The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - How to increase the reliability of a shotgun

zippy13 · January 2, 2010, 02:07 AM

Lavid2002, you sound like a good candidate for a SxS or U/O gun. You asked how to increase the reliability of a shotgun. Good maintenance and shell selection help, but the best way is to start with a more reliable gun design.

A big reason the majority of comp shooters choose hinge guns is reliability. Drop in the shells, close the action and there's a pretty good chance you'll have no problems. If a load has over sized brass, it won't go in the chamber and you know about it instantly -- use a different shell. With stick gun, you slip your shells in the mag tube and pray they'll chamber properly. If you have an ejection problem or a bad load leaves a wad in your barrel, no problem -- with the hinge gun, just poke it out. With a stick gun, you might get a lost bird counted against your score because of excessive jambs. With a pump, you might not notice a stuck wad and your subsequent shot won't do your barrel a lick of good. (Typically, an auto won't cycle with a such a load)

If you're shooting with a gun that you can't trust, it's gonna ruin your confidence and your kill percentage will decrease.

January 2, 2010, 02:07 AM	#4
zippy13 Senior Member Join Date: August 23, 2008 Location: SoCal Posts: 6,442	Lavid2002, you sound like a good candidate for a SxS or U/O gun. You asked how to increase the reliability of a shotgun. Good maintenance and shell selection help, but the best way is to start with a more reliable gun design. A big reason the majority of comp shooters choose hinge guns is reliability. Drop in the shells, close the action and there's a pretty good chance you'll have no problems. If a load has over sized brass, it won't go in the chamber and you know about it instantly -- use a different shell. With stick gun, you slip your shells in the mag tube and pray they'll chamber properly. If you have an ejection problem or a bad load leaves a wad in your barrel, no problem -- with the hinge gun, just poke it out. With a stick gun, you might get a lost bird counted against your score because of excessive jambs. With a pump, you might not notice a stuck wad and your subsequent shot won't do your barrel a lick of good. (Typically, an auto won't cycle with a such a load) If you're shooting with a gun that you can't trust, it's gonna ruin your confidence and your kill percentage will decrease. Last edited by zippy13; January 2, 2010 at 02:13 AM.