FTF ? Winchester Xpert Steel Shot

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3006novice

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Hello,

I don't know if I should post this here, or in the gunsmithing area.

My Benelli Nova 500 'just works'. I can mix and match shells of different types and manufactures and it feeds, fires and ejects perfectly.

Until this weekend:
I have never used Winchester Xpert Steel Shot 2/34 before. I bought a box last weekend and I had 6 fail to fire in a row.

The first time it happened I thought it was a fluke, but after the next one failed (as the ducks flew away), I tried the 3rd one in the magazine, and it failed as well.

So I loaded the next 3 from my pocket and about 1 hour later, one failed again.

With 4 ftf in a row, I walked to the truck and put in some old (3 year old) Winchester 2 3/4 super x lead shot and it 'just worked'. So I tried shooting one of the ftf and it would go off AFTER a lead one. By the end of my reshooting, it would take several attempts to get one of the steel shot shells to go off, usually after a lead one. Then I tried 2 leads in a row, and they were fine.

To repeat, the steel shells came from the store, and went to the field within 48 hours. The lead shells are 3 years old, and have spent a lot of time in a pocket...

Of the 6 steel I had with me, 2 refused to fire after multiple attempts, and all the lead ones went off.

Is it my gun, the ammo, or a combo?

Why did the steel shells go off after a lead one went off?

Thanks in adance
 
All the shells have a small dimple in the middle of the primer. The dimple is uniform, both in location and depth.
 
3006novice said:
All the shells have a small dimple in the middle of the primer.
Click to expand...

By "small", I assume smaller than you normally see in a fired shell? So the gun isn't hitting the primers hard enough.

Since it appears to be brand specific, I would guess that the heads of your shells are slightly oversize, or the rims slightly thick, AND that the chamber of your Benelli is rather tight. The bolt isn't able to fully close, and the firing pin is designed to not strike the primers if the bolt can't fully close. You are probably right on the margin of full closure, so the firing pin reaches, but barely.

If I'm right, your options are to resize all your case heads before use, ream your chamber or switch to a different brand of ammo.

I know what I would do.
 
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