Buckshot Ammo Your 930 Loves/Hates

[tmh1]

O.K., so I have a fairly new Mossberg 930 with factory 7 round magazine and 18.5" barrel. I am still running reliability checks with differing HD ammo, but my results have surprised me a bit. It does great with some really cheap stuff, yet chokes on what I would consider better quality ammo. If you have a 930, let me know if my results are consistent with what you have seen on your gun, and if you have something else which you find runs 100%, please let me know what it is. BTW: I have "honed" the chamber using a brass bristle brush covered in 00 steel wool, oiled and chocked in a drill. But perhaps I didn't hone it enough yet? Also, the gun probably only has 250 rounds through it, and it has been totally taken down, cleaned and well lubricated.

Ammo Results (all is 2.75"):

Military 00 Buck (OD hulls): Full power load (probably 1325 FPS)- 100% reliability
Federal Premium LE (LE132-00), reduced power (1145 FPS)- Chokes 95+% (failure to extract, can't cycle or feed next round)
PMC "One Shot" high velocity buckshot (HV12BK 00) (1330 FPS)- Chokes 80+% (same failure to extract, can't cycle or feed next round)
Spartan "12 gauge 00 buckshot" (#SA1200) (full power? 1315 FPS)- Chokes 70% (same failure)
Winchester Ranger Low Recoil (8 pellet, #RA12008) (1145 FPS)- 100% reliability (so far - only about 25 rounds tested so far)
Rio Royal Buck Low Recoil (9 pellets, #RBLR129) (1200 FPS)- 100% reliability. This cheap stuff has been the champion. It is the buckshot I have shot the most (probably 60-70 rounds) and it has been 100% reliable.
Game Loads:
Federal Target Load, #8 shot (#TGL12US 8)(1145 FPS)- Probably 85-90% reliable.
Herter's Dove & Quail, #8 shot (1250 FPS)- Probably 65% reliable.

It almost seems like the gun is overgassed with the higher muzzle velocity loads, but then the military buck runs 100%, and the low muzzle velocity Federal LE132 chokes 100%.

Trying to figure this one out... It is my first semi-auto shotty.

[aghauler]

I'll be getting my 930 combo in a few weeks, so I'll be keeping an eye on the results posted here.
Thanks for this startup info!

[midlife]

I don't know much about buckshot. But with target loads on my 1187. 100% of 1 and 1/8 works perfect. One oz loads don't cycle too well. Never tried 7/8 loads.

[MossbergMan]

My 930s (SPX and JMPro) like to run "wet". With the single exception of my magazine unscrewing from the receiver causing double shell release malfunctions, mine have been very reliable with all the loads you listed (exception- 7/8 loads).
By "wet" I mean lubing the gas piston assembly on the inside. Light oils and be sure your magazine is clean where the piston slides. Carbon build up gathers quickly there. I use 000 steel wool and MPro7 to knock the crud off.

[tmh1]

Thanks for your input MBMan. I definitely am running the bolt wet, and all of the thick gunk from manufacturing/shipping protection has been cleaned out. My gun seems to be a little different from many "complaint" 930's, as I have never had any issue loading the magazine tube to its full capacity, nor with it smoothly feeding every round - And I haven't even needed to cut the mag spring or replace it with a Wolff.

No, with my gun it is a failure to fully extract and thereafter eject the spent hull, which then doesn't allow the elevator to lift and load the subsequent round (which has already come out of the mag tube).

Manual extraction is fine with seemingly any round: If I load the chamber and mag tube, and then run the bolt by hand every shell feeds/extracts/ejects. So it seems that it is something along the lines of hull expansion after firing combined with gas pressure of specific brand shells.

I'm going to continue the shoot-clean-lubricate cycle to see if the reliability improves, and I may run a second round of chamber honing at the next cleaning.

EDIT: One other theory I'm looking at now is high vs low brass shells. All of my other theories seem to have multiple outliers. With the high vs low brass, there is only one outlier (the PMC full power buck). All of the 100% shells are high brass. And the shells I thought were of the "highest quality" but don't work in my gun (the Federal LE132) are low brass. Maybe the higher brass assists my gun's extractor in doing its job (or reduces the overall hull expansion upon firing, thereby allowing an extraction from the chamber with a little less force). Still seems appropriate to keep firing-cleaning-lubricating, and also to re-hone the chamber.

[RickRyder]

Low Recoil loads were designed and intended for a pump shotgun. Auto loaders are known to have issues cycling with low recoil loads. That being said, my 930 JM Pro cycle federal target loads no problem and those are low base, so who knows? Shooting buckshot, even high velocity, should be a piece of cake with your gun, there are some really good tips out there on youtube for standing position and how to hold your shotgun to reduce felt recoil and stay on target.

[tmh1]

Low Recoil loads were designed and intended for a pump shotgun. Auto loaders are known to have issues cycling with low recoil loads. That being said, my 930 JM Pro cycle federal target loads no problem and those are low base, so who knows? Shooting buckshot, even high velocity, should be a piece of cake with your gun, there are some really good tips out there on youtube for standing position and how to hold your shotgun to reduce felt recoil and stay on target.

The problem is that my gun shoots some low-recoil rounds with 100% reliability, other low-recoil rounds with poor reliability, some standard velocity rounds with 100% reliability and some standard velocity rounds with poor reliability. The rounds I have the most confidence in (since I've shot the most of them) are the cheap Spanish made Rio low-recoil rounds, with a muzzle velocity of only 1200 FPS (which, IIRC, is right about the transition point - Standard 00 buckshot is generally higher than 1200 FPS where low-recoil 00 buckshot is typically lower than 1200FPS.

[midlife]

Well. I hope you've got good aim, as it sounds like you can only count on the first shot with that shotgun!

[tmh1]

Well. I hope you've got good aim, as it sounds like you can only count on the first shot with that shotgun!

No, not at all. So far, though, I can only count on 8 consecutive clean shots, as fast as I can pull the trigger, with only 3 of the various types of 00 buckshot ammo which I have tested so far.

But thanks for sharing your point of view, albeit one given apparently without reading the posts of this thread.

[midlife]

I was just kidding. Good luck with the shotgun. I'm sure you'll get it working fine.