Interesting, I'm having trouble with them in a semi auto too,maybe 1 out of 50. These are new factory, my reloads are fine. I actually just put in a new extractor and polished the chamber. Glad you posted this.

 

My Briley tubes are fussy with ammo. Any steel-based hulls stick in mine, even had the tubes practically eject with RIO's.

 

20 gauge empties sticking in tube chambers is a frequent problem. Usually it is with shells with steel rims. Which shells stick in which tubes varies with tubes and ammo brands. Some do, some don't. There seems to be no method to accurately predict which ammo will stick in which tubes other than trial and error.

I suggest trying a box of a given brand in your tubes before buying in quantity.

 

I had Briley and Kolar tubes. Both wanted AAs or REM and nothing else.

 

It's completely luck of the draw, some tube sets have problems with anything but AA or STS, and some tube sets don't have problems with anything you stuff in them, and some tube sets are somewhere in the middle. And it doesn't seem that there's much that can be done if your tubes don't like steel head hulls.

 

Yes Common problem....Same thing with my Kolar 20 gauge tubes Sent them back to Kolar and they polished and reamed the inside of the tubes....this helped....for awhile. Either send back or polish your self with some Fitz ... Keep them clean and polished and then I put some light oil - small amount inside the tubes where the cases stick.
The issue is the cheap thin steel they use on cheap shells.....the good shells use brass

 

Three sets of Kolar tubes, all three are fine with Gun Clubs and white box Winchester. Two are fine with Top guns third is 5050.

 

The host gun can also be part of the problem.

When I was shooting a Kolar the 20GA tubes did not like high brass 20GA shells. No amount of polishing or cleaning would cure it. Low brass 20's were never a problem.

I'm now shooting a K80 which will extract anything. That said, you can really feel the difference when shooting the high brass 20's when you open the gun but they don't get stuck.

 

I'll assume the Kolar gun has Kolar tubes. What tubes are in the K-80?

I have witnessed that the Briley tubes tend to have less trouble than the Kolar tubes. In fact, I've swapped flats of shells with guys to avoid shooting the NS 20's in my Kolar gun, while they have no problem shooting them in a Briley-tubed gun..

 

I have seen it at my club both with a Kolar and a Blaser using 20ga. tubes.

 

I also recently sent my tubes back for a couple things. They also installed heavier ejector springs, and polished the chambers.

I no longer have the Fed Top Guns sticking, but the Noblesports still occasionally stick. It is much better now than before.

I also had them replace the chamber buttons on 20 and 410. They said the 28 didn't need replacing, which makes sense, since the 28 ga only get fired in tournaments, never for practice.

The taller the brass, which is steel on the problem hulls, the more likely it is to stick.

 

Kolar tubes in the Kolar gun

Briley tubes in the K80

 

I think the Federal 20 top guns are high brass, that extra length makes them stick. Promo ammo by some other manufacturers over the years had high brass and did the same. As someone else mentioned, "brass" that's actually steel is also a problem.

 

Kolar tubes - brand new fitted to the ZOLI shotgun - the same issue with 20 GA Federal Top Guns. Even if we tried to lubricate that area - nothing helps. We are using empty hull to eject fired hull.
Even worse situation with .410 - high base ammo stick in the tubes - Briley or Kolar.

 

Any high brass 20ga can be problematic. Some brands more than others, but IMO all target loads should have low brass.

 

Yes. It’s a real PITA. The collet on the mec reloaders are not able to resize the longer brass that’s on the Federal hull. When you try to tighten the collet it addresses the top portion of the brass, the bottom portion of the brass by the lip is where it gets stuck. Factory Federal shells get tremendous results and I fully realize that and any change to manufacturing can be very expensive, but firmly believe that if Federal redesigned their shells by using a smooth plastic and necked down their brass their business would increase significantly.

 

I wonder if the high "brass" (steel) on Federal 20 gauge target loads is related to their high base-wad?

 

Update to my original post. 3 rounds of practice today, 2 with Top Gun and about 40% stuck. 3 so badly it took several passes with a knocker and the primer came out before the hull did. Last round was with Super Target (also steel base) and only one stuck and popped out with my finger. I've used a lot of these shell in years past with no ejection issues. I've contacted Federal and waiting for a reply.

 

Those top gun empties look an awful lot like Rio hulls. Rio and Cheddite have sold hulls to American ammo manufacturers for some years. Rio typically features the unusually high brass with a little crimp just short of the plastic as shown in your photo. Rio branded shells stick in several of my guns of all gauges.

 

Got a reply from Federal this morning. They didn't address the problem specifically but did offer to have the shells picked up and issue a refund. Good customer service.

 

Pondering....if shells work in standard guns, are they defective if they stick in modifications of those guns (tubes)?

 

Good question. The only other 20 gauge I have is a Winchester 37 youth model that has been set aside for my great grandson. Took it to the back porch and tried 2 rounds. Both stuck.

 

In my Kolar tube set the .410 and 28 eject anything I run through them but my 20 does not. Have a friend with the same setup he had the same problem. Winchester AA’s are all my 20 will eject the AA shells are smooth and most others I’ve tried are not they are rough or ribbed.

 

I have a Kolar shotgun with Kolar tubes and can shoot reloaded Federal ammo with about 4 getting stuck but it only takes hooking the rim of the stuck shell with the rim of another empty to get them out quite easy. I have great success with the Remington Gun Club shells no matter how many times they have been shot plus they are as tough as nails when it comes to how many times they can be reloaded.

 

Are these new shells or reloaded shells?

 

New

 

A guy at the club sold me a flat of Rio 20 ga last week. Thursday night, I opened a box, and had 2 of 4 stick on station 1.

Sold the flat to a buddy who shoots Briley tubes, he has no issue with them.

 

i found it started happening a couple of years ago when the box changed from the old to the new printing. I assume something changed in the manufactureing of “new” shells. They would stick in my Kolar tubes as well as one of the other guys I shoot with. I sold the Kolar but my friends Kolar does it with the noble sport 20ga high brass shells also. It seems the the Kolar tube chambers are on the small side of the tolerance.

 

Some hulls just don't work with some tubes.

Only option is to switch to a hull or shell that will work.

I'm not aware of any method that will solve the sticking problem. It's just luck of the draw. Some shells work perfectly fine in some tubes, but not at all in others.