Inertia guns 3" shells

hunter24605

Handloader
Apr 30, 2016
2,359
3,576
Considering handing down my 835 Ulti Mag to my nephew, and I'm looking at a Weatherby Element 12 gauge for turkey this spring. My concern is how will it chamber/eject the 3" shells. I used to have a Remington 1100 (gas gun) that did well with 2-3/4" but the 3" shells would constantly stovepipe. The Weatherby is inertia operated, and I don't know if that's a more reliable system, or not. Pump actions are very scarce around here right now, except for a few short-barrel tactical models.
 
I've been using my Benelli M2 inertia gun with 3" shells for waterfowl a bunch. Does fine, better the 2.75" club loads in really cold weather.
 
Franchi affinity, basically benelli m2, runs everything with no issues and can go forever between cleaning!


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We have a Benelli Montefeltro for my son. Inertia gun. Honestly, it’s been reliable but it’s a kicking SOB in my opinion. I’d look at a Beretta.
 
Great to hear guys, thanks for the input... I think I'll head over and pick it up today before somebody snatches it up..The shotgun racks are bare around here and choices are severely limited. From what I've read it's a solid performer.
 
gbflyer":37roq2yv said:
We have a Benelli Montefeltro for my son. Inertia gun. Honestly, it’s been reliable but it’s a kicking SOB in my opinion. I’d look at a Beretta.

I do like Beretta, but there isn't hardly anything to choose from on the racks. I used to have a light weight Mossberg Turkey Thug . With 3" or 3.5" turkey loads, that rascal would thump the devil out of you! You had to wait for your eyeballs roll back forward to see if you hit anything LOL
 
That old 835 is quite the thing. Mossberg's idea of how to get 10g payloads out of the 12g gun and I think the first commercial gun chambered for 3.5" shells.

I would be tempted to say for recoil reduction get a gas gun, just my 2c.

Scrummy
 
Muntjac":15rgug31 said:
That old 835 is quite the thing. Mossberg's idea of how to get 10g payloads out of the 12g gun and I think the first commercial gun chambered for 3.5" shells.

I would be tempted to say for recoil reduction get a gas gun, just my 2c.

Scrummy
I had a Remington 11-87 Super Mag 3.5" 12 gauge. Even though it was a gas gun, the 3.5" 2.25 oz turkey loads pounded you pretty good. The gun wouldn't cycle 2.75" or 3" shells so I ended up selling it.

JD338
 
JD338":17u93vz0 said:
Muntjac":17u93vz0 said:
That old 835 is quite the thing. Mossberg's idea of how to get 10g payloads out of the 12g gun and I think the first commercial gun chambered for 3.5" shells.

I would be tempted to say for recoil reduction get a gas gun, just my 2c.

Scrummy
I had a Remington 11-87 Super Mag 3.5" 12 gauge. Even though it was a gas gun, the 3.5" 2.25 oz turkey loads pounded you pretty good. The gun wouldn't cycle 2.75" or 3" shells so I ended up selling it.

JD338

I understand with some of the earlier designs of 3.5" guns they were 3.5" guns, only.

Something like a Maxus or SX3/4 would be my choice

Scrummy
 
Some of the Remingtons were designed for 3.5” only. Remington actually did make the parts available for them to cycle lighter loads.

I have an 11-87 Premier as my turkey gun, and it has never had an issue with 3”loads. I’ve shot thousands of 2 3/4 inch shells through it with zero issues.
 
I had a Winchester SX3 for a long time but I always had an issue with the distance from the pistol grip to the trigger. With short fingers, I could get enough finger on the trigger. I've switched to a Browning A5 Hunter about 5 years ago and love it. It gets used for upland, snow geese in the spring and turkeys.
 
So I finally got to take the Weatherby Element out this morning. I took along 2-3/4” target loads, 2-3/4” game loads and 3” turkey magnum loads. I tried the 2-3/4” target loads first and the first 2 stovepiped. Switched to the 2-3/4” game loads and it ran 15 of them without a hiccup. It also performed perfectly with the 3” turkey loads. I switched back to the 2-3/4” target loads and this time it did perfect with the remaining 18. Guess it just needed loosened up with the heavy stuff first. I have a Carlson turkey choke arriving in a couple days, so I can get out and pattern it..Also it points well and recoil is quite a bit tamer than the lightweight mossberg. A total of 45 rounds of various loads and, aside from the first two, it performed flawlessly.


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