Shell gets stuck in the barrell

[Striker0204]

hey guys, just got mah new shotgun. its a well used Browning BPS Special 2 3/4 3in 12guage 2 rounds in the chamber one in the action. now, i dont know much about shotguns. fact is, i know nothing other than pulling the trigger. ive been shooting winchester super targets 8load. and 1 out of 3 the shell will either get stuck or the ejecter doesnt latch on.

again, i know nothing about shotguns MUCH MUCH less the hundreds of different loads that go in it. but i had a feeling that it might be the fact that the metal cse on the bottom of the shell isnt long enough and maybe more metal would make a smoother exit than more plastic?

i made an effort to clean and oil every moving metal part. the barrell was really gunky but i got 600 grit paper and tried to smooth it out for an hour or so. but, my fingers could only get a couple inches in, so theres still 1/2-1inch of space i cant clean unless i get a ramrod. it helped a little bit, now typically i can at least struggle with the gun and eventually get it unjammed without having to break down the barrell and unplug it. but nonetheless, it still gets stuck in the barrell.

i also thought that the gripper ejecter grabber doohickey might be worn down from repetitive and abusive use so maybe it doesnt catch on the shell casing the way it should?

[BigDogatPlay]

Winchester target ammo, such as from Wal-Mart, has been known to stick in some chambers. A complete and proper cleaning with something other than sandpaper might be a good idea as well. If the chamber is not bright once it's clean you can wrap a piece of dowel with some fine steel wool and gently polish the inside of the chamber. There are full instructions elsewhere in this forum for how to go about that.

If the gun is really well used the extractor spring might be a little mushy, but I'd think that would be way down the list of potentials.

[CmpsdNoMore]

Just so you know, the chamber is where the next round to be fired is. You can only have one round chambered in a shotgun with one barrel. The magazine is where the rounds go that will be fired 2nd, 3rd and so forth. Sometimes on shotguns the magazine is called the "tube".

As far as the problem with extracting the fired shells, sometimes "cheap" shot shells will be hard to extract and take quite a bit of force to get out. This is mostly due to the shell being just a little bit wider or out of spec than "normal" shells, which makes it require more force to load into the barrel and extract.

Shells with less metal around the bottom are called "low brass" and are commonly used for bird shot where the shell doesn't need as much strength as something more powerful like a magnum round.

[Striker0204]

tube. got it. haha

i still need to get a REAL cleaning kit. im just using household stuff to do it, and its just not working very well. but ok, cheap ammo equals cheap results.

thats right. high brass. do you think that would help?

so whats a good brand of round should i use? what are the cheapos i should be aware of?

[BigDogatPlay]

Please go down to Wal-Mart or Big 5 and get a cleaning kit... maybe a can of Gun Scrubber to break loose any gunge thats caked on.

Note that at the front of the chamber will be a somewhat darker ring. Thats where the chamber ends and the bore begins so that darker ring is a bit of a taper. You don't want to polish that out completely.

Different guns will give different results. All my shotguns work pretty well with the Federal target ammo from Wal-Mart for busting clays... up to and including my Remington 1100 which can be finicky. I've heard and read others having issues with them. You are already having an issue with Winchester. Once you get the gun properly cleaned up and it still doesn't like Winchester then stay away from those. It's partly trial and error.

High brass = more potent load. Game loads and defensive loads like buckshot and slugs will always be in high brass. They have a bit more powder in them, usually, than low base target loads and the higher brass supports the case better.

Depending on where you are located someone in this forum might be willing to do a meet and greet to help you get started.

[Striker0204]

yah. im about to, those stores are 45 miles away and my two cars just crapped out on me. so im going to have to make do for a few weeks until i can get back up and running.

ok cool.

yah, i really didnt want to give up on the rounds in hopes that the gun was just really dirty.

so it has nothing to do with the ease of ejection? just the kick, powder, and load?

oh im sure theres a bunch of people from my area on here. everyone and their grandmothers got a gun in every corner up here. im up in Mariposa, CA.