Versa Max owners did I get a lemon here???

rubberdown

rubberdown

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I took delivery of a new Versa Max a couple weeks ago and at first sight I thought my NEW gun might be a slightly USED gun. I talked to Remington and they have be believing it is not used so I said ok. I took it out today for some clay shooting and put my first 100 shells through it. We were using 2-3/4 x 7-1/2 shot for the day. At least 6 or 7 times the bolt didn't close on the 4th (last) shell. It would stay opened and in some cases the shell would fall out onto the ground. That's problem #1. The second pain in the arse issue was loading the magazine. I had to use another she'll to push the shells into the tube in order to get them to click and stay in the tube. It seems the feed latch assembly is just way way to tight.

I don't know if this is supposed to be normal until the gun is broken in or if this is a lemon but I was embarrassed and pissed off all at the same time.

For the feed issue maybe more oil or lube is required but I don't know.

Anyone with a Versa Max have similar issues and advice?

Anyone else saying I should have bought something else, thanks but not interested in any of the "I told you so" stuff, but thanks anyways.
 
No problems with mine. I know they do not recommend oiling it as it picks up dirt and dust. I did have a few issues FTE on low pressure trap for first hundred rounds after that no issues.
 
Most folks would just use their finger to push the shell into the magazine tube until it clicks past the shell latch. But yes, it is normal for a VM to be challenging to get a shell past the shell catch from factory. That's why folks shooting one in 3gun have to do 4 hours of work to it before it is a nice gun.

I would recommend cleaning inside the receiver and the outside of the bolt carrier, then oiling them when you reassemble.

The entrance of the chamber has a lot of sharp edges for the shell and bolt lugs and extractor to catch on. A little bit of sanding in those sharp corners and edges can help - or if done wrong it can ruin things.
 
shot some good magnum loads threw it to break it in ,then give it a heck of a good cleaning inside and out ,,should be good to go after that ,,,D
 
No issues with mine, light and heavy loads.
If your bolt won't close sometimes I assume the shell isn't being released hard enough from mag tube to trip the bolt. either your spring or the fact that the tolerances are too tight. considering how much force you have to use to put one in it, I'd say it's likely too tight coming out of the tube.
Maybe steel wool on a drill will solve it
 
If you are having shells eject on to the lifter but not get fed up into the chamber, there may be some sort of kink or blockage with your recoil spring.

When you say they sometimes fall onto the ground, are you saying the lifter is activating prior to the shell fully ejecting from the mag tube and just falling out of the gun?
That shouldn't be happening.

I'd strip the whole gun down and make sure its clean and nothing is binding in the mag tube or in the receiver/trigger group.

The mag tube should be dry (maybe a very light dusting of dry graphite powder)
The gas pistons should be dry, don't ever lube these, just keep them clean/free of excessive carbon buildup.
The bolt and receiver rails should be well lubed.

So many times I see people having issues with their guns just to discover they are bone dry in the receiver.
 
pauls said:
The mag tube should be dry (maybe a very light dusting of dry graphite powder)
The gas pistons should be dry, don't ever lube these, just keep them clean/free of excessive carbon buildup.
The bolt and receiver rails should be well lubed.

So many times I see people having issues with their guns just to discover they are bone dry in the receiver.
Click to expand...

Very sound advice.
Casey
 
The gun is clean, I didnt put anything in the mag tube, I put an extremely light coat of oil on the pistons and then wiped them off with a clean cloth just so they were not covered with anything else (sweat or moisture or anything for that matter) and the bolt assembly had a very light coating of Rem Oil on it, but again, very very light.

I talked to Remington in the US and they were ready to send me a new fore end to cure the "play" it has by the chamber until he found I was in Canada. As for the feed latch assembly, he didnt really have an answer. He gave me the # for Gravel to handle all Canadian issues and I spoke to June on the phone. She feels the same way I feel, this is unacceptable for a brand new gun to require so much force to load the magazine, and the play in the fore end is also something she said that is not right for a new gun. I will be sending it to them for either a repair or a replacement. I just hope I have it back before September 10th for the early Goose opener otherwise its the 870 coimg out of the safe to do the job.
 
It sucks to send the gun back for warranty. Hopefully the get it fixed/replaced and back in time. But, there's nothing wrong with an 870 either.
 
jackrabbit000 said:
It sucks to send the gun back for warranty. Hopefully the get it fixed/replaced and back in time. But, there's nothing wrong with an 870 either.
Click to expand...

Agreed, actually my 870 was my very first new gun I ever bought. It works great but I got spoiled when I got into a semi a few years back.
 
my versamax twice had a small hiccup in the first 50 rounds. id drop a round into the action and close the bolt. try to load the mag and the lifter couldn't be pushed up. opened and closed the bolt and all was normal. I have over 1000 rounds through it, over half r the cheapest clay loads I can find and not a single jam or issue except with baby magnums. I do believe and have seen that it is possible to over run the action with 2 3/4 inch baby mags. no bird shot ever did it in mine but some brands of 2 3/4 slugs did. switch to 3 inch and less ports are open and that issues solved. it patterened very well with the stock chokes, and the right ammo of course. the light recoil is why I bought it. it makes those 3 inch goose shells easy to shoot. I did lots of research online before buying it, and believe that it is among the best semi auto shotgun money can buy, probably the best for waterfouling.
 
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