Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Benelli - help please

My son is shooting a HK Benelli Sport in 4H shotgun.

I think the sport is nothing more than a Super 90 or Montefeltro with a carbon fiber rib.

Anyway, here is the problem. It has started to fail to chamber a round. Ejection is good. It doesn't fail to chamber every round. Just often enough to frustrate a 15 year old.

Ammo doesn't seem to matter. It does the same if he is shooting 7/8 ounce loads at 1300 fps or 1 1/8 loads at 1250 fps.

I replaced the recoil spring about 1500 rounds ago.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

Have you shot it yourself to see if the problem follows?

The first thing, after shooting yourself like 10G said, is to break it down completely and clean the hell out of it and lube it. Pull the bolt assembly, trigger group, and clean out any old lube, paying attention to the channels in the receiver. Disassemble the bolt group, or at least flush it with something like Birchwood Casey synthetic safe gun scrubber. I'd flush the trigger group, too, then relube. In the guns I own, I use a thin application of TW25B grease in the channels inside the receiver where the bolt assebly slides. If there is still a problem after a thorough cleaning, then, obviously, something else is at play.

The recoil spring in the buttstock needs cleaning as well as its tube housing. To get the stock bolt plug out of the tube you have to heat it up.because you will strip the wrench surface if you don't. The lock dope they use is strong heat it up and it comes out easy..mb

You have received excellent advice about giving the gun a very thorough cleaning. I would have suggested the recoil spring in the butt stock but since you said you had replaced it recently that may not be the issue. After all the advice you got the only other thing I might mention is to thoroughly clean the chamber of the barrel. Maybe there is a buildup of plastic residue in the chamber preventing the shells from fully chambering. That is kinda grasping at straws.

I haven't shot it myself, but I will. Can it be the equivalent of limp wristing a pistol?

I watched him shooting sporting clays yesterday. It seems like it gets hung up on the lifter. If he is paying attention and it is a report pair, he can hit the bottom of the receiver and it will go ahead and load when he has the issue.

I'll make him go thru and thoroughly clean it this week and see if he still has the issue at practice this coming weekend.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks
Dave

And how often does one have to go thru this procedure to have a Benelli function reliably?

You really don't like Benelli do you? You often go out of your way to throw shade on Benelli whenever you can.

I have nothing against them. And in fact have friends who shot them regularly. However, they do have more feeding issues than the Beretta SA's.

And when I have seen A400's go for 4-5 thousand with little more than a squirt in the chamber along with a wipe down....from personal experience I wonder why one would chose one over the other. Combined with the fact the serious completion shooters choose Beretta over Benelli by multiples of 100's.

If this is what it takes to keep them running....then yes I would find little reason to own one. In fact a 50 year old SuperX Model1 didn't take that level of maintenance to function reliably. Neither does an even older Winchester Model 50 or 59.

Add in additional recoil and you tell me why you are a fan....

Another thing.

If marked HK do you know how old and if possibly the gun has been stored with the action locked open for a long period of time?

Has this gun ever been deep cleaned?

Grease and an auto do not go together. If nothing else a very light oil applied then most of it wiped off. Grease will just attract and hold dust or any other residue.

One has to wonder if this particular gun has ever been cleaned or even stored properly for that matter.

Been around and owned several and only issues I saw were the bolt being bumped back and get a fail to fire.

Equivalent to limp wristing is my thoughts if that is even possible.

Yes, it is a HK imported Benelli.

He has had it for 3 or 4 years and just started shooting 4H shotgun about a year ago.

I replaced the recoil spring when he got it. Correcting what I posted above, it probably has about 5k rounds on this spring.

It has functioned perfectly until about a month ago. It started failing to chamber. He has been going back and forth between it and a O/U and I really didn't think about it until yesterday. We shot a tournament and he shot the Benelli and I watched him struggle with it.

This just started recently so I want to think it is a shotgun issue, but it could be a limp wristing equivalent. He is 6' and 170 lbs so he should have plenty of mass to make sure it works.

It will get a detailed cleaning this week and will try things at practice this coming weekend.

Thanks
Dave

Friend had the soft mount issue with a A400 20 gauge. One shot and it wouldn't feed. I would shoot it and it was fine. Finally he had the LOP shortened so his mount was solid and it went away. His mechanical skills are worse than mine....which are nothing to be admired....and that shotgun went on to function for the next two years before I gave it a take down cleaning. He had never even had the barrel off.

I had to replace the recoil spring in my 12-ga Cordoba with a 25% stronger spring from Brownells. In my gun, that was the cure for what had been a frustrating condition that no amount of cleaning would fix. I tear the whole gun down once a year (one more goose hunt and then it’s time) just on principle anyway.

Mixed thoughts on this but are you storing it with the action closed or open?

I think most of the time it is stored with the action open. Just like the other sons Beretta.

I went ahead and ordered a new recoil spring and will replace it while it is apart.

Any other springs to replace?

Thanks
Dave

Up to you, and as I said mixed thoughts but all of my autos are stored action shut and trigger snapped.

Did the lifter get bent?

Interesting. I am a 4-H coach here in N.C. With the exception of one kid, all of our shotgunners shoot gas operated auto loaders. I have found the old Remington 1100 and 1187 to be particularly good at getting the kids on target. I hope you get your Benelli running properly. Life is no fun when you are having gun related issues. Have a great 4-H shooting season! I am expecting out team to compete pretty well this year.

Update.

It was broken down cleaned and lubed. I was going to go ahead and replace the recoil spring, but they haven't arrived in the mail yet.

Practice yesterday. I shot a box of shells thru it first with no issues. My son shot 6 boxes thru it and had maybe 3 failures to chamber.

This week we will clean again and replace the recoil spring when it arrives in the mail.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

Leaning into it? Both eyes open? Lol! Sorry!

Possibly the ammo? Some of the "cheaper" shells with the steel heads have caused me problems.

Lifter isn’t bent.
Yes he shoots with both eyes open( piece of tape on left lense).
He doesn’t weight his front foot as much as I do, probably closer to 60/40 front to back.
He breaks 85+ shooting sporting and skeet and normally wins his age group.

Extra power spring just arrived in the mail so I’ll put that in. Busy next two weekends so it will be a while before he can shoot it again.

Shouldn’t be ammo. We have been shooting the same ammo for several months

Thought I was doing good, until I shot my son's shotgun. It went down the road immediately, then he got a better gun.

Again.......... I'd ask the same question.

This is what I am agreeing with.

Have you replaced the inertia spring?

Always to reduce pressure on the springs.

That is a thought...

How much does your son weigh? Benellis need a firmer shoulder mount (resistance) to function properly. If you've ever tried to shoot a Benelli two handed from the hips, it will cycle less reliably than most gas guns.

If it is cycling properly when you shoot, it's possible he isn't providing sufficient resistance for the inertia action/recoil spring to properly function.

DITTO!!!

It needs some ass to function.