Enlarge barrel hood to fix FTF

[negev5021 25]

I posted in another section I was having failures to feed, the most predominant one for me looked like this:

 

 

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It occured more often than I would ever expect and it seemed the barrel "hood" was not long enough. After reading ad nausium I found several mentions of barrel hood enlargement, but never got the true low-down. So I took my S12 to a fellow shooter who has a machine shop, and had him add some material to the barrel hood. I took some measurements before:

 

 

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Then off I went. We decided to weld w/stainless steel, as it would not require refinishing upon completion. I must say I was sceptical as I never have done something like this, but figured if it came out all jacked up I could alway get it back to the way it was. After the welding in looked like this:

 

 

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It added about 3/16 or so, and was pretty rough. I went straight to work on smoothing it out, and with minimal effort got it to here:

 

 

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It is back to functioning level, that is the bolt closes the same as before, and it clearly catches the shell better, with I believe no chance of the same ftf. I am thinking of grinding some more to make it smaller, and the underside is tough to get to, so still a bit of work in process. I have yet to test fire and will post again when I do.

Edited May 25, 2010 by negev5021

[Cobra 76 two 2,677]

Watching this topic...thanks for sharing. As I stated before, I have a 410 that needs this same mod. The barrel hood on it was shortened some by the previous owner for some unknown reason.

 

[negev5021 25]

Got out to the range over the weekend, and am pleased to say I did not have the FTF problems I had before. I did the best I could to polish/smooth the added tap, and it is in my opinion a fuctional modification for the original problem. Here is a pic:

 

 

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I squared things up a a bit and shorted to overall length of the tab, and am happy with the results.

[12 Guage Ninja 1]

Mine has the same ftf problem, but only when I rapid fire it as fast as I can. The shell jams up in the same spot. But When I fire it about one round per second it never has a problem.

[Racer 27 37]

I had ftf like that when I made some mags. I fixed it by using the AGP spring instead of the surefire spring and I haven't had one happen again.

 

I would still like to do this but I'm scared about taking a welder to my shotgun. That looks pretty good in the last pic.

[Paulyski 2,227]

That perticular FTF issue is usually because your mag spring can't keep up.

I would ask 2 questions.

 

1- with the mag dissassembled & using a shell as a feeler gauge, is there ANY drag whatsoever on a shell at the mouth (top) of the mag? There's not supposed to be. If there is, It'll cause drag, slowing down the shell & it will cock up & feed like that. The fix is just like the Promag, but with the Surefire, you only have to do it once.

 

2- do you have those issues with the Russian 5, or just the surefire?

 

Also Racer's right about surefire springs being weaker than AGP.

 

But, as long as it locks up right, I guess it's a safeguard. Next smooth the front of the extractor slot a touch (tiny bit) so that can't grab the shell.

[negev5021 25]

I have the trouble most with the surefire 12 round - which is the money mag for 3 gun...I looked up the agp springs and they say they are for the 10 rounder, so not sure if it will help the surefire 12 round. I know it was a rifle fix for a mag problem, but it worked and kept me tinkerin with the Saiga.... really don't know what I will do with myself when it is completely up and running - probably will do a refinish or left side charging handle...