Brand New to Canada: SG-12 "SPAS"

Range Report 2: Electric Boogaloo

Getting ready, kids. Gather around. I have a story to tell you!

The trip to the range was short. As I got the gear inside, and the shotgun uncased, I sensed the eyes of others at the range fall squarely on the firearm sitting on the bench.

"Is that a SPAS-12?!" Asked the RSO.

His expression dropped when I told him it was a Turkish semiautomatic cosplaying as a SPAS-12.

A frown fell upon his brow when I told him the issues I'd experienced.

Now that I've set the scene, let us being.

This gun does not work. In its factory configuration, with all the OEM parts in it, it still double feeds, fails to feed, and locks open with ammo in the magazine.

Ammo used was Score buck and slugs, as well as Federal blue box 1 oz 1650 FPS slugs.
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The spontaneous disassembly also continues.

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This is the magazine tube spring retainer after only less than 10 shots of interrupted buck and slugs.

Since the gun was kind enough to take itself apart, I went ahead and tested the gun without the spring retainer and replaced the OEM spring with an S&J spring trimmed to 1.5x the length of the magtube plus extension.

The doublefeeds and failure to feed continued.

A different orange plastic follower was used instead of the OEM follower. Same issues.

The OEM follower and spring were used without the spring retainer. Same issues, and now shells were binding in the magtube.

Round count is around 300 shells of high brass 1500+ FPS buck and slugs.

I did have two uninterrupted strings of fire where all 6 or 7 shells fired, ejected, fed, and the gun locked open.

And the heatshield screws are loose again by the way...

This gun gets one. More. Chance.
 
The Crover said:
Range Report 2: Electric Boogaloo

Getting ready, kids. Gather around. I have a story to tell you!

The trip to the range was short. As I got the gear inside, and the shotgun uncased, I sensed the eyes of others at the range fall squarely on the firearm sitting on the bench.

"Is that a SPAS-12?!" Asked the RSO.

His expression dropped when I told him it was a Turkish semiautomatic cosplaying as a SPAS-12.

A frown fell upon his brow when I told him the issues I'd experienced.

Now that I've set the scene, let us being.

This gun does not work. In its factory configuration, with all the OEM parts in it, it still double feeds, fails to feed, and locks open with ammo in the magazine.

Ammo used was Score buck and slugs, as well as Federal blue box 1 oz 1650 FPS slugs.
View attachment 1203014

View attachment 1203015

The spontaneous disassembly also continues.

View attachment 1203013

This is the magazine tube spring retainer after only less than 10 shots of interrupted buck and slugs.

Since the gun was kind enough to take itself apart, I went ahead and tested the gun without the spring retainer and replaced the OEM spring with an S&J spring trimmed to 1.5x the length of the magtube plus extension.

The doublefeeds and failure to feed continued.

A different orange plastic follower was used instead of the OEM follower. Same issues.

The OEM follower and spring were used without the spring retainer. Same issues, and now shells were binding in the magtube.

Round count is around 300 shells of high brass 1500+ FPS buck and slugs.

I did have two uninterrupted strings of fire where all 6 or 7 shells fired, ejected, fed, and the gun locked open.

And the heatshield screws are loose again by the way...

This gun gets one. More. Chance.
Click to expand...
Man that suck. I really hope mine work better.
 
The Crover said:
Range Report 2: Electric Boogaloo

Getting ready, kids. Gather around. I have a story to tell you!

The trip to the range was short. As I got the gear inside, and the shotgun uncased, I sensed the eyes of others at the range fall squarely on the firearm sitting on the bench.

"Is that a SPAS-12?!" Asked the RSO.

His expression dropped when I told him it was a Turkish semiautomatic cosplaying as a SPAS-12.

A frown fell upon his brow when I told him the issues I'd experienced.

Now that I've set the scene, let us being.

This gun does not work. In its factory configuration, with all the OEM parts in it, it still double feeds, fails to feed, and locks open with ammo in the magazine.

Ammo used was Score buck and slugs, as well as Federal blue box 1 oz 1650 FPS slugs.
View attachment 1203014

View attachment 1203015

The spontaneous disassembly also continues.

View attachment 1203013

This is the magazine tube spring retainer after only less than 10 shots of interrupted buck and slugs.

Since the gun was kind enough to take itself apart, I went ahead and tested the gun without the spring retainer and replaced the OEM spring with an S&J spring trimmed to 1.5x the length of the magtube plus extension.

The doublefeeds and failure to feed continued.

A different orange plastic follower was used instead of the OEM follower. Same issues.

The OEM follower and spring were used without the spring retainer. Same issues, and now shells were binding in the magtube.

Round count is around 300 shells of high brass 1500+ FPS buck and slugs.

I did have two uninterrupted strings of fire where all 6 or 7 shells fired, ejected, fed, and the gun locked open.

And the heatshield screws are loose again by the way...

This gun gets one. More. Chance.
Click to expand...
Sheesh. That does suck. Maybe you got a lemon? - I’ve had those before.

Thanks for reporting.

Did you loctite the screws or just tighten them? I loctite’d mine this afternoon.

I also dissembled and wiped off excess oil. I think my spring locater (the limiter within the mag tube) has moved some. I’m going to try a 1/2” wood dowel cut to size to keep it where it should be.

You must have a bad shell latch or something.

Mine is still chugging away on the high velocity #6 birdshot, but that hardly puts any stress on the gun.

I did manage to induce a double feed while clearing my chamber - I don’t like a loaded chamber when I move through the bush with my son - it was easy to clear and entirely my fault.
 
JeffMan said:
Sheesh. That does suck. Maybe you got a lemon? - I’ve had those before.

Thanks for reporting.

Did you loctite the screws or just tighten them? I loctite’d mine this afternoon.

I also dissembled and wiped off excess oil. I think my spring locater (the limiter within the mag tube) has moved some. I’m going to try a 1/2” wood dowel cut to size to keep it where it should be.

You must have a bad shell latch or something.

Mine is still chugging away on the high velocity #6 birdshot, but that hardly puts any stress on the gun.

I did manage to induce a double feed while clearing my chamber - I don’t like a loaded chamber when I move through the bush with my son - it was easy to clear and entirely my fault.
Click to expand...
Degreased, blue locktite, and torqued good'n'tight.

I'm hoping it is a lemon. I'll be sending an email to TI asking for another gun.
 
The Crover said:
Degreased, blue locktite, and torqued good'n'tight.

I'm hoping it is a lemon. I'll be sending an email to TI asking for another gun.
Click to expand...
Maybe the barrel is getting hot enough to soften the blue loctite?

I wouldn’t want to put red on them, we’ll need to get them undone to clean the barrel.

Maybe red, and then heat the screws with a soldering iron when the shroud needs to come off.

I checked my shell catch and by all manners of cycling I can not get mine to double feed.

I suspect you’ve got a bent or out of spec shell catch. Once the live round is ejected from the magazine, it operates on the back of the shell latch to close off the magazine - it’s like a teeter totter.
 
Not sure if it is Gen 1 or 2, as mainly listened to it on my phone, but Classic Firearms had some Turkish issues, one game ending from factory, with their copies:
 
Ustauk said:
Not sure if it is Gen 1 or 2, as mainly listened to it on my phone, but Classic Firearms had some Turkish issues, one game ending from factory, with their copies:
Click to expand...
Gen 1 based on the rail on the receiver, light grey stock and heatshield, and the gap behind the grip and the trigger guard.
 
The more I see about this one the more I become tempted to skip out on it. My Benelli doesn’t shake itself to pieces when I abuse it. Eye candy but for what.
 
Bigcrigger said:
The more I see about this one the more I become tempted to skip out on it. My Benelli doesn’t shake itself to pieces when I abuse it. Eye candy but for what.
Click to expand...
This is no replacement for my Benelli shotguns…

Honestly, once I’m done playing with it, it’ll likely go on the rack in my gun room as a conversation piece.

IIRC, one member here paid about the same for an airsoft SPAS, only to have it confiscated by CBSA. This is a SPAS clone that fires 12 gauge and, for me at least, quite reliably. If mine eventually starts choking on what I feed it, I don’t really care.

That said, mine has been chugging through my #6 birdshot without issue, with ZERO break-in, and that has actually impressed me. I didn’t expect it. My Stoeger M3K 3-Gun won’t feed these reliably. My Benelli M2 SP loves them.

Yes, my Honda is more reliable. I bought the DeLorean because it’s a DeLorean (I actually own neither)
 
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dang was super bummed to miss out on these, fairly glad I was too slow ,dream gun for me even if its a clone, hope they fix it and get rid of the goofy turrk trigger guard also
 
The Crover said:
Range Report 2: Electric Boogaloo

Getting ready, kids. Gather around. I have a story to tell you!

The trip to the range was short. As I got the gear inside, and the shotgun uncased, I sensed the eyes of others at the range fall squarely on the firearm sitting on the bench.

"Is that a SPAS-12?!" Asked the RSO.

His expression dropped when I told him it was a Turkish semiautomatic cosplaying as a SPAS-12.

A frown fell upon his brow when I told him the issues I'd experienced.

Now that I've set the scene, let us being.

This gun does not work. In its factory configuration, with all the OEM parts in it, it still double feeds, fails to feed, and locks open with ammo in the magazine.

Ammo used was Score buck and slugs, as well as Federal blue box 1 oz 1650 FPS slugs.
View attachment 1203014

View attachment 1203015

The spontaneous disassembly also continues.

View attachment 1203013

This is the magazine tube spring retainer after only less than 10 shots of interrupted buck and slugs.

Since the gun was kind enough to take itself apart, I went ahead and tested the gun without the spring retainer and replaced the OEM spring with an S&J spring trimmed to 1.5x the length of the magtube plus extension.

The doublefeeds and failure to feed continued.

A different orange plastic follower was used instead of the OEM follower. Same issues.

The OEM follower and spring were used without the spring retainer. Same issues, and now shells were binding in the magtube.

Round count is around 300 shells of high brass 1500+ FPS buck and slugs.

I did have two uninterrupted strings of fire where all 6 or 7 shells fired, ejected, fed, and the gun locked open.

And the heatshield screws are loose again by the way...

This gun gets one. More. Chance.
Click to expand...

I’m not surprised. On the website it’s clearly noted that the receiver is a “standard semi auto receiver”. Again, Turkish POS. Time and time again. I learned my lesson with the crooked barrel T81s a few years back. Never again.
 
rajczak_kashka said:
$1000 is not a lot of $ for a semi auto shotgun … 😜😜🤣
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I bought a Turkish semi new for 130$ from a retailer and its worked flawlessly with no break in period (other than the rear ghost ring falling off the pic rail every 25 rounds, need to loctite it).

If i'm dropping 1000$ (used Benelli money) on a new shotgun, i darned well would expect it to run right out of the box.
 
Deng577 said:
I bought a Turkish semi new for 130$ from a retailer and its worked flawlessly with no break in period (other than the rear ghost ring falling off the pic rail every 25 rounds, need to loctite it).

If i'm dropping 1000$ (used Benelli money) on a new shotgun, i darned well would expect it to run right out of the box.
Click to expand...
People are not buying these to replace their bird hunting shotguns or the shotguns they will bring to fight some war. They are buying these shotguns for the reason i own a 60s British roadster. Its fun. Its cool. I always wanted one. And im aware enough to understand the limitations in its utility and have other options for circumstances where utility is paramount.
 
apexanimal said:
People are not buying these to replace their bird hunting shotguns or the shotguns they will bring to fight some war. They are buying these shotguns for the reason i own a 60s British roadster. Its fun. Its cool. I always wanted one. And im aware enough to understand the limitations in its utility and have other options for circumstances where utility is paramount.
Click to expand...
No disagreement there. The SPAS-12 isnt my personal obsession but i dont begrudge anyone whom it is. If someone was selling an AKM lookalike for 1000$ i'd buy it because that's what i find personally beautiful. Same as most people are buying the SPAS-12 for, my 130$ Turkish semi is a range toy and not something for serious use.

That said, i'll again stress that a 1000$ shotgun bloody darn well run properly out of the box, i cant think of another tube fed Turkish semi that even approaches it in price.
 
Deng577 said:
I bought a Turkish semi new for 130$ from a retailer and its worked flawlessly with no break in period (other than the rear ghost ring falling off the pic rail every 25 rounds, need to loctite it).

If i'm dropping 1000$ (used Benelli money) on a new shotgun, i darned well would expect it to run right out of the box.
Click to expand...
Which model Benelli semi auto are you referring to in the $1000 used category? People seem to be confusing apples to oranges greatly in this thread . It’s like saying my Highly customized Harley Fatboy S is as fast and reliable as your Japanese rice rocket just because we paid about the same $ for them …two completely different animals built for two completely different circumstances…..comparing a real SPAS 12 to the clone is the only real comparison worth talking about. I have owned two original SPAS 12’s many years ago and look forward to owning this clone for a variety of reasons with nostalgia being the main one. If you are looking for a cheap shotgun made off shore in semi auto that is reliable enough to hunt or bet your life on…you are misguided.
 
Few years back I bought a hunt group ms sg I think it was?
A detachable mag fed semi and it was 450 bucks, cheap as hell so I took a punt at one
I got the “stainless” one and when I got it Turkys version of stainless appears to be aluminum or steel painted with that old 80s cheap propane tank paint
You know the stuff that is supposed to be like chrome but isn’t lol
The thing was absolutely hidious and the milling of the aluminum bits like the magwell looked like a drunken monkey did it with a chainsaw
But did that f*ucking thing ever run!!
No jams/misfires it just ran and it didn’t matter what I fed it
One of the few Turkish made guns that I really miss…
Of course I can’t buy another as turd boy decided they were a menace to society..
Sometimes you can hit the lottery with a cheap Turkish shotgun
 
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