ShotGun HELP!!

[Bug44]

I am in no way a shot gun pro... I can count on one hand how many times I shot a shotgun... Anyways My grandfather just gave me his shotgun the other week. Winchester 1400 12ga. Semi Auto... It sat in the gun cabinet for YEARS! He also said that there has been less then 1 box shot through it, so its like new. Well I cleaned it best I could. Today I shot skeet for the first time, and actually I am a dam good shot! But I noticed when I shoot, the slide is a bit slugish... Sometimes it wouldn't even rack fully. It would go half way and stop, where I would have to manually push it forward into battery. Now I am assuming since it has been sitting for years and being a fairly virgin gun, it just needs broke in? I took it home and cleaned her up nice and good and oiled it up all nice. It seemed to do the trick. But once in a while while i was racking it would get a bit sluggish.. Now how would I go about fixing this? Could I do it myself? Or shall I take it to a gun smith? What would the cost be for him to clean her up and make it good?

Again I am no scatter gun wiz Just a green horn when it comes to shotguns.. Any help is well appreciated!!

[Bug44]

bump... i know someone knows

[NikeBauer21]

I'm not shotgun expert either, but it may be the ammo you are using, or it may be that it is just tight yet and needs to loosen up a little.

It may be something a little more involved, but I can't really tell without trying to fire it myself, but before you take it to a shop, I'd keep it oiled good, and shoot it a bit more and see if it continues to do it. You could always just ask next time you're at your dealer as well, see if they could prescribe the situation a little better.


(The shotgun sub-forum on here doesn't get a whole lot of traffic, otherwise I'm sure there's people on here who could help out)

[YBNORMAL]

Forgive a possibly stupid question, but what are you 'racking' if its a semiauto?

[NikeBauer21]

Forgive a possibly stupid question, but what are you 'racking' if its a semiauto?

Functions the same way as just about any other semi long-gun. You have to rack the slide to chamber the first round/shell, or if there's a jam.

[YBNORMAL]

Functions the same way as just about any other semi long-gun. You have to rack the slide to chamber the first round/shell, or if there's a jam.

Oh ok, thanks, it sounded in the OP that this was a cycling issue though......not just the first round that he was trying to chamber.

[hornady]

No expert but I have owned and worked on the 1400s a little. First off they were not known as a great shotgun. The two I owned worked great for me. Shot gun powder is very dirty, and I would recommend pulling the fore arm and barrel off, get a can of Tetra Gun Action Blaster and spray up in around the bolt. If your granddad used WD40 or 3 in1 on it over the years it may have gummed things up. I would not take the bolt out of the receiver. Working on mine. I would stripe the receiver and bolt down, but reassembled the bolt in a cardboard box; one wrong move and you will have pieces flying.

[NikeBauer21]

Oh ok, thanks, it sounded in the OP that this was a cycling issue though......not just the first round that he was trying to chamber.

From what I got out of it, it seems like it's both (I could be misunderstanding though).. But at the one point he said about it only going half way (jamming), forcing him to re-rack a shell, and another point he said about it being a little sluggish when racking it other times.

Either way, he's forced to re-rack it when the shell/carrier isn't going all the way forward.. Does seem like it's more-so when cycling though, which kinda makes me think that it could be the shells or else it's pretty gummed up and he can't see where it is exactly happening at... But like I said, I'm no shotgun expert so it's just a guess at this point without being able to see it..

[Grumpa72]

You said that you cleaned it the best you could. Did you follow the Winchester cleaning guide or did you clean what looked like it needed cleaning and lubing? It sure sounds like you have a dirty action and I would suggest a thorough cleaning by someone who knows how to do this.

Fwiw, I have an old Ithaca pump that was my bear gun when I lived in Alaska. It sat for 28 years and last week I finally cleaned it by taking it completely apart and lubing/oiling all of the required parts. It slides like warm butter now!

[Hawk]

The 1400 has a rotating locking lug bolt like a AR. That particular shotgun is really rough when it comes to manually working the bolt. It has a lot of resistance when pulling it back and you'll feel a "bump" part way back. The bolt should slam home pretty hard when you press the release in front of the magazine well. There are few things that are common problems with that shotgun. The magazine throat breaks and the return spring loses it's strength. I'm guessing the return spring is the problem. I'd disassemble it to make sure it's rust free and lubed. Replace the spring if you can find one.

Exploded view:
http://www.urban-armory.com/diagrams/win1400.htm

Start here for parts:
http://www.shotgunworld.com/parts.html

Manual:
http://media.winchesterguns.com/pdf/...l1400_om_s.pdf