longshot
05-09-2016, 11:22 AM
Well I have been usung my 870 SuperMag since 2006, and after roughly 6000 rounds, it is in need of a full rebuild. This gun stood up to the worst abuse and never had a hiccup, until late last season where the poor thing wouldn't even cycle anymore. And after picking up a new nice wood semi auto in December, I figured it was time to get a new salt chuck rainy day mud flat gun. I wasn't a fan of the 3.5" feature of the 870, nor do I care for 3.5", so for a while I have been looking for the right black 3" pump gun with a shorter 26" bbl and add my choice of extended wad stripping choke for the length difference. I shouldered everything the had available in Canadian tire, cabelas, and wholesale sports. The only one that caught my real attention and fit perfectly, aside from another 870, was the Winchester SXP. It simply fit, and was balanced perfect. So I put in my order for a Black 3" 26" bbl SXP, and a patternmaster code black duck.
Picked it up from Wholesale Sports here in Nanaimo on Tuesday, got it home and stripped it right down for its initial cleaning. The only thing I noticed the forend nut was loose and needed to be tightened.. no big deal but a bit of a surprise. Took it out for its first shoot yesterday, breaking it in with Kent 3" 1-1/4 #2. It patterned perfectly with the new choke. I tried some other shells and pellet sizes too but the first choice of Kent worked perfect. 1 problem..... IT WONT CYCLE ANY 3"!! Every time it went to take a shell from the bottom and moved up with the elevator, it simply would hit the beginning of the chamber due to the fat ejector spring tring to push the shell out while chambering.. 2-3/4 was fine as the bolt goes forward to flattens out the spring. Being upset, I just continued to push 75 3" rounds through it to break in the rest of the action.
After getting home, I spent probably 3 hours trying to set that ejector spring so it would flatten out just as the 3" shell is up on the elevator... not the most simple thing to do as it was VERY picky on how it was set. But I have finally bent the thing up enough to work flawless, but I don't think anyone should be needing to do this on a new gun. I am just going to order another ejector spring and install that, and hope it comes with the right bends from the factory.
All in all, a very nice shotgun, well balanced, shoots well now.. I am hoping it will live up the bar that my 870 has set. But would I buy another one? NOPE, I simply am very unimpressed by the quality control of this Turkish made Winchester. Maybe the 3.5" model wouldn't have this issue, but I feel like something like this would have been noticed if even dummy rounds were used for QC testing.
Longshot jr.
http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab139/canadian-longshot/20160503_183133_resized_zpsixbioebk.jpg (http://s857.photobucket.com/user/canadian-longshot/media/20160503_183133_resized_zpsixbioebk.jpg.html)
http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab139/canadian-longshot/20160503_183202_resized_zpsminjk906.jpg (http://s857.photobucket.com/user/canadian-longshot/media/20160503_183202_resized_zpsminjk906.jpg.html)
Picked it up from Wholesale Sports here in Nanaimo on Tuesday, got it home and stripped it right down for its initial cleaning. The only thing I noticed the forend nut was loose and needed to be tightened.. no big deal but a bit of a surprise. Took it out for its first shoot yesterday, breaking it in with Kent 3" 1-1/4 #2. It patterned perfectly with the new choke. I tried some other shells and pellet sizes too but the first choice of Kent worked perfect. 1 problem..... IT WONT CYCLE ANY 3"!! Every time it went to take a shell from the bottom and moved up with the elevator, it simply would hit the beginning of the chamber due to the fat ejector spring tring to push the shell out while chambering.. 2-3/4 was fine as the bolt goes forward to flattens out the spring. Being upset, I just continued to push 75 3" rounds through it to break in the rest of the action.
After getting home, I spent probably 3 hours trying to set that ejector spring so it would flatten out just as the 3" shell is up on the elevator... not the most simple thing to do as it was VERY picky on how it was set. But I have finally bent the thing up enough to work flawless, but I don't think anyone should be needing to do this on a new gun. I am just going to order another ejector spring and install that, and hope it comes with the right bends from the factory.
All in all, a very nice shotgun, well balanced, shoots well now.. I am hoping it will live up the bar that my 870 has set. But would I buy another one? NOPE, I simply am very unimpressed by the quality control of this Turkish made Winchester. Maybe the 3.5" model wouldn't have this issue, but I feel like something like this would have been noticed if even dummy rounds were used for QC testing.
Longshot jr.
http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab139/canadian-longshot/20160503_183133_resized_zpsixbioebk.jpg (http://s857.photobucket.com/user/canadian-longshot/media/20160503_183133_resized_zpsixbioebk.jpg.html)
http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab139/canadian-longshot/20160503_183202_resized_zpsminjk906.jpg (http://s857.photobucket.com/user/canadian-longshot/media/20160503_183202_resized_zpsminjk906.jpg.html)