Stoeger M3000/M3K desired loads

[moose76]

Fiocchi low recoil won't run Blake's M3000.

1 or 7/8 ounce? The 7/8s run fine in mine, but so do the Rem 1 oz sluggers.

[MarkCO]

7/8 ounce.

[EDA]

Other than with a pump I have never shot a match with anything less that 3 dram loads. Maybe I could be a "contender" if I ran the

lighter stuff, but will not tempt "inertial gun fate" running loads below the threshold for 100% reliable operation. I do that because I may be

just a tad more aggressive in how I run a shotgun, than others. That works against the lighter loads functioning.

Which slugs do you typically use?

[Paul-the new guy]

The 1200 fps Remington managed recoil blue LE slugs work but the same exact thing in green aka non LE don't work 100%

[MarkCO]

The 1200 fps Remington managed recoil blue LE slugs work but the same exact thing in green aka non LE don't work 100%

Same for the one we have.

[moose76]

The 1200 fps Remington managed recoil blue LE slugs work but the same exact thing in green aka non LE don't work 100%

Same for the one we have.

Weird, I have both too, but don't remember which I have shot in the Stoeger. Wonder why/how they are different.

[P.E. Kelley]

Other than with a pump I have never shot a match with anything less that 3 dram loads. Maybe I could be a "contender" if I ran the

lighter stuff, but will not tempt "inertial gun fate" running loads below the threshold for 100% reliable operation. I do that because I may be

just a tad more aggressive in how I run a shotgun, than others. That works against the lighter loads functioning.

Which slugs do you typically use?

Fiocchi Low recoil 7/8oz.

[Vlad]

the 7/8 Fiochi's have also been trouble free for me, but my my friends gun occasionally will fail to eject them. Maybe he is holding onto the gun harder then I am or something.

[believeraz]

My MOA M3000 will not cycle reliably on anything less than 3 dram, 1 1/8 oz, 1250 fps for birdshot. I use the Federal/Walmart bulk pack for practice, and get about 5% failure with it. After some Federal Top Gun failures I'm only going to run AAs at the above specs. They have never hiccuped for me.

For slugs, it runs Speed Lawman at 1 oz/1200 fps all day long. It runs Lawman buck at 1145 fps without issue also.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

Edited August 17, 2015 by believeraz

[Paul-the new guy]

AA 1200's are at about 95% 100 rounds with 5 failures to fully eject because of short stroking.

[TonytheTiger]

The fact that this thread even exists kills what little interest I had in this shotgun.

[Vlad]

The fact that this thread even exists kills what little interest I had in this shotgun.

Thats cool, but in my admittedly limited experience all shotguns have operating limits. For example the M2 recommends the same minimum load. You can get lucky and some guns will work bellow that, but looking around at what the worked over M2's and 1301's are willing to run, it seems to me we are all in the same boat.

[Paul-the new guy]

My 1301 will run 1145's all day long. BUT, it is a gas gun. Inertia guns like the M2, M3K or A5 are different.

[TonytheTiger]

The fact that this thread even exists kills what little interest I had in this shotgun.

Thats cool, but in my admittedly limited experience all shotguns have operating limits. For example the M2 recommends the same minimum load. You can get lucky and some guns will work bellow that, but looking around at what the worked over M2's and 1301's are willing to run, it seems to me we are all in the same boat.

We're going to have to agree to disagree. In my experience and observations Paul is correct, the 1301 will run ANY commercially available ammo at or above 1145fps. I even went on a kick of shooting Suprema crap from Walmart. Its like $5 per box and it throws fireballs out the receiver. Even with that garbage my 1301 is close to 5k rounds with zero failures. I prefer being able to buy whatever ammo is available and not worry about reliability. Each to his own though.

[Vlad]

That's fine. All I can tell you is that after I've been experimenting with loads in my MOA built gun, the only rounds that didn't run were some really terrible ones. Even the bulk 2 3/4 dram Rio's seem to run now that the gun is broken a bit, I've ran nearly 2 cases of the stuff in practice in local matches without a single failure. So far my only issues with the gun have been with some really light Estate's and a few Rio's early on. Heck the Estate's might run as a well now.

I only have maybe 1500 rounds trough it, about 200 being slugs so we'll see how it proceeds.

[BobS761]

My M3000 like the Walmart Federal bulk 3 dram, 1 1/8oz 7 1/2 shot. Never failed yet. Slugs are a different story. Fiocchi is a no go, but I've had some luck with Remington 1200 fps Sluggers. It's probably had 500 or 600 rounds through it so far.

[louu]

Whats a good distance to get slugs dialed in?

[Vlad]

Whats a good distance to get slugs dialed in?

For me and my eyes, 50 works well.

[MarkCO]

What matches do you shoot? If you are going to RM3G or Blue Ridge, then 100 works well and then if needed, a slightly lower hold at 50. Most matches don't push slugs that far, so 50 works well for them.

[louu]

Thanks Vlad, see ya Sunday.

Thanks Mark, no matches yet I just finished getting all my gear. I'm getting it all dialed in now, doing some practicing and will start looking for some 3 gun matches at the beginning of next month.

[suzhansen]

For general purpose practice and local club matches, I use Federal bulk from Walmart, 7-1/2 or 8, 1200fps 3dr-eq 1-1/8oz shot. Others that have worked well-

Remington game loads, 1oz @1290

Remington Nitro Sporting Clays 1300fps, 1-1/8oz #7-1/2 shot (my go-to for major matches, always runs 100%)

Remington Pheasant loads, 1-1/4oz #6 Good for steel at distance

Kent Fastlead (something ridiculous like 1-1/2oz at 1450, GREAT for spinners!)

Slugs-

Federal Truball, 1oz@ 1300. Good accuracy and 100% cycling

Speer Lawman 1oz@1200

Aero 1oz (7/8oz don't always cycle)

Pretty much any slug 1oz@1200 or better will run all the time, test to find what gives best accuracy in your barrel and buy a case.

These are things I have tried personally in my guns as well as my son's. We use the Federal to test-fire every shotgun before it ships. You may get one short stroke ejection failure every 3-400 rounds with this, unless the gun has been slicked up for light loads. With the proper mods, they will cycle from the very first shot without Stoeger's recommended "break-in" with heavy shells.

What HASN'T worked-

Estate cheapos- consistent short-stroke failures. Looks like an FTE (empty in the ejection port, next round is on the carrier), but is caused by barely making contact with the ejector. Sometimes a whole lot will have sufficient power to run the gun, and then the next batch will have 70% cycling failures. Lot-to-lot variations are significant.

Winchester Bulk 100packs. These have a rounded rim, and don't extract well from inertia guns. You can see the difference holding one up next to just about any other brand of shell. A few customers report that their Stoegers will run it, but definitely an exception to the rule.

Bargain priced RIO low base shells. The higher powered RIOs with high base brass have a different rim stamp shape, and work OK. But the low base ones are underpowered, inconsistent powder charge, and have poor extraction due to the rim shape.

These are not hard-and-fast rules, but represent what we have seen over a sample size of 300+ shotguns in general terms

How is that for a start?

SO helpful....Thanks!

If it goes bang....it's fun!

[FULLMETAL]

RIO works well out of mine

Had problems with 7 1/2 fiocchi

[Kekovacs]

My wife has a Stoeger M3020 shotgun.  We bought 20 gauge shells for it.  The manual says use minimum 2-1/2” dram 7/8 oz.  we bought 2-3/4”  with 3/4 oz.   will this be ok to use in her gun? 

[Steve RA]

I would think so, but the only real way to tell is to try them.