Semi Auto's

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jigger08

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I'm looking for a quick education on semi-automatic shotgun function folks.Which is likely to provide more reliable cycling,gas operated or recoil operated?Would like to be able to cycle the light loads as well.Is there any sort of telltale visual clue as to wether a shotgun is gas or recoil operated?Any insight would be appreciated.
 
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to find a recoil operated shotgun today your choices are quite limited since most semi's are gas operated. in fact the vast majority are. older model guns such as the franchi 48, remington 11-48 and browning auto 5 were all recoil operated. the recoil operated system was the original from john browning. most shooters will agree a gas operated semi is more pleasant to shoot, recoil wise, and most today will self regulate from low brass shells right up to 3.5 mag.. on the down side , some gas semi's are tempermental and need to be kept clean,especially in cold weather to cycle properly . the old recoil system is not nearly as apt to malfunction because of dirt, too much lube or crud. there are some good deals out there for some of these older recoil system shotguns.
 
For a gas gun, the visual clue is some sort of gas vent near the front of the forestock. It could be a metal hole, or just two large cutouts along the top of the barrel/forestock interface.

The long recoil guns - where the entire barrel recoils back into the receiver - simply try to push the barrel back into the receiver. It takes maybe 15+ pounds of force to do so. Browning A5, Savage 775, Ithaca/SKB 900, Franchi 48, etc.

The short recoil guns the visual clue is ? a long receiver?
 
Thanks fellas.I was not aware thet recoil cycling was phasing out.Armed with this new knowledge,I'm off to the E.E to spend again.
 
The short recoil/inertia guns are reputed to stay cleaner. My A5 also stays pretty clean. The gas guns need a little extra care and cleaning, but nothing more than a spray, wipe, relube. Gas guns should easily go a season without attending to the gas system.

Some of the older gas and long recoil guns weren't very flexible w.r.t. shotshells. A magnum gun was designed for magnum shells only; a regular gun was designed to only operate with 2-3/4" shells. You might get away with it both ways on some guns, but not guaranteed. The newer guns for the most part are super flexible - 1-1/8 oz target loads to big magnums.

I've read about South American lodges which cater to dove hunters, who can shoot thousands of rounds per day. The only guns they kept as client backup guns - the only ones that always functioned - were Browning A5s.
 
The recoil operated guns are more than reputed to stay cleaner than gas operated. Having owned both and shot them extensively my Benelli Super 90 is a five minute cleaning job compared to a the thirty or so minutes to clean the 391 Beretta I used to own. Always curse getting that gas valve cleaned on the Beretta even with a coating of Break Free on it.

With the Benelli swab the barrel and drop the bolt out and give that a wipe. Couple drops of oil on the rails and back together good to go. Drop out the trigger group a couple times a year and wipe it off but that is a niceity and not a necessity.

Likewise the old A5 gets the barrel wiped out and gun wiped down however I've never attempted to get inside the receiver. No gas crud build up at all.

I'm definatley a fan of the recoil operated both in maintenance and range / field.

But the gas guns are nice to shoot and still have a 391 Gold Sporting 20 gauge in the rack. Nothing against gas operated shotguns but I like those Benellis especially the Super Sport for clays.
 
you're not going to get a burnt powder (gas build up) in a recoil operated semi that doesn't use the force of burning powder to bleed off to work a gas system. therefore recoil operated systems are not nearly so apt to be affected by crud. my browning auto 5 had two recoils, one from the shot and the other from the barrel sliding back into the reciever. but gas operated systems have to be cleaned regularly to guarentee constant cycling.but gas operated are nice to shoot.
 
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