IS THER A PROBLE USING 3" SHELLS THAT FIT IN 2 3/4" BARREL ?

[LGBRONSON]

LAST WEEKEND I WAS OUT DUCK HUNTING W/SOME FRIENDS MY 12GA & MY SONS 12 GA ARE MARKED 2 3/4" ON THE BARREL MY FRIENDS WORE SHOOTING SHOOTING 3" I ACCIDENTLY PICK UP 1 OF MY FRIENDS 3" SHELLS & FIRED IT W/NO PROBLEM BOTH MY GUN & MY SON GUN CHAMBER THE 3" SHELLS SHOULD WE NOT USE THEM ? & WHY,( CHAMBER PRESSURE MARKED ON THE SHELL BOX ARE THE SAME)
PS SORRY FOR CAPS THE PROGRAM I USE @ WORK LOCKED FOR CAPS


(THANKS EVERY ONE FOR ALL YOUR INPUT)

[rromeo]

An unfired 3" shell will fit in a 2 3/4 chamber. The length is after it's fired, so you may have jams, or even a misfire which could be dangerous. Just because you don't have a problem, doesn't mean you won't.

[Spyder]

Just because it did it one time doesn't mean it will safely do it another. Don't fire ammo in the gun if the gun is not marked for it. Entry level gun safety stuff. You put yourself and everyone near you at risk if you're going to shoot 3" shells out of a gun not chambered for them. Best case scenario, no one gets hurt and you damage the gun.
Please turn your caps lock off.

[Full Clip]

Would you shoot .308 ammo in a 30-06? It fits, right?
The caliber if a given gun is well marked for a good reason.

[Barbarossa]

I was talking with a guy this weekend that uses 3" in his 2.75" Remington 1100 regularly.

Seems interesting, but not a risk I'd take.

[AAShooter]

When I shot a 3" shell out of a 2 3/4" chambered gun I ended up disassembling the gun to get the empty hull out.

[sevensix2x51]

The chamber of a shotgun is cut to fit the crimp after it opens. If you fire the 3" round, the crimp cannot fully expand in the chamber, and it necks down the shot,kind of the way a choke would. Im not a geologist, but it seems that this would cause a dnagerous pressure spike in the chamber, and you run the risk of the barrel and action exploding and destroying your face and hands. You might have gotten away with it since shot can move easily, but with buck or a slug, I am imagining facial reconstructive surgery or some such misfortune.
in short, don't do it.

Ps- they teach this exact issue in hunter safety classes. Maybe you should take one again?

[swifty]

Use the ammunition that your gun is marked for, the factory marked it for a reason. As mentioned above, shells are measured according to their fired length, and chambers are cut to allow the shells to properly open.

Chamber pressure IS NOT marked on the box of shells, dram equivalent(DR EQ) is and sometimes velocity. Ammunition specifications require use in guns designed for that particular ammunition, use in other chambers changes how the shells handle and release their energy. Shells used in shorter chambers than they are designed for cause pressures to rise greatly and stay at high pressure for a longer period of time.

As you did give make and model of your shotgun, I can't give specifics about additional harm that may be occurring. But in regards to the Rem 1100 that was mentioned, don't shoot 3" shells. Barrels are designed to work with the specified ammunition utilizing the energy of the shell then dumping off the excess. 2 3/4" barrels have two ports that are larger in diameter, 3" barrels have one smaller port. The ports allow enough gas to bleed into the gas system and operate the action. The 2 3/4" guns are designed to be used with lighter powered shells which is the reason for the larger quantity and diameter of ports. 3" shells used in the 2 3/4" barrel are dumping a larger amount into the gas system and changing the speed of the action bar before gas can be dumped. I'm guessing your buddies breech bolt buffer is trashed and his bolt is doing some serious slamming into the back of the receiver.

[AAShooter]

. . . Ps- they teach this exact issue in hunter safety classes. Maybe you should take one again?

Somehow the concept of using the proper ammunition in the proper gun is not lost on 12 year olds.

[reidnez]

The chamber of a shotgun is cut to fit the crimp after it opens. If you fire the 3" round, the crimp cannot fully expand in the chamber, and it necks down the shot,kind of the way a choke would. Im not a geologist, but it seems that this would cause a dnagerous pressure spike in the chamber, and you run the risk of the barrel and action exploding and destroying your face and hands. You might have gotten away with it since shot can move easily, but with buck or a slug, I am imagining facial reconstructive surgery or some such misfortune.
in short, don't do it.

Ps- they teach this exact issue in hunter safety classes. Maybe you should take one again?

This hits the nail on the head. Using a 3" shell in a 2 3/4" chamber, upon firing the crimp will open into the forcing cone and unsafe chamber pressures will result. Jams are the least of your worries. Just because you didn't have a catastrophic failure when you tried it once, doesn't mean you won't have one in the future. Shotgun barrels are thin. They are designed for much, much lower pressures than handgun or rifle barrels. It doesn't take much screwing around to blow one apart.

[joepamjohn]

Unfortunatley it will probably be the guy standing next to you that will suffer the most when your barrel ruptures. Somehow that is always the way it seems to work.

The good news is that blown barrels seems to have a new life being sold on EBAY. LOL

[randy]

The chamber of a shotgun is cut to fit the crimp after it opens. If you fire the 3" round, the crimp cannot fully expand in the chamber, and it necks down the shot,kind of the way a choke would. Im not a geologist, but it seems that this would cause a dnagerous pressure spike in the chamber, and you run the risk of the barrel and action exploding and destroying your face and hands. You might have gotten away with it since shot can move easily, but with buck or a slug, I am imagining facial reconstructive surgery or some such misfortune.
in short, don't do it.

Ps- they teach this exact issue in hunter safety classes. Maybe you should take one again?

7 posts before somebody knew why you shouldn't use a 3" shell in a 2.75 chamber gun. WOW I'm amazed.

[Donny1]

7 posts before somebody knew why you shouldn't use a 3" shell in a 2.75 chamber gun. WOW I'm amazed.

I really don't need to know the actual reason why not to do this. I would be in horror it happened in the first place, feel lucky nothing bad happened, be too embarrassed to EVER tell anyone I was that negligent, and NEVER let it happen again.

I makes mistakes too, and try to learn from them. Common sense needs to prevail to keep from getting a Darwin award.

BTW, welcome to calguns!

Stay safe.

[rojocorsa]

On second thought, some shotguns do say they are chambered for both 2.75" and 3", so yeah...

[reidnez]

On second thought, some shotguns do say they are chambered for both 2.75" and 3", so yeah...

That is perfectly fine--you can always use the shorter shells, as your manual will attest. 3" chambers can take 2 3/4" shells. 3 1/2" chambers can take 3" and 2 3/4" shells. It's kind of similar to the way that a .357MAG can shoot .38SPL, and a .44MAG can shoot .44SPL

Some people believe that using shorter shells in a long chamber affects patterning, but I haven't seen the data to prove it (and in fact I've seen tests to the contrary.) In any case, there is no safety issue.