dumb question that needs an answer

[aodorisio]

I enjoy waterfowl hunting and also skeet and use a Beretta A400 for both. I know its not specifically designed for the lighter loads, but when it was new it was cycling loads with 17.5 grains of 700-X. It slowly stopped cycling those so I upped it overtime and I am now at 19.5-20 grains which was working but now is not. I then borrowed a friends shell loaded with 16.5 grains and it cycled fine. Is it possible too up the load too much that it some how doesn't allow the gas operation to work properly? Any help would be appreciated because I keep freaking out and cleaning my gun like Lady Macbeth.

[cooper669]

Clogged gas ports?

[Jon Road King]

Possible dumb answer #1... tear it down and clean it?

[ke6foa]

I enjoy waterfowl hunting and also skeet and use a Beretta A400 for both. I know its not specifically designed for the lighter loads, but when it was new it was cycling loads with 17.5 grains of 700-X. It slowly stopped cycling those so I upped it overtime and I am now at 19.5-20 grains which was working but now is not. I then borrowed a friends shell loaded with 16.5 grains and it cycled fine. Is it possible too up the load too much that it some how doesn't allow the gas operation to work properly? Any help would be appreciated because I keep freaking out and cleaning my gun like Lady Macbeth.

Sounds like things are wearing out replace gas piston and make sure its (clean clean clean) I used my A301 for trap for years but finally had to have it rebuilt it got to loose and gas started bypassing would not cycle correctly.

[stilly]

I enjoy waterfowl hunting and also skeet and use a Beretta A400 for both. I know its not specifically designed for the lighter loads, but when it was new it was cycling loads with 17.5 grains of 700-X. It slowly stopped cycling those so I upped it overtime and I am now at 19.5-20 grains which was working but now is not. I then borrowed a friends shell loaded with 16.5 grains and it cycled fine. Is it possible too up the load too much that it some how doesn't allow the gas operation to work properly? Any help would be appreciated because I keep freaking out and cleaning my gun like Lady Macbeth.

Take it to a gunsmith if you do not have the knowledge to check it yourself.

If it kicks like a mule and fails to cycle, then you prolly need to get your gas system checked for worn/busted/MISSING parts.

When I first got my Extrema-2 it HATED me. ANY load I put in it kicked and failed to cycle anything. Turns out the gun store had forgotten to put the damn piston in my gas tube at the end of the forearm.

Maybe you wore something out or left a piece out.

BUT. Then you state that you borrowed a friend's ammo and it cycled FINE so then maybe it is your ammo. MAYBE your wads or combination for some reason are not doing what they are supposed to do and maybe failing to seal and therefore allowing gas to escape out the sides? Shoot some of your ammo out of a friend's gun and see how his functions...

I think the blame is on ammo here. Shoot some factory loads and see if it cycles.

Berettas are gas guns (USUALLY) so they tend to eat everything.

[evanboyle]

Clean the breech well with a brass/copper wire brush. I get a lot of plastic hull / carbon deposits that make extraction/cycling a little harder on all my shotguns (except my Versamax - that thing is a tank). Even my O/U sometimes doesn't have enough oomph in the ejectors to pop the spent hulls out - cleaning always fixes it for me.

700X is notoriously dirty. Heavier powder charges usually resulted in more unburned remnants in my receiver. I switched to Titewad and am not looking back.

[aodorisio]

thanks for all the ideas, i cleaned it out real well and changed my loads to 17.5 grns and that worked fine while the 20's still would fail. not sure what that means but its working so im pleased

[aodorisio]

and i might switch powders too so thanks for that specifically just depends what i can find first

[stilly]

Don;t hulls and wads have to be matched? Maybe you got some bad wads? they are allowing too much gas through and not enough left back to cycle...

[evanboyle]

Don;t hulls and wads have to be matched? Maybe you got some bad wads? they are allowing too much gas through and not enough left back to cycle...

This is also good advice. I generally rock the Remington gun club/STS hulls with Claybusters CB4100-2 wads. Based on the fact that a higher powder charge won't cycle your action, I am guessing you see a lot unburned powder and a dirty receiver. A higher powder charge on low-brass hulls could also be expanding/deforming the base, causing more friction during extraction.

Can you share your hull/wad/primer selection as well as shot weight?

I always refer to Hodgdon's shotshell reloading data http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/shotgun

Hope this helps!