the same thing happenned to me in Argentina, although at the time I used a winchester 1500 xtr which never malfunctioned. needles to say my father had two 1100 completly thorn apart. now I´m waiting for my SBEII to clear customs and see what are you all talking about.
the outfitter in Argentina gave us reloaded shots.
and we never had a problem.
Argentina as most of SA has ample brands to choose from, and since you are going to shoot lots of ammo they will give you the cheapest kind.
ammo boxes(25) will cost around 4 bucks and they will sell it to you at almost $9 usd. their profit is in the shells.....
in Mexico none of you will have trouble with shotgun shells since its rare to find 7/8 or 1 oz. shotshells. game shotshells are always 1 1/8 or 1 1/4 oz. are the norm.
joe.