My SA-20 Changes and Fixes
- Thread starter Darth
- Start date
got my sa-20 yesterday. shot it left-handed with right hand safety...at skeet club. shot 3 rounds of 25. three times when i closed breach,shell fired! very dangerous! love gun. throws my low brass 7/8 oz reloads 10 feet.no kick at all. but spring that closes bolt is very strong. of course i'll return this gun but has anyone had this occurence? safety was off each time,gun pointed down range but scared us all. no problem with safety on.
by the way,it appears i must get a left handed trigger machined to switch safety. are any available with thumb safety?
thanks much
by the way,it appears i must get a left handed trigger machined to switch safety. are any available with thumb safety?
thanks much
Wrap Ninja
Copper BB
All great info. Thanks for the wealth of knowledge. I'm new to the gun world, and trying to learn all I can. I just purchased my 1st shot gun. I had my heart set on the 930 spx, but really wanted some thing the whole family could shoot and manage, so I found my self with the SA20. I am a little disappointed in how it doe not cycle the shells as it did on promo videos, and how difficult it is to remove the shell limiter dowel.
Can anyone point me in the right direction to "dowel removal on a SA20 for Dummies" video. I need a play by play.
Can anyone point me in the right direction to "dowel removal on a SA20 for Dummies" video. I need a play by play.
Wrap Ninja
Copper BB
Woah that was fast, are you on call. Lol.
Been all over YouTube, nothing so far.
still looking. Just yesterday I did pick up a few boxes of 2-3/4" & 3" slugs to see if that helps, also I noticed it helps if you hold the gun firmly against the shoulder when firing. If the gun moves back while firing, it seems to reduce the energy in the cycling making it less likely to eject and chamber the shells. Haven't had a chance to try the better ammo. But I'll keep you posted on how that helps. Thanks again for the fast response.
No problem, just on my break at work.
One thing to clarify, the 7/8th shot shells don't work 100% for me, but 7/8th slugs have never given me a problem. My thought was the slug seals tighter to the barrel, which allows the gasses to hit the piston with more pressure. Just a guess, but I haven't had problems with them.
Also, getting the plug out of the magazine tube was very easy, it's the retainer that kicked my ass.
I was trying to be gentle at first so that I could save the retainer. Ended up staying screw it, and just grabbed the little tab with some needle nose pliers, and wiggled it free. Never even put mine back in.
Hope that helps. You can reply here, or PM me if you have any other questions.
Best of luck!
Erik
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
One thing to clarify, the 7/8th shot shells don't work 100% for me, but 7/8th slugs have never given me a problem. My thought was the slug seals tighter to the barrel, which allows the gasses to hit the piston with more pressure. Just a guess, but I haven't had problems with them.
Also, getting the plug out of the magazine tube was very easy, it's the retainer that kicked my ass.
I was trying to be gentle at first so that I could save the retainer. Ended up staying screw it, and just grabbed the little tab with some needle nose pliers, and wiggled it free. Never even put mine back in.
Hope that helps. You can reply here, or PM me if you have any other questions.
Best of luck!
Erik
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
One other thing. Did you scan this post?
http://www.mossbergowners.com/forum/index.php?threads/11083/
I used this one to figure out how to get it out. The manual makes it look simple, even though it can be a struggle.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
http://www.mossbergowners.com/forum/index.php?threads/11083/
I used this one to figure out how to get it out. The manual makes it look simple, even though it can be a struggle.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
Wrap Ninja
Copper BB
Awesome, gonna check it out now. I'll let you know how it goes. I appreciate the help.
Wrap Ninja
Copper BB
Thanks and Big Props to Erik aka "1999nbmz" for sending me to the source. It was really pretty simple. So I made a video of the short process and posted it to you tube. It's the only one on there at the moment. Hopefully I can be as helpful to some one as Erik was for me.
Here is the link.
Mossberg SA20 Removing the Limiter Plug (Dowel):
Did you see this post?
http://www.mossbergowners.com/forum...20-round-fired-out-of-battery-safety-on.9581/
Seems like this may be a bit of a problem.
Mossberg Lover
Copper BB
All of this work from prior replies on this post was helpful but made think of more polishing that can be done while having the bolt release carrier out.
On the ejection side of the bolt carrier there is a very small dado that is milled into the underside of the slide (See photo) this is the surface that is used to ride along the tab that is on the "bolt release button" lever that is actuated by the "bolt release button" that the spring applies pressure to.
Manually cycle the action and you will see several things that this little dado controls as the carrier travels rearward then returning forward to "bolt lockup". Realize that the whole time the dado on the slide is engaged with this tab and the pressure from the spring of the "bolt release button" lever is forcing the carrier up against the guide channel on the opposite side of the receiver (see pictures). All of this is crucial for proper function of the mechanism and applies "most" pressure to those surfaces.
What I went further to do was to remove the "bolt release button" lever pivot pin to remove bolt release lever to be able to polish the tab that rides along the carrier dado. This is tricky to properly do, with out damaging the pin. The pin will have to be pushed up through the hole on the bottom edge of the ejection port. ( i used a 3/32" drift that was not long enough to complete the removal of the pin and drill bit to complete removal).
Be careful not to lose the spring that is between the lever and receiver.
When replacing the lever, spring and pin make sure to not overdrive pin it into hole on the inside of the receiver or you will impinge upon the bottom of the carrier rail. How i gauged how deep I had "reset" the pin was to SLOWLY reinsert until the lever properly functions again and did not wiggle. THIS IS VERY CRUCIAL step!!!
After all disassembly was completed I used 400 sand paper/800grit/ 1500 grit/2000grit very lightly and FLITZed until all surfaces were "polished". I then lubed everything reassembled and WOW the difference.
On the ejection side of the bolt carrier there is a very small dado that is milled into the underside of the slide (See photo) this is the surface that is used to ride along the tab that is on the "bolt release button" lever that is actuated by the "bolt release button" that the spring applies pressure to.
Manually cycle the action and you will see several things that this little dado controls as the carrier travels rearward then returning forward to "bolt lockup". Realize that the whole time the dado on the slide is engaged with this tab and the pressure from the spring of the "bolt release button" lever is forcing the carrier up against the guide channel on the opposite side of the receiver (see pictures). All of this is crucial for proper function of the mechanism and applies "most" pressure to those surfaces.
What I went further to do was to remove the "bolt release button" lever pivot pin to remove bolt release lever to be able to polish the tab that rides along the carrier dado. This is tricky to properly do, with out damaging the pin. The pin will have to be pushed up through the hole on the bottom edge of the ejection port. ( i used a 3/32" drift that was not long enough to complete the removal of the pin and drill bit to complete removal).
Be careful not to lose the spring that is between the lever and receiver.
When replacing the lever, spring and pin make sure to not overdrive pin it into hole on the inside of the receiver or you will impinge upon the bottom of the carrier rail. How i gauged how deep I had "reset" the pin was to SLOWLY reinsert until the lever properly functions again and did not wiggle. THIS IS VERY CRUCIAL step!!!
After all disassembly was completed I used 400 sand paper/800grit/ 1500 grit/2000grit very lightly and FLITZed until all surfaces were "polished". I then lubed everything reassembled and WOW the difference.
Attachments
Mossberg Lover
Copper BB
here is the picture of the carrier dado. The picture is taken from the ejection port side of the bolt/carrier. if you look just under the front of the bolt you will find the radiused end of the slot in the carrier that runs along the tab on the upper part of the bolt release button lever. the next picture shows the underside of the carrier. the radius can be seen there.
Attachments
Mossberg Lover
Copper BB
this picture shows the slot in the receiver that the carrier slides in on the side opposite the bolt release. see the polished "high spots of the milling that smoothed out the movement of the carrier.
The bottom of that slot is just at the bottom of the ejection port
The bottom of that slot is just at the bottom of the ejection port
Attachments
Mossberg Lover
Copper BB
Remember, when polishing this slot only polish the "high" spots. Too much and the carrier might get sloppy and lead to more damage or malfunction.
That's a photobucket problem.
Actually, it's not a problem, photobucket opted to charge people $400 a year to share their photos now.
Obviously, like most folks, Darth decided not to pay photobucket their extortion money.