onehorse Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 My wife bought me an M2 for a Christmas present, and I'll be picking it up Monday. My first semi-auto shotgun. (I've had pumps and doubles.) So, some beginner questions: Does this gun need breaking-in? Can I use Rem. low brass, 1 1/8 oz., 2 3/4 in., with 2 3/4 D.E. loads? I believe that somewhere I read it needs at least 3 D.E. loads to function properly. Any advice on breaking it down for cleaning - those pumps and doubles are easy, so I'm a little intimidated by the semi-auto. Any help would be appreciated by this "newby". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 Welcome Nice gift from your wife. And yes there is a break in, read the manual first, disassemble, lightly oil (as in the manual), run a couple boxes of heavy loads (3" heavy loads will work great). disassemble, clean. lighly oil and you are set to go. Safe and Happy Holiday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agm65ccip Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 I have an M2 and its a beautiful gun. I would not be intimidated at all by this gun, the insides are very simple compared to other semi-autos I own, just take it all apart per the manual a few times and you'll have it down pat. The only difficulty I had was taking the bolt handle out, if you cant get it take some pliers and wrap the jaws with some tape so you wont mar the handle and it makes it easier to pull it out the first few times, but after that it should come out more easily. As far as your loads I dont see any problem with those, I mainly shoot 2 3/4" trap and small game loads and have never had any problems with cycling. I would think as far as break in you could run at least 1 box of heavier shells through, but it may or may not be required as I didnt have any heavy shells and was too excited to wait and everything worked just great with my lighter loads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creeper Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 The only difficulty I had was taking the bolt handle out, if you cant get it take some pliers and wrap the jaws with some tape so you wont mar the handle and it makes it easier to pull it out the first few times, but after that it should come out more easily. The common and accepted "trick" to pulling the bolt handle is to wrap a shoe string or camera leash string (or what ever other sturdy string thing you have) around the bolt a few times and give it a sharp tug. Pops right out... no tools needed. C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onehorse Posted December 21, 2008 Author Share Posted December 21, 2008 Thanks, guys. I'm new at this semi-auto stuff, so I appreciated you sharing your experience and wisdom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tucker301 Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 You will find the M2 to be nearly as easy to maintain as the old pumper. Very few moving parts and no gas system with ports, pistons and o rings to become fouled. Although written for the SBEII, my cleaning guide is still fairly applicable to the M2 as well. http://www.farrarsodfarm.com/nelli/SBE_cleanup.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USAFA71 Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 When I got my M2, I just made sure that the first several boxes of ammo were standard 1-1/8 oz skeet/Trap loads. Since then I have reloaded 1 oz loads at 1200 fps, and 7/8 oz at 1250 fps with no problems. Yes, a break in helps, but I don't think it needs to be as extensive as some think. You can shoot 3" shells to break it in, but I surely didn't need to. It would be easier and cheaper to have a friend just hit you in the shoulder with a 2x4 a few times, and save the money on the 3" ammo. Sorry, don't mean to sound condescending, but I really don't think 3" ammo is needed for break in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceDog Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 The very first thing to do is completely strip the gun down and clean all parts with Hoppes 9 or some other solvent. You MUST clean off all the packing grease off EVERY part. This includes - IMHO - even the spring inside the recoil spring tube. To remove the spring inside the spring recoil tube you'll need to apply heat to the bolt head as it has lock-tight applied at the factory (a Bic lighter ought to do the trick; just need enough heat to loosen the lock-tight). You'll want to disassemble and clean this part because of any packing grease but also because you will eventually get dirt inside the tube and it will interfere with the operation of the inertia recoil. Take it apart now and you'll be good to go for future cleaning when warranted. Then run a 100 rounds or so through the gun. Light trap loads will be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterfowler050 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 hey tucker i love your cleaning guide it is very spacific. and made sence to a dummie like me. good job. also nice gift from your wife she knew what you wanted. i envy you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljg3 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 The very first thing to do is completely strip the gun down and clean all parts with Hoppes 9 or some other solvent. You MUST clean off all the packing grease off EVERY part. This includes - IMHO - even the spring inside the recoil spring tube. To remove the spring inside the spring recoil tube you'll need to apply heat to the bolt head as it has lock-tight applied at the factory (a Bic lighter ought to do the trick; just need enough heat to loosen the lock-tight). You'll want to disassemble and clean this part because of any packing grease but also because you will eventually get dirt inside the tube and it will interfere with the operation of the inertia recoil. Take it apart now and you'll be good to go for future cleaning when warranted. Then run a 100 rounds or so through the gun. Light trap loads will be fine. My new M2 does not have lock tight on the recoil spring tube bolt. Newly designed washer. Just unscrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharmseller Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Thanks for the cleaning guide. P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterfowler050 Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 what makes you a senior member a certain # of years or a certain number of posts or what Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grouse Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 Hi. New user from Norway here. I just recently bought a M2, and I want to clean the recoil tube. The post from ljg3 said that the recoilt tube bolt on the newer M2's doesn't have loc-tite but a nylon washer. Is there any way that I can tell if my shotgun has the nylon washer or loc-tite? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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