo through it on Friday night; one of cheap Federal Gun Club target loads, the other Winchester AAs. I had a few failures with each, but the AAs definitely had fewer of the hangups I was previously experiencing. I will continue tweaking it, but I think I'm on the right track now. Thanks for your assistance, everyone.

All, thanks for your feedback. I truly appreciate it. cajun0007, the problem I'm having looks exactly like the photo you posted. I did run one box of Winchester AAs through the gun to see if the better quality hulls made any difference, but still had a few of the same failures to feed. The magazine spring in my Nordic +5 extension is 3 years old at most. I only shoot the gun a few times a year (it might have 500 rounds on it total), so I would be surprised if wear on that part was the issue. It still extends >16" from the end of the magazine tube uncompressed. I will try replacing that, and perhaps smoothing out the interior surfaces of the barrel extension a bit.

I have an old Benelli M1 Super 90 (HK marked) that I have been using for 3-gun several years. I am the third owner (bought it from a friend, who got it as a police trade-in). The gun probably has several thousand rounds through it by now. It has a 21" vent rib barrel, and a Nordic mag tube extension for 8+1 capacity that I added within the last 3 years. The last few times I have shot it, I have encountered intermittent feeding problems. A round will fire, cycle the bolt and the empty will eject completely. The next round will feed out of the magazine tube and onto the lifter, but will get stuck before entering the chamber. It will be fully visible in the ejection port, not even partially into the chamber. If I tap the shell with my thumb, it will usually chamber fully. This problem occurs even with what I thought were fairly stout loads for 3 gun use (1 1/8 oz of 7 1/2 birdshot at 3 dram eq. / 1200 fps), and even with Wolf full-power slugs. Because of the gun's age, I thought this might be due to a worn recoil spring causing the bolt to return without enough force. I have replaced it with a Wolff Extra Power recoil spring (which is noticeably stiffer) and the problem still occurs. I have also switched back to a straight stock from a pistol grip stock, and do not typically run ammo in a side-saddle on the gun. I cannot duplicate the problem hand-cycling dummy rounds through the gun unless I force a malfunction to occur by impinging down on the round as it is lifted up by the carrier. Anyone run into a similar issue with a Benelli, or have any advice on how to remedy it?