Cartridge stuck in magazine?

[Buzzworm]

While dove hunting in south Texas my SBE II stopped cycling shells from the magazine into the chamber. Even when I manually retract the bolt to unload the gun the shells stay in the magazine. Any help would be appreciated. I dont want to send it back for warranty work if I dont have to. Thanks!

[Hookster]

Hi Buzzworm,

Are you new to Benellis by any chance? New owners who are used to other brands of shotguns often aren't clear on operating the cartridge drop lever (the tab with the red dot on the right side of the trigger guard)

[Buzzworm]

This is my first Benelli. When I press the cartridge drop lever the shell will eject under the carrier where I can then manually retract the bolt and the shell will load into the chamber. I believe that I should not have to do this everytime. It is impossible for me to shoot doubles now without going through all of these steps to chamber a 2nd round.

[Hookster]

Is this occuring when you are actually firing the weapon or only when you are cycling the weapon without firing (like your unloading it)?

[agm65ccip]

It is impossible for me to shoot doubles now without going through all of these steps to chamber a 2nd round.

 

Up to right there I was going to say that your gun was working as it should and that it was just expectations that were off.

 

Let me ask you this, if you put a round in the chamber, close the bolt, put some rounds in the magazine, then pull the trigger (not in the house obviously ) what happens?

[Buzzworm]

I noticed it last night in the field while shooting. I figured it needed a good cleaning. I cleaned it this morning and loaded it up in the house and it has the trouble unloading as discussed.

[OhioM4]

While dove hunting in south Texas my SBE II stopped cycling shells from the magazine into the chamber. Even when I manually retract the bolt to unload the gun the shells stay in the magazine. Any help would be appreciated. I dont want to send it back for warranty work if I dont have to. Thanks!

 

Two separate issues:

 

1) You stated "While dove hunting in south Texas my SBE II stopped cycling shells from the magazine into the chamber." That would be abnormal.

 

2) You also stated "Even when I manually retract the bolt to unload the gun the shells stay in the magazine." This IS normal unless you press the cartridge drop lever each time.

 

You either have to fire the gun or push the cartridge drop lever to allow the next round to cycle. You cannot empty the magazine just by cycling the bolt manually.

 

Failure to feed from the mag while firing is a problem. I am not familiar with the SBE II but many posts here concern low recoil ammo and failure to cycle. I believe the Inertia Drive models also require the butt stock to be firmly pressed against your shoulder. It may fail to cycle if you are trying to shoot from the hip for instance.

[Buzzworm]

Thanks Ohio and everyone for the help. I am unsure what is normal and what is not with my new shotgun. I need to get back into the field and pull the trigger some more.

[(TANK)]

It recommends 1 1/8 oz of shot min in the SBE2 and a 100 round break in w/ something heavier like 1 1/4 oz. Mine out of the box shot 1 1/8 oz shot but when I dove hunted Sat. I used 1 1/4 oz to start the break in process not a single hiccup.

[BUCSFAN99]

The quick explanation as to why the mag tube does not feed when you manually cycle the bolt is a feature integrated in the shotgun. This allows you to replace the shell in the chamber quickly in case you need to. Say you want to switch to a 3 1/2 Black Cloud to shoot a Canadian goose you whould not have to empty the entire gun. You will just have to get used to the "safer" way of unloading the gun by pressing the shell detent on the inside of the loading ramp and catching the shells as they come out of the bottom. Safer because you will only have the origional round in the chamber and not the following 2+ after.

[JesseJames38]

Hummm intresting. Dose the cartrage drop lever work like that on all firearms, or just a select few. Because my Benelli M3 cycles shells out of the magazine when working the action by hand. Also if i reamber correctly it also states in order to stop a round being fed into the chamber is to push up on the loading gate and then cycle the action to clear the barrel with out loading a cartrage, But once the action is all the way back the gate lifts up so you cant place a different shell in.

 

Jesse

[OhioM4]

...Because my Benelli M3 cycles shells out of the magazine when working the action by hand...

 

Jesse

 

My understanding was the M3 was a hybrid between a pump and semi-auto. The pump action may override the drop lever or make it redundant. On the Benelli's, I believe all the current semi-autos require the use of the drop lever (except M3). The confusion arises when shooters are familiar with the action of the pump and expect the semi-auto to cycle the same way. A previous post in this thread mentioned it was a design feature to allows the quick change of the chambered cartridge (buckshot to slug for instance.) I don't have enough experience to tell you how common the function is or if its peculiar to Benelli.

 

Does your M3 have a cartridge drop lever?

Edited September 8, 2009 by OhioM4

[JesseJames38]

Oh yes my M3 dose have a cartrage drop lever. and when i push it. it dose toss the cartrage on top of the lift gate. I guess it will be one of them misterys, i could see how switching a shell would be easer if it dont cycle the next shell from the magazine if you cycle it by hand. thanks for the reply Ohio M4

 

Jesse