New Shotgun

[Griff]

A few months ago I got a new Cimarron 1878 Shotgun to replace my TTN.  Gunsmith took my TTN in trade as it wasn't repairable.  It would drop open to almost 90º. which made it pretty awkward to empty and reload.  Yesterday, I loaded a couple hundred BP rounds on the Hornady 336, which is still giving me a few hiccups.  I had about 7 or 8 rounds that either I forgot the wad or they got deformed in the crimp area.  It's a process.  Anyway, I took them outside the just pop them off and retry to load.  I grabben the Cimarron and dropped two in, and... The action wouldn't close and lock!  Shot them up with the old Stoeger I've had since 1986.  And today I inspected the Cimarron.

I have no idea what they were, but I found 2 small disks of some flattened material stuck to the underside of the barrels.  Just thick enough to hold the barrels off the water table and keeping the latch from closing.  They cleaned off pretty easily, and now it closes completely.  The two small disks were about .010" thick, and about .26" in diameter.  They are pretty hard, but flexible.  I.e., bends easily.  I don't see how they be flattened shot or what.  Both were under the left barrel.

i have no idea how, where they were picked up from, as when I picked it up from the safe, it was latched closed.  This loading session is the 1st time I've used reclaimed shot, so whether they were deformed shot that fell out of the incomplete rounds when I tried to load it the first time.. or what!   I took them outside and tried to see if they'd burn... but no such luck.   There's a bit of oil there, so they could be powder flakes that were saturated, but they seem pretty hard for that.

Any ideas?

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[Griff]

Well, after studying on it a while, I tested how a #8 shot would react to being smashed in the action. Laid a single shot on the water table and tried closing the shotgun. A couple of attempts, and viola! A disc about .010" and about .26" in diameter! Mystery solved!

[GunnyMack]

That was my 1st thought as I have seen that numerous times. I've had it happen and seen others struggle with closing a gun during a match. One time as a Referee I stopped the round took the gun from the shooter and took the gun down and multiple pieces of shot fell from the receiver, some round some smashed. It happens.

[Griff]

That was my 1st thought as I have seen that numerous times. I've had it happen and seen others struggle with closing a gun during a match. One time as a Referee I stopped the round took the gun from the shooter and took the gun down and multiple pieces of shot fell from the receiver, some round some smashed. It happens.

In 40 years of using a double, 50 years of reloading my own shotshells, I haven't ever had it happen to me. I'm sure it happens to others, just never witnessed it. I'll blame it on me learning how to operate this 366 shotshell reloader. The little MEC 600 Jr I've used all that time is so simple... and this thing is far more complicated than my Dillon 550s. In fact, they're simple compared to this thing. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it sooner... or later. Hopefully, it's sooner! I get my hulls for free, so burnin' thru those ain't a problem... but I hate losing the primers, powder & shot!

[GunnyMack]

I load my match / international ammo on a Dillon SL900, very VERY rare to have a fubar but on my small gauge MEC Grabbers I have lots of them!
I'm not familiar with the 366 so I cant help.
Always have to keep ol Mr Murphy in the back of your mind...