Dead Trigger on an SLP

[assaulter]

This has happened twice to me now. In the middle of a stage there is no slack in the trigger at all. The bolt is closed all the way. I rack the charging handle and a live round comes out of the chamber, then all is well. It's not ammo related because both rounds were inspected after the fact. I've probably got 2-3 thousand through the gun and probably 100 or so rounds fired between these malfunctions. Wierd.

[jimm223]

This has happened twice to me now. In the middle of a stage there is no slack in the trigger at all. The bolt is closed all the way. I rack the charging handle and a live round comes out of the chamber, then all is well. It's not ammo related because both rounds were inspected after the fact. I've probably got 2-3 thousand through the gun and probably 100 or so rounds fired between these malfunctions. Wierd.

Dave,

A friend of mine had kinda the same problem with his Benelli last year at Ozark. His trigger felt like the safety was on but it was not. We took the trigger assembly out and used brake clean on it to flush and blow it out. Lubed it back up and it ran fine afterward. Must have had a chunk of grime blocking something. You might give that a try. Good luck.

Jim M.

[assaulter]

I'll take a closer look. Thanks.

[HadleyOwens]

Same thing happened to me this weekend at a match... really pissed me off.. I have over 100 rounds through the gun with no problems and the damn thing makes me look like a fool at a match.. after the malfunctions I took it to the safe area and racked it and dry fired several times...no problems at all. If it happens again FN will be getting a call.

[Michael64]

I'll take a closer look. Thanks.

Any update??

[assaulter]

The trigger group was pretty clean. I didn't see anything unusual.

[Casman]

Try to duplicate this failure again and when you do, before you wrack out the live round look in the action from the charging handle slot and determine if your hammer is down or cocked. If it is down, which I expect it is, what is probably happening is that you are actually somehow activating the trigger before the bolt is in battery. The SLP, as well as the Benellis, will drop the hammer while out of battery. I switched to the SLP to try to avoid this and personally have not had this problem, but it sounds way too familiar. What I think happens is that during bolt bounce the hammer falls but due to the bolt being back does not contact the firing pin, then when the bolt goes into battery it is only traveling a short distance and does not have enough oomph to slam fire or even get the pin to the primer at all.

I really don't know what is causing the SLP hammer to drop, if this is indeed the problem, I might suggest trying to determine if you are riding the trigger and causing the gun to essentially bump mis-fire. I guess it could be sear engagment wear that is allowing the hammer to fall as well, but I think that is less likely.

I would really like to hear what you find out.

James C.

Edited October 26, 2011 by Casman

[arsoncop9]

i never had this problem with my SLP but I suspect it has to to with the above post.

[assaulter]

Both times it happened was "on the clock". If it does it in practice I'll check that out.

[Silversmoke]

Had similar problem with my SX3. In my case it appeared that the bolt was not always fully locking and the disconnector was disconnecting the trigger. This never happened when shooting Winchester AA or Remington STS shotgun shells, but it does occur about 1 in 5-6 times with cheap brands of ammuntion. The culprit appears to be a combination of thick shotshell rims and tight headspace. Both can be within tolerances, but if the shell rims are on the maximum side of tolerances and headspace is on the minimum side, then this problem can occur. Thick rims seem to be quite common, particularly in the cheaper shotshells. A few thousandths can make all the difference. My solution to date has been to stick with Win AA or Rem STS shotshells. Problem has not recurred since.

[HadleyOwens]

Ok..I realize that this is an old thread but I figured out the problem...might not be the OP problem but its definitely worth a look. I feel like a dumbass for even posting this but heregoes; after another several hundred rounds through my SLP it started having the dead trigger issue again, this time the safety would not even engage. So i took it apart at the range and couldn't find anything. When I got back to the house after practice I decided to take the trigger group apart and look for damage....guess what I found...I found the bolt latch pin retention clip wedged under the safety mechanism...just hangin out wating to jump up and down and interfere with trigger reset. Now someone please tell me how the moon and stars had to be perfectly aligned for something like this to happen ? LMAO!! I hope this helps someone someday !!