Nova action sticks at the range

[stpierre]

I bought a new Nova for turkey hunting last year, but never got a gobbler in my sights and never managed to get out to the range, either, so I'd only fired a handful of shells to pattern and check the sights. I recently made it to the range with a friend and we worked through a few boxes of shells. In the course of doing so, we found that occasionally the action would stick after firing and require a little extra elbow grease to cycle -- enough that we would have to unshoulder the gun to get better leverage. Obviously, a number of second shots didn't happen. In 3 boxes of shells, I'd say it stuck 10-15 times total.

 

Unfortunately, I've been unable to replicate this behavior on the bench. I've cycled the action endlessly at home, and it's fine. There's never been any sticking; in fact, if I point the muzzle up, gravity alone is enough to pull the forearm most of the way back. I'm guessing that something is getting occasionally jarred by firing, even though we were just shooting 2 3/4" shells.

 

Any suggestions for things to check? Will this just work itself out with a few hundred more rounds? That'd sure be a fun way to fix the problem. I couldn't find anyone else who reported this -- just the ubiquitous forearm rattle, which my gun doesn't have very badly, and unspecified "action feels slower" complaints.

 

Thanks for your thoughts!