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Old but New

H

hondo

.410
New guy here!
I have two 500's, (#1) one 5 years old set up for HD with a Burris Fastfire II reflex sight and (#2) the second one 3 years old used for target/field. Between them they don't have 500 rounds through them. Because of my small hands the slide release has always been difficult to use. While on line searching for extended chokes I found a reference to http://www.shotenarmory.com/. Low and behold they offer three styles of extended slide release levers. I ordered two and they arrived yesterday so I installed one on #2 while I had it opened up to change the safety button. Not too difficult to install but very fiddly lining everything up in the trigger group. It appears they were designed to better accommodate pistol grip stocks but the short style I bought fits the stock style stock and is very useful and easily assessable without changing my grip on the stock.
My biggest problem with shotguns is that frequently my left eye tries to become the dominant eye and really messes me up while shooting clay's with #2. A fiber optic sight front sight in an extended tube seems to help but I've only had one range session with it. What really helped but was ungainly, ugly and snagged on everything was a 6" x 1/2" SS pocket rule double sided taped to the rib adjacent to the stock front bead. I'm thinking along the lines of a 6" piece of 1/4" aluminum angle double sided taped on top of the rib but need to experiment with height of the vertical leg, length of the crutch and best placement location on the rib, probably next spring.
Of course with #1 that problem doesn't exist.
 
After my last trap/skeet session I decided to clean the barrel(s). Low and behold I noticed what seemed to be an inordinate amount of wad fouling right at the chamber mouth of both barrels. Chamber lengths in both barrels, 24" and 28", measured 3 1/4" in fact an unfired 3 1/2" shell will drop right in. I'm guessing that the wad jumping from the opened case mouth then entering the forcing cone made the deposits. In contrast there were no deposits in the Carlson extended skeet choke and by the way I was shooting Estate 7 1/2 and 9 loads. I'm ordering some Cerosafe to do a chamber cast and check the forcing cone. I'm going to contact the range I frequent to see if they have a patterning frame to determine what I've got and if a problem exists.
 
Grrrrrr, I went to the range, Camp Atterbury, yesterday to shoot some skeet and had some bad luck. After the second shot the hull jammed in the chamber and/or the bolt carrier jammed. Anyways, I had another weapon and soldered on. I had cycled the action over 100 times while watching TV without any issues after installing the extended slide release lever, the safety functioned as designed, so?
This weapon's slide action has always been very stiff so maybe with disassembly the tight spot will show itself.
 
Winchester Universal hull's oversize?? The fired hull will drop into the chamber until the brass reaches the chamber then the hull requires some effort to complete the insertion. Anyways, problem solved, not a weapon issue! I also found interference on the bottom of the barrel at the flat spot designed I guess to clear the end of the slide where the arms are attached. The damage is a shallow scrape roughly 1/8" wide x 2" long centered on the flat area. I've polished it a little and if no other areas of tightness show up I'll polish it out.
 
I visited a new gun shop before Christmas and discovered that you can shoot shotguns and rifles in their indoor range. As soon as the weather warms up a little I'm going to exercise my HD 500.
 
I cannot personally confirm this, but I have read that after firing the steel on the Winchester Universal shells will sometimes expand, causing them to get stuck. I may go out to the patterning range this weekend with some Winchester Universal shells to try them out.
 
Every time I use those Winchester shells of any kind even after polishing the chamber they still stick in my 500 SP.
 
Hondo, you mentioned Point Blank, are you in the greater Cincinnati area and have we discussed this before? lol Sorry, my memory sucks at this sometimes.

How's the left eye dominance issue going? Maybe an eye patch?
 
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