Am I doing something wrong?

[Bulleh]

I just picked up my Hawk 982 from Big 5 a few days ago. Some of you may remember my thread. I would've posted this but it seems like a new topic.

Basically I never shot or owned a shotgun before. I read that its a little harder than people think to load shells into the shotgun. But for some reasons I just can't get them in!




Here's where it gets stuck. I push and shove and still can't get these 2 3/4 Remington birdshot shells in (walmart pack). The brass/steel seems to get stuck on the feed tube. I've even went on youtube to see how people load their 870's and I seem to be pushing it in a lot harder then them and still it wont budge past this point.

I can load it in the chamber but thats about it. Can someone PLEASE tell me I'm doing something wrong and it's not the shot gun? I really don't want to wait another 10 days

[jshoebot]

You need to clean it. Get all that nasty grease out of there and make it clean. That should fix your problem.

[Bulleh]

You need to clean it. Get all that nasty grease out of there and make it clean. That should fix your problem.

I actually did clean it very thoroughly before I tried to put a round in the chamber. It's hard to tell from the picture but the brass part of the round is making contact with the feed tube and it doesn't seem to fit.

-EDIT-

Gah, seems like all is well, I just had some deform shells. For some reason the first two shells I grabbed from the box didn't fit, but every other shell does. Not sure if its cause the shot gun or the ammo, but I'm glad its working now. Thanks for the help!

[edwardm]

Single data point follows:

I have had the worst luck with Remington and Winchester shotgun ammo from Walmart. Misfeeds, deformed hulls, lousy patterns, etc. It's unreal to me, since those two brands used to be my go-to shells for pheasant, duck, quail, squirrel, etc.

Lately it seems the only Walmart shells that do OK in any of my shotguns are the Federal game loads (in the blue boxes) and the Federal target loads (in the bulk 100 round maroon boxes).

A couple of times I had the hulls open up longer than they should have (2 3/4" Remington low brass loads), meaning they were probably cut too long at the factory. The 1200 (which only handles up to 2 3/4 shells) had a hell of a time throwing them clear. Even with the Model 1300 barrel (used for steel shot), which has an ejection port that can handle 3" shells, things got a little dicey.

I just picked up my Hawk 982 from Big 5 a few days ago. Some of you may remember my thread. I would've posted this but it seems like a new topic.

Basically I never shot or owned a shotgun before. I read that its a little harder than people think to load shells into the shotgun. But for some reasons I just can't get them in!




Here's where it gets stuck. I push and shove and still can't get these 2 3/4 Remington birdshot shells in (walmart pack). The brass/steel seems to get stuck on the feed tube. I've even went on youtube to see how people load their 870's and I seem to be pushing it in a lot harder then them and still it wont budge past this point.

I can load it in the chamber but thats about it. Can someone PLEASE tell me I'm doing something wrong and it's not the shot gun? I really don't want to wait another 10 days

[sargenv]

Eh.. cheap shells, cheap gun, you get what you pay for... they are cheap for a reason.. tolerances are not as tight.. Change up to better target loads and see reliability generally go up.

[call-in]

I don't buy cheap, I buy inexpensive items, and not because I'm cheap, because I'm frugal.

[sargenv]

same same.. inexpensive = lower quality usually.. like I said, buy a box or two of the better target loads (AA's or STS's) and then see if it's just the gun or the cheapie ammo.

[MossbergMan]

Bulleh, make sure your bolt is closed all the way. If it is out of battery, even slightly it will cause your carrier to protrude down and interfer with your loading. This very common with Remington 870s. That's about all it can think of based on your pictures, other than the carrier is out of tolerence.
Because it's a new gun, you have removed the 3 shot plug, right?
Good luck and let us know how it gets fixed.

[SparrowHanger]

I have an 870 and at first found it difficult to feed shells into the magazine. I had them on too steep an angle. When I learned to slide them in along the back of the elevator it became no problem. I don't know just what he problem us but understand that a common recommendation with the Hawk is to swap out the mag spring and follower.

[MrBlazito]

Check the follower too. With the stock plastic follower there was a bit of resistance when loading the shells.(plastic follower had a tiny chip on the rim) I bought the Callahan aluminum follower and it definitely made it much easier to load the shells.

Have you tried cycling all 5 shells? Does your last shell pop out no problem?

[SparrowHanger]

I also took a look at my 4 month old 870 Express and that is not the way the shell "carrier" looks. Your's narrows much more near the magazine. I don't know when but fairly recently Remington redesigned their carrier. Some have also reported a bur on the inside of the magazine tube of their Hawk that may have worn off of yours.

I took a picture of the way my loading port looks. Those two parallel cuts in the carrier are supposed to reduce a kind of jamming that occurred with the previous carrier.

[gil671]

Bulleh, make sure your bolt is closed all the way. If it is out of battery, even slightly it will cause your carrier to protrude down and interfer with your loading. This very common with Remington 870s. That's about all it can think of based on your pictures, other than the carrier is out of tolerence.
Because it's a new gun, you have removed the 3 shot plug, right?
Good luck and let us know how it gets fixed.

+1 on this. Make sure your hanguards is all the way forward before you load a shell. Its exactly the same thing that happened to my 982.