I have an old sears 12ga semi-auto. It will not cycle with regular 2 3/4 " field loads, but it will cycle with 3" 00 buck shot. Now it is marked as 2 3/4" or 3" magnum loads only. What is it that makes it a magnum load is it the pressure? If so what is that pressure? I love to shoot this old thing but 00 does not make for very good clay pigeon busting!!! Any advice would be greatly welcomed!! Thanks in advance!!! :mrgreen:
Magnum loads for shotguns are traditionally heavy payloads at moderate velocity. The powders used in them are large quantities of slow burning powder to keep peak pressure within the limit. The large mass of powder translates to a large amount of hot gases at the gas ports of an autoloader, enough to cycle a magnum only gun.
In 2-3/4", a magnum is traditionally 1-1/2 oz of lead at 1260 fps.
A 3" magnum is traditionally 1-7/8 oz of lead at 1210 fps. There are faster 1-5/8 oz loads that will cycle that gun as well. It is also possible some budget duck loads would cycle it, but they contain steel shot and might damage that old gun, and still cost twice as much as target loads.
I would suggest using another shotgun for clay shooting, rather than shooting magnums for clays. Shooting mags you will develop a flinch in no time and they are very expensive.
Another option - simply load one target load at a time in the chamber and work it by hand for backyard clays.
Check the pressure of the shells that you are using. I would say some where in the 10,000 psi range or close to it. If you reload you can load shells in the same pressure range and they will work in your gun.
Had a semi like that, would only cycle heavy (magnum) loads. Started to load high pressure light loads and they (the loads) worked the action in the gun. I was shooting light 1 and 1 1/8 oz. loads out of a magnum 1100.
I'd go along with the cleaning. I'm not familiar with the 1100 but I have a Winchester 1400 16 gauge and in the book it gave a size I could open up the gas ports on the barrel to allow for lighter loads. It cycles 3/4oz loads in the 8000psi range now. Clean is the name of the game in gas autos.
My first thought was plugged gas ports. I made sure they were cleaned and in good order. I then did some checking into it and found that it was not possible to "adjust" it to cycle with a lighter load without changing out the action spring. I have no idea where to even begin to look for a lighter spring. I like the idea of reloading a high pressure light load rnd for it. I think I will give that a try!! Thanks guys!!!!
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