Weatherby SA-08...duh

kjohn

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A few years ago, I bought two really nice SA-08's, 12 & 20ga. I fired the 12 ga. a bit, but don't recall if I fired the 20 at the same time or not. Well, the clay pigeon season came along, and I got out the 20. Couldn't get it to load, short of dropping a shell in the side port. You guys with these shotguns will know where this is going.

Okay, consult Dr. Google. First video explains it quite nicely how you are to operate these actions. Jeez! When all else fails, rtfm.

Haven't been back out shooting since, so it will be a bit of a learning session. I was used to my dear old Beretta 301, and missed the extra little switch on the Weatherby. I'd like to get some use out of these guns before I croak or our wise government bans them.
 
Yea, google worked. Don't read the instruction manual, it's wrong...lol. I bought a Benelli SBE2 today so the daughter can use the Weatherby. Out of about 300ish rounds I had one failure to feed in some really ugly (or great! The hunt was great) conditions with the SA08.
 
I didn't actually read the manual. I watched a short video where the fellow explained how to load these shotguns. My fingers must have been covering the magic lever. I took the 20 ga. out and, lo and behold, it works just fine! I was using el cheapo Winchester ammo.
 
Had to tear mine down to pieces and clean the hell out of it to get it to cycle target loads. The spring in the butt stock was gummed up from the factory.
 
What has broke? Do you have one? These have been good guns to a couple friends so I’m wondering what to watch for.

I have seen 3 completely turd the bed in the field. It’s my own experience, your mileage may vary. I think the turks make some great stoegers... i have shot a beretta 1201, a sb2 and an a400. I hunt too few days to deal with unexpected hicups.
 
To be fair, the gun should be fine if you keep it clean. The issues I observed were a seized chamber and also some week extractors. Most of the time it cld be operator error. I hope your gun works well for you. The turks make some decent guns.
 
The stoeger m3500 is made in Turkey. Weak extractors, partial ejection, fail to eject and stovepipe. Seized chamber means buddy left the field unable to open the bolt. Not sure how that ended up as he was a tag along to the hunt. When you invite someone and then they bring an unwanted plus 1.
 
The "partial ejection", "stovepipe" and "fail to eject" problem could be that the operator had the wrong gas valve installed for the ammunition used which would have nothing to do with the ejector. The "seized chamber" issue is also probably not ejector related, more likely it would indicate poor maintenance or an ammo problem in my opinion.
 
Might be a dumb statement, but there is 2 different valves for light & heavy loads. With the heavy valve mine won't cycle skeet loads.

I have the same issue. Works great with hunting loads but won't reliably cycle skeet/light loads. A year or so ago I tried to locate the correct gas valve, but couldn't find one anywhere.
 
The "partial ejection", "stovepipe" and "fail to eject" problem could be that the operator had the wrong gas valve installed for the ammunition used which would have nothing to do with the ejector. The "seized chamber" issue is also probably not ejector related, more likely it would indicate poor maintenance or an ammo problem in my opinion.

Could be. I haven’t seen 3 other semis breakdown as much. I never inferred the seized chamber was ejector related. All i know is I was not impressed. I hunted a fellow who had several thousand rounds through his maxus and had zero issues.
 
I wouldn't be impressed if I saw 3 of the same kind of gun jam like that either but if they were having ammo problems, or incorrect operation (ie wrong valve), or maintenance problems then labeling the guns junk is not accurate. Lots of guys shoot semi's for thousands of rounds with no problems whatsoever and some don't, most often it comes down to maintenance or operator error.
 
I have 2 SA-08 in 20 ga and i never had any problems with them. That is the reason i bought the second one in deluxe version to be used when the weather is nice.
 
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