Anyone have their shotgun malfunction while hunting?

[His lordship.]

I have only owned 2 shotguns to date, both pumps, sold one off.  I have considered getting a backup shotgun, or better yet a new semi-auto and keep my pump as the backup.  With money tight these days, I plan to stick with my pump action Browning BPS for now, however, if I do a serious hunting trip far from home I could be up a creek without a paddle if there is a problem.

I have only heard of 5 cases of a shotguns malfunctioning while being used, a Remington 1100, but the owner got around it by firing it single shot as the magazine spring went bad.  Another Remington 1100 that exploded the barrel when it was fired under water when a boat overturned.  The others were a Winchester pump that had one of the pumping rods break, a Franchi that stopped working, and a Savage double barrel that would fire off when the safety was released (I was lucky I did not get shot by that one).

How common is it to have a good name brand shotgun go bad on a hunting trip if not high mileage and it is well maintained?  How are some of those cheapo shotguns from Turkey and South America? 

[dukkillr]

In my experience it is very common with autos.  I couldn't count the number of times I've seen an auto reduced to a single shot.  It's happened to guns I own.  With pumps I'd say it's more preventable, and less common, but it still happens.  We had a 37 lock up on a pheasant hunt in 2008.  Anyone who sings the praises of that gun should immediately be asked how to field strip it (you cant).  I saw the barrel break off a Mossberg and sink several years ago.  I've seen 870s hopelessly jammed, especially in cold rain.  I saw some cheap POS savage or stevens refuse to cycle just a few weeks ago at a sporting clays event.

The surprising thing to me is the number of times you see doubles fail.  I'd say they actually fail more often than non-crap pumps.  I lost a fourth of july pairs fun shoot a few years back because my partner's double wouldn't close.  In the last two years the same guy has had his fancy new 20 ga double fail to reset while we were shooting sporting clays.  My first in person experience with a 10 ga was that of a double that occasionally "doubled" with one pull of the trigger. 

So, in short, when I go out of town I always take a backup.  I've used it, and I've lent it to others.  That BPS is the most reliable gun made today, and the best choice for real hunters, but it's not perfect. 

[Graybeard]

I can honestly say that I've never had any of my personal shotguns fail me while hunting. I have seen others who had their guns fail while hunting however. I've seen far too many to recall fail while shooting skeet, trap and sporting clays.

I think I've seen more Mossberg pumps fail than not fail on the clays ranges and the same basically applies to Winchester pumps made since the Model 12 was dropped. I personally can't make a Model 12 pump for the life of me unless I take it off my shoulder to do so. Me and them just don't get along. I like them for trap but nothing else.

The one Ithaca 37 I ever shot was on a skeet range and I wasn't able to get thru one round without it failing on me. It was a borrowed gun tho new and I'll for sure never own one of them just as I'll never own a Winchester 1300. I might give a Mossberg a try one day but not as a wingshooting piece only as a home protection gun and I'll have to give it a serious work out to prove it up to the task. Most of them that I've seen fail were due to lack of proper maintenance or parts breakage which so far has kept me from owning one.

I've had pumps, semiautos and O/Us fail on the clays ranges many times and seen countless others fail that weren't mine. There is no gun that can't fail but most times it's either lack of proper maintenace or parts breakage and the latter is usually on guns that have seen serious use beyond that which most hunters will subject them to. An average half way serious clays shooter might shoot more shells in a year than the average hunter will in a life time. I have many times shot at 500 or more clays in a day.

Properly maintained the Remington 1100/11-87 and 870 Wingmaster are as dependable as any gun out there. Used heavily parts will eventually break and if not kept clean all will in time fail. I once had to clean an 1100 used by my partner in a skeet range we jointly owned. We were having a tournament and his quit and I took it inside the club house and broke it down and cleaned it while he finished the round with my gun. That had to be the dirtiest gun I've ever personally seen and yet it had worked fine for the last few thousand shells without being cleaned but in time had so much gunk build up it just stopped. In 10 minutes or so I had it cleaned and back to him and I'd bet it went a few more thousand before he ever cleaned it.

I do like the idea of a back up gun with me on an expensive hunt if that is feasible "just in case" but realistically if you properly clean and maintain your gun it really isn't likely to just fail on you mid hunt. It might so a back up is nice but so far it's not happen to me on a hunt only on clays ranges.

[woodchukhntr]

I had my 870 jam while hunting when I was loading a shell and let it slip before it passed the catch in the magazine.  It slid between the bolt and the lifter and that was that.  I made a punch out of a dry twig and hammered the pins out, and dropped the firing mechanism, thus freeing the action.

[rdmallory]

>>>>

I had my 870 jam while hunting when I was loading a shell and let it slip before it passed the catch in the magazine.

Me too. First day of Turkey season last fall. Sold it as fast as I could and bought a barrel for my Encore. Will not have that issue again.

Now looking to buy a Mossberg 590A1

Doug

[jpred1]

What is your game youll be hunting? When I travel away ( mostly hunting duck) I take the benelli auto and follow up with the 870 express as backup. Havent needed the backup yet but Im sure the express is up to the task. I have 2 hunting buddys that put several rounds through a stoeger auto, I think they are model 2000 but not sure, they havent had any promblems yet. Now as far as failures Ive seen are similar to those above , 1100s, doubles, over/unders, Charles Dailys, Mossburg 500,and Winchester autos.Usually the Berretas ,Brownings do there job and go boom , just have to keep the gas guns cleaner than inertia guns, but the gas guns have less recoil on the 3" max loaded shells.

[Maritime Storm]

The only gun to fail on me was a Remington 870 Wingmaster combo in 12 gauge, it  only had two bad habits that lead to it's trade on a Newmann Bros rabbit eared double, 2lbs of Black Powder and a bag of WAA12R wads. Failure to fire(wouldn't drop the hammer) was it's favorite hobby, usually on a double or it would drop the shell from the mag too early and jam. Twice it visited a gunsmith, twice the trigger group and action was disassemble, cleaned and re-assembled(both times the 'smith commented that it wasn't that dirty but he could find nothing else wrong), thrid time it was traded as it cost me two Grouse in one day. The 2 most reliable guns to ever enter my cabinet are a Marlin 55GDL and an H&R single-shot.

[Glanceblamm]

One thing that I learned about my 870 Wingmaster is that I must firmly press the shell's into the magazine. If too light of a touch is used, the shell will pop back out just a bit and become stuck between the flap that protects the magazine port and the catch that retains the shell's. This does not sound like too much of a problem but believe me, you can fiddle with the thing for 10min or better trying to get that flap and the brass aligned to get the shell to go on in.

I did this once on my own, and another time a game warden did it to me as my shells were used to make sure that I had a plug in place. I would call this whole experience Operator Error but with a side note that my old Western Field did very well in adverse conditions with no flap at all.

[huntducks]

If you have a 870 and you get two shells stuck just take the barrel off and drop the shell out that takes at most 1 min.

I always take a back up shotgun even if i'm close to home and it's either a pump or O/U

[flintlock]

I never have, but I'm anal about keeping my guns clean...For doves, I use a Browning B-80 and a Remington 1100...I still bring my old 12 gauge double in case someone needs a backup...

[His lordship.]

Thanks for the reply's, I had forgotten about the Remington 870 with the double feed issues.  When I was first starting out I did not push the shells in properly into the tube magazine and one of them came out while I was chambering a new round, I thought I was very screwed as I was a long ways from home.  At first I considered using my knife to pry it out, but realized that this would scratch things up.  I gave it a good tug on the pump and it cleared the action, was very careful about making sure the shells stayed behind on the catch holder of the tube magazine after that.  This area is more robust on my BPS, but I always want to hear that telltale "click".  

When I mentioned the Savage going off when the safety was released, this happened when I was learning to shoot a shotgun during a round of trap and skeet with my brand new Remington 870 Express.  A teenage fellow who was taught to "always apply his safety" was standing next to me to wait his turn to shoot, he and his dad must have worn the old double barrel's safety lever out over time.  The gun discharged into the ground in front of him only a few feet away from me.  Fortunately, it was not pointed at me.  I inquired about the make of the gun for gratitude that I did not eat #8 birdshot!

[spikehorn]

I had a mossberg bolt action 12ga that the tang safety failed in the on position. I also had a winchester 1300 that i took as partial payment for some work. The first time I used it to deer hunt a doe came out across a field I fired once racked a new shell I thought, gun went click when I pulled the trigger. It was dropping the next round right out of the bottom of the receiver where you load the tube. Have never had a problem with my Browning A5, Mossberg trophy 500 rifled slug gun or my 835 or any of my 6 H&R shotguns.

[GRIMJIM]

Mindoesn't malfunction but it has a tendency to miss sometimes.

[jpred1]

Mindoesn't malfunction but it has a tendency to miss sometimes.

I believe we all have that promblem.Especially on those lil swamp rockets called wood ducks.

[huntswithdogs]

I've had only one shotgun malfuntion on me while hunting. It was a Steoger Uplander SxS. A doubling shotgun ain't no fun and it'll put a hurting on you and game.
I have seen failures to fire on the clays fields. Failure to reset from too soft a round, broken springs, jams, all kinds of stuff. Some guns were wore out. Some were so dirty that they couldn't work.

If traveling to hunt, I take an extra. Local hunts see me toting only one.


HWD