Utas-15 road show

So we shot about 100 rounds with Kent shells. It failed to cycle once, and that was my mistake with short stroking the gun.

We had the international skeet range, so targets are faster, however I had no difficulties breaking doubles at station 1, 2, 7 and 8. There is no aiming when you shoot those doubles, so I can easily say natural pointability is very good. We even got a double on 4th station!!!

We had GoPro capturing our trial, I'll provide the link once it is posted in YouTube. Will try this again tomorrow, weather permitting, as it was great fun...

Can't wait to see the video. I bet that turned a few heads out at the trap range.
 
Well i got back from the range today after testing the UTS and went to field strip and clean it. I found that the bolt carriage was damaged






I will post a detailed report on the review tomorrow
 
Hi All,

I got an email saying I will be receiving the UTS and I'd like to put it out there early that I'll be taking it to Oshawa Skeet and Gun club for some 5-stand and trap and maybe sporting clays, as well as Silverdale for Trap, slugs, buck, and whatever I can find. Both clubs have provisions for anyone with a P.A.L to shoot for a fee without being accompanied by a member so don't be shy and both clubs are open to members bringing guests.

If anyone local wants to tag along to try this out at either club PM me with your e-mail address and I'll send a group update (BCC'ing everyone for privacy) of the dates when I'll be going. It'll likely have to be both clubs over the same weekend (sat/sun) but since I don't yet have the gun I don't yet know the dates.

We'll be shooting this side by side with a Kel-Tec KSG, Remington 870 Tactical and I'm trying to track down a short barrel Grizzly Mag since I just sold mine. I'll also be bringing some "real" shotguns just to see how many more/less clays I manage to hit with this thing versus a Beretta Urika or Benelli Super Black Eagle.

I'm really looking forward to trying this out and I hope to hear from a few people who are interested in trying it out as well. Not many opportunities to play with cool toys like this without actually buying one. On that note I may just end up selling my KSG after this trial.....

BIG thanks to Wolverine for doing this project and it will be interesting to see how the shotgun has held up after a cross-country tour.
 
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OK, So the UTS showed up in a sweet Pelican hard case and came with sights, the barrel extension and the extended tactical choke. Right away I ran and grabbed my KSG for a visual comparison...
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The UTS has slightly larger dimensions but despite being identical weight (according to manufacturer specs.) it feels lighter than the KSG. This might have something to do with the sightmark on the KSG or maybe its just in my head.

This gun is very easy to strip for cleaning and the previous tester did a fantastic job. It was very clean, looked NIB and was perfectly lubricated IMHO. Not "greesy" not sloppy, not dry, just nicely lubed and the action cycled smothly. Pics below show the gun's condition a little closer.

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First Impressions...
I want to love this gun! It looks much more agressive than the KSG and I find the loading gates and tube selector switch much easier to use than those on the KSG. The little things people whine about eg. -having to push the follower first before inserting the first round or topping up are absolutely not difficult to do and IMO are baseless complaints compared to the magazine capacity of this gun. The snap caps cycled well from both tubes, but there was a hiccup noted below where it would eject the round it was trying to chamber. The gun feels a bit "plastic" compared to other tacticals but it still feels very well made and the action makes a great solid sound without any rattle.

Some critical points for me...
1. I didn't like the positioning or "flopping" of the front sling swivel at all as I jammed my hand on it a few times while cycling the snap caps.
2. The ejection port cover magnet only works when the action is ready to fire. After the hammer drops the bolt moves back under a bit of tension and the slightest bump pops the cover open.
3. When feeding from the left tube with the selector lever centered the gun would occaisionally eject "live" rounds when the action was cycled. It tended to do this moreso when the gun was tilted slightly with the ejection port pointing towards the ground.

The Test Dates

I'll be at Silverdale gun club with this gun this coming Sunday, the 15th starting at 8:00am and will be spending time at the action range shooting slugs and buck through this, the KSG, a Norinco Grizzly Mag and a Fabarm Tactical. After an IPSC match from 10:00am - 12:00pm I'll take the UTS to the Trap range and put it up against my Beretta and my 870 as well as some O/U's of various price points.

If Wolverine is ok with it I'll bring the gun the following weekend to Silverdale once more on the 21st for another go with some LEO and friends and to the Oshawa skeet and gun club on the 22nd in the afternoon to watch as some "old boys" shart solid gold bricks at the 5-stand hut. I'll clean it and ship it out to the next tester that Sunday, unless I'm asked to send it sooner......

PM if you want to meet up, I'll be contacting those who already messaged with details of who I am and how to get in touch.

Bye for now...
 
If you are looking to take her out next weekend on the 21st and shipping her the following Sunday that is perfectly fine with us! You can get some more folks to see the UTAS at work.
As for the ejecting the "live" round, when you were racking the slide, how forceful were you being on the slide?

Tyson.
 
If you are looking to take her out next weekend on the 21st and shipping her the following Sunday that is perfectly fine with us! You can get some more folks to see the UTAS at work.
As for the ejecting the "live" round, when you were racking the slide, how forceful were you being on the slide?

Tyson.

Admittedly, I wasn't racking it like an action movie star and I think that had a lot to do with it. With the gun tilted to the side and not racking it quickly, gravity and momentum allowed the round to pass through the chamber without being stopped by the "mousetrap" and held in the chamber. Seems like a simple solution and I've heard it before... "Rack it like a man". It's worth noting though that it didn't happen when it fed from the right tube, only the left, and I would guess it's because of the angle at which the round is launched into the chamber
 
UTS-15

Sorry for the delay in posting this review.

I like to start off the review with my thoughts before I received the shotgun. I read all the previous reviews to get a feel for what others were experiencing with the gun. It seemed that the biggest problems were with misfeeds and failures to eject. The reviewers were stating several causes one of which was short stroking the gun.

The UTS arrived in the mail in great condition the firearm was spotless thanks to HUNTER709, I didn’t feel pics were necessary as previous reviews had lots.



The first day I went to the range was overcast and rain. The following ammo was used;
100- Federal high brass #2
100- Winchester 2 3/4 #4
100- Winchester 2 3/4 #5
30- Federal Hi Power 2 3/4 00 Buck

The second day the sun was out and I had the range to myself. The following ammo was used.



100- Federal multi purpose 2 3/4 #71/2
300- Winchester 2 3/4 #4
25- Federal high brass #2
40- Win Super X 00 Buck
55- Federal Hi Power 2 3/4 00 Buck
60- Federal Power Shot Slugs


The UTS worked flawlessly and there were no malfunctions of any kind. I liked the feel of the bull pup and it was very comfortable to operate. I did not experience any problems with the rounds or failures with the UTS. I made sure not to short stroke the fore end. I found loading the UTS was easier as I did more reps. I’m not sure how reloading would go under duress. I liked the high capacity magazine tubes

The following pic shows some of the 00 rounds



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed-f9N4s6bU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxmSkrDjJJk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DjgnBQJvjU


The problem I had with the UTS was after the range when I field stripped it for cleaning. I found the Bolt Carriage was broken where the bolt assembly sits, see pic.







I contacted Wolverine and the part was sent out. I did not notice this damage when I first received the UTS and initially field stripped it. I can only surmise that it occurred at some point on the range but the firearm continued to function.
Overall the UTS performed well with all the ammunition I used

The part arrived two days later and I replaced the damaged one. UTS on the way to the next tester.

Thanks Wolverine for the opportunity to use the UTS-15
 
I will be test firing tomorrow at 10:00 at the CDTSA range in southeast Calgary.

If you want to join, please text me at 403-472-3757 or 403-829-4176

Cheers
Matt
 
I now have the UTS, I will be doing my test firing on next Wednesday, July 16 at 6 PM at the Victoria Fish and Game Protective Association down on the MP line. If you want to come and try it out, let me know and also bring your own Shells. I want to give this girl a work out!
 
Hi All,

So the shotgun should have arrived at the next tester in ON, and I've got a spare moment to post my review. I'll spare everyone the pics of my shredded targets and piles of empty casings and focus more on the actual performance and details of the testing.

First off, this shotgun made 3 trips to Silverdale over the course of 2 weeks and was used by 18 people, mostly friends, but a few strangers and an RO got to fire random rounds to try it out. Of the group of folks I brought out there were 6 shooters who had never shot a shotgun before, the rest were either LEO, experienced shooters or waterfowl hunters.

In total there were almost 500 rounds put through the gun of which I had about 6 misfires. I'll get into detail about those below. Overall I LOVE this gun, and side by side shooting with the KSG there was definitely no clear winner/loser in my opinion.

What I liked:
- The weight and balance of this felt better than a KSG and generally very light to shoot.
- The recoil was easily managed with all types of ammo
- The loading ports are much easier to use than the KSG (IMO) and the loading process itself is more intuitive than a KSG. Being able to load into the chamber from the ejection port was a major win for the new shooters at the Trap range where you have to load one at a time. Bottom-loading the KSG is a PITA for some.
- Jams are easier to clear on the UTS. I didn't get a single jam or double feed or failure to extract using actual live shells for what it's worth...
- The barrel extension with the use of chokes was a major plus for me. If I were to buy this gun, it would almost legitimize using it to hunt since you essentially have a long-barrel shotgun with chokes that's the size of a short 870. The KSG choke system (if you can find it) doesn't appeal to me nearly as much as the UTS.
- Disassembly is a breeze for cleaning. I didn't go beyond that level of disassembly but it doesn't seem to be complicated at all.

What I didn't like:
- The need to really exert serious authority into every movement to guarantee it will fire. I know it's been well advised but it would be a tough sell to folks who don't like to really put a lot of force into cycling a gun. This was definitely part of the reason for the misfires but I'll elaborate more below.
- The Length of Pull is a bit shorter than what feels comfortable for me. I'm not a tall guy but the KSG has the pistol grip set a but further forward and it feels more comfortable to cycle. A friend who's about 6'4" had a moment where he needed to figure out where exactly to make a cheek-weld because of the super shot LOP.
- The E-clips used to retain the pins are a nightmare for me. I didn't take the gun apart to that level but anything with E-Clips bother me as they are easily lost.
- I mentioned above that I didn't like the swivels at all and I maintain that dislike. Luckily they remove easily and store nicely in the provided pelican case.
- The bolt design and lock-up... I'll elaborate below, but to me it seems that light primer hits could be caused by the "spring-loaded" bolt design combined with less-than-firm cycling.

For the test I got to try out a small variety of ammo and I'm posting the types below with the overall performance of each type.

With the exception of Federal Buck and Remington Buck I have a pic of each type tested.

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Challenger Handicap Loads #7.5 - 2-34" - 250 Rounds
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I bought a flat with the intention of letting everyone try at least a box through this gun. We busted clays pretty easily and the gun was surprisingly good at shooting trap with the iron sights. There was one misfire with no primer hit. Cycled the round again and fired no problem.

Winchester Super-X #7.5 - 2-3/4" - 200 Rounds
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I had some leftover from a prior trip and decided to just let people keep firing.

Not a single hiccup and more clays were busted.

Remington Slugger Rifled Slugs - 3" -10 Rounds
Federal Low Recoil Rifled Slugs - 2-3/4" - 10 Rounds

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I took these to the action range and loaded 5 of each on the left and right tubes and tried to cycle quickly while still aiming at an IPSC target. I drained one tube, then the other. No hang ups or double feeds so I did it again but alternated the tubes and again, no issues whatsoever. Shooting was about as fast as I could cycle while still aiming at the target.

Remington 00 Buck - 2-3/4" - 10 Rounds
Federal 00 Buck - 2/34" - 5 Rounds


Sorry no pic here... Basically loaded both tubes full of whatever I had left and dumped them down range. No hiccups, but I was being very deliberate with the way I was cycling the action. Firing speed was about 1 round per second.

Random shells - 10 Rounds
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These are shells that a few guys tried at the trap range when I popped by to show off the gun at the end of day 1. These are basically where all but one of the misfires came from and in each case the round was re-chambered and fired successfully. Aside from being a bit embarrassed I was happy that people were excited to try the gun.

The Misfires

All the misfires occurred when the user (usually someone unfamiliar with the gun) would load the round, pull the trigger and get a click with no bang. I'd instruct them to check for a primer hit, and try again but be more forceful. After a few tries with one shell I stepped in a really racked the slide and the shell fired no problem. It happened to the three rounds pictured for a total of 5 times, with the only other misfire being the same issue, but with a Challenger round. When it happened to me I could almost feel as if the round wasn't going to fire. Not sure how to explain it but it just didn't feel like the round chambered the same as the others. The spring-loaded bolt (or whatever it's ACTUALLY called) was just a bit strange, and the lock up when the round is chambered is not as firm, for lack of a better word, than an 870 or even the KSG.

All in all after testing this gun I will probably buy one. I'd love to own one and it's stood up to a lot of different people test-firing and abusing it so in my books that's a winner. I do still prefer my KSG in this "niche" but it's right up there for performance. and BOTH guns require a lot of practice to really become proficient.

Thanks again Wolverine and sorry for the delay in posting the review. Sending a gun around for testing is the BEST idea I've seen from a store in a while.
 
I now have the UTS, I will be doing my test firing on next Wednesday, July 16 at 6 PM at the Victoria Fish and Game Protective Association down on the MP line. If you want to come and try it out, let me know and also bring your own Shells. I want to give this girl a work out!

I just moved to Victoria 3 days ago, I know I was a tester in N.S but I might as well go down again to shoot it some more... lol...

I dont have a membership to the club yet so I would need someone to look after me... what's the cost for drop in ?

Cheers
 
Dilligaf, welcome to Victoria. Drop-in with a member is $15/day --- if you're by yourself, it's $25. In either case, I believe you can apply the drop-in fee against an annual member purchased within 30 days. You can also purchase your annual membership ($110) directly from the range keeper.

I'd love to make it up to the range to see the UTS in action, but I'm not able to commit at this time. I'll send you a PM if I do head up.
 
At the range right now. Gun failed aftet 30 shells of federal 2 3/4 maximum 9 pellet 00 buck and 3 shells of hornady superformance 2 3/4 8 pellet 00 buck.
Bolt sled sheared at bolt.
detailed email to goto wolverine.
 
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