Not cycling...

[OwenW]

This is the first semi-auto shotgun that i have ever owned. I bought it today and went to wall-mart and bought a 100 round value pack of federal shells. I went out to my favorite spot in the field and the gun will not cycle the ammo. I shot through a box and a half and my hand started to get tired of cocking the bolt every time.

Im not sure if the ammo is why its not cycling, do semi's take special ammo? Or does the gun have a problem or just needs cleaned. I bought it from an auction.... The gun is a SKB Ducks Unlimited version, im not sure but ive read that some shotguns have adjustments on the gas port. I don't know if my gun has that or not. I have no idea what model it is, there is little or no info on this gun. I have 0 expierience with a semi autos.

Any advice or ideas would be of much help. Thanks.

[drfroglegs]

I would try to eliminate as many variables as possible.

1) Clean your gun and oil the mechanics, if it was dirty this might be your problem (not sure if it was new or used from your description).
2) Buy a box of different ammo (my shotguns prefer brass tops instead of cheap steel). My guess is this one's the problem
3) If a good cleaning and new ammo doesn't fix the problem, take it to a local gun shop and ask them to have a look at it... Might cost you $20-30 bucks, but could save you a lot of problems in the long run!

If it was a cheap gun, sometimes you can have issues with cycleability. This is the reason I have a $1400 benelli, I got tired of dealing with crappy shotguns! If cheap guns worked perfect every time people wouldn't buy more expensive ones I've put 2k rounds through my benelli without a ftf or fte....

[oneounceload]

The gun needs to be cleaned thoroughly before use - your owner's manual will tell you what needs to be done; then relubed as per those instructions

What gun is it? There isn't any semi that shouldn't work those wally world shells

[zippy13]

Here's a link to the owner's manual. It's usually a good idea to read the manual first, before you try some trigger time, to avoid frustration.

[PetahW]

If your SKB is a 300XL or 900XL, there's a good chance that the gas ports inside the barrel ring, that transport the fired shell's gas energy to the action slide, is/are blocked - or, being a used gun, it could have some gas-handling parts missing.
Or, the magazine cut-off could be engaged.

To check the gas ports, remove the forend, after making sure the gun's totally empty, via first locking the bolt "back" & then unscrewing the forend cap and sliding the forend "off" forward.

Then remove the barrel forward, "off" the magazine tube, just like the forend.

The bolt may have to be released slightly forward, to allow the slide parts to clear the forend, etc, for removal.

Once the barrel's removed & in hand, look inside the ring attached to the bottom of the barrel, that went around the magazine tube - you should be able to see one or two gas ports (holes) going into the bbl bottom, which can be cleaned out with a small twist drill bit held in the fingers & spun.

Also - download an owner's manual if you don't already have one, and make sure that the gun has all the gas-handling parts (rings, O-rings, etc) that belong on the magazine tube & may be missing, allowing the gas that should be working the action to bleed off instead.

The magazine cutoff is the slide/button on the fwd LH side of the receiver.


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[OwenW]

Thanks for the help. Zippy your the man! Thanks for that owner's manual. thats gona be really handy. Let me rip into this thing now that i have some directions and clean it up. Il try it out tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

[OwenW]

Sorry i had a very busy weekend. The gas ports were clogged, and the switch on the barrel was set for 3" shells. Thanks for your help guys.

[TheKlawMan]

Thanks for getting back to us and its good that you could fix it.

[Turn2gold]

Hey Zippy you have a link for a Browning Golden Sporting Clays manual?