jjman15

Appreciate the feedback. Once deer season is over i'll be in contact with Remington and i'll post their response. I use Larue mounts on 3 different optics for this gun, so it does see varying weights of optics. T-Bascus is correct in that the stipping occurred when the screws loosen during a range session, and unless you snugged them up after every shot there's no preventing that. The factory screw threads were also not very deep, so there wasn't much to grab. Lock-tite was never good enough for the job, maybe rock-set like you'd use on a muzzlebrake? I'd venture to guess all the damage was done during pattern testing for turkey/coyote over the years, multiple shots of all hot loads and almost everytime I remember the rail breaking loose from the lock-tite and needing to be re-done. Again, thanks for the input.

Well as the title reads my receiver screw holes to mount the picatinny rail are completely gone. This took about 2-3 years. A little background, this gun is only used for hunting and only shoots 3” – 3-1/2” hevi-shot loads or slugs. The optics are either an Aimpoint T1 on a larue mount or a 3-9 Vortex scope for deer hunting. This forum has the most versamax chatter and experts so I figured I’d get the most guidance here. Long story short the rail was installed properly initially, and lock-tited but those 3-1/2” shells beat the crap out of it and the aluminum receiver just can’t take it over time. I did re-snug the screws every once in awhile because they do loosen up from the recoil. I’ve done some research and seen it to be a common problem with the Benelli M4 but not much documented with the Versamax (I think mainly because not many people use optics/hunt with them). The steel screws actually pulled the aluminum threads out in a coil. Has anyone else seen this problem? How hard is it to install helicoil’s? I guess that was the fix for the Benelli’s. For now I’ve just tapped to the next size up (4MM) but I know it won’t hold for long, I’m looking for a permanent fix. I’d like to bring the issue to Remington’s attention but I doubt they’d even care. Any tips are appreciated

Mark, thanks. I've been looking a little more into this and came across "burnishing" aswell, with 0000 steel wool. Supposidly is removes the surface scratches from polishing and improves patterning. By chance have you done this with any v-max's?

Are you using the scotchbrite method? Was considering doing this but wasn't sure if it would mess up the gas ports.

Have you tried just changing to a Nordic magazine spring and cutting it to 12" yet? That fixed mine instantly and I didn't have to go through this whole run-around that you have.

I've been following this thread for awhile & i'm interested to see how this turns out for the versa-max. I hope Remington jumps on board to help cover some of the tooling costs because I know they've had a lot of POA/POI issues in both models of the Versa-Max even though a good portion of their issues may be attributed to bad barrels. I personally have a V-Max Tactical that shot a foot high and right at 25 yards from the factory with or without the barrel clamp. I sent it back to Remington and they replaced the barrel (I chalked marked my original one so I know they changed it) and now i'm real satisfied with the POA/POI its pretty much dead on. If anyone on here is a welder, do you think when Remington welds the pistons onto the barrel that it causes the barrel to tweak and throw off the POA/POI?

Did you notice any difference in the feel of the trigger? I'm not looking for anything crazy just a little lighter and not so crunchy.

My VMAX is the same way... i'll be watching this thread. I did polish the shell latch, open up the two "U" notches a little, and changed to a nordic spring and that helped out the loading alot however the latch is still real stiff to get a shell to click past. I did not radius the edge of the lower shell latch "lip" to match the radius on the follower but I did polish it up, this may be my next step. I'll probably order another shell latch from REM so I have a back-up before I bring it past the point of no return and shells just shoot into the reciever freely. I love my VMAX tactical but it has to be one of the stiffest loading guns out of the box that i've ever felt. Good thing I love getting my hands dirty.

Thanks Benny. Do you guys do any work on the stock trigger? What are the improvements?

Does anyone know of any aftermarket parts for the trigger on the versa-max? I've got the tactical & the springs are all real crunchy and the hammer is already dented on the face a little. I've read others have swapped their hammer with an M2 hammer but thats about all i've seen regarding the trigger. Any other advice is appreciated

I just put a nordic spring in today, cut at 12". I also polished the edge of the shell release while I was in there, it was a little sharp. Feeds perfect with a full magazine now when I hit the shell release.

Shoot one, then you'll see what all the hype is about.

Ive read in other threads others have fixed theres by simply switching to a nordic spring, I may try that first.

My v-max tactical does the same exact thing as the OP is describing. If you just load 8 in the tube and none in the chamber and hit the shell release it wont feed unless you butt-stroke it. If I put one in the chamber and 8 in the tube it works fine. I havent tried any fixes yet but I'll keep checking back here for one. I already sent mine back for a bent barrel and new mag tube for seperate issues.