H&R Ultra Slug

[questor]

Today I took a friend to the range so he could sight in his weapon along with his fathers. Both weapons are one year old H&R 12 ga, 3" Ultra Slug Hunter with Thumbhole Stock.


He was shooting; 2 3/4" Winchester Supreme & 2 3/4" Remington Premier Core-Lokt Ultra. Both weapons has numerous misfires with both ammo, the primers had an indent, but not enough to ignite.

His weapon has been back to the factory twice for the same problem and still unresolved.

Anyone have any words of wisdom and or experience with this weapon?

[Helix_FR]

This seems to be a growing trend with the model. Your not the first post on this. 3 things come to mind
Firing pin is too short.
Burr or crud in the firing pin channel (factory should have caught this but who knows any more)
Main spring is week.

Due to the fact you had both acting this way, its a manufactures defect in either the pin length or the pin channel not being cut deep enough.

How is the lockup on the action? is it nice and tight?

[questor]

Originally Posted by Helix_FR

This seems to be a growing trend with the model. Your not the first post on this. 3 things come to mind
Firing pin is too short.
Burr or crud in the firing pin channel (factory should have caught this but who knows any more)
Main spring is week.

Due to the fact you had both acting this way, its a manufactures defect in either the pin length or the pin channel not being cut deep enough.

How is the lockup on the action? is it nice and tight?

dang, I must have missed the previous post, will perform another search.

For sure nice and tight.

[Helix_FR]

No biggie and I don't thing they ever posted the outcome. Now I did forget, this may also be due to the pin spring (it sits in front of the pin and pushes it back) It may be too long and a coil or 2 may need to be cut back to allow the pin to strike deeper. Caution need to be used b/c if the spring is 2 short it may allow the pin to protrude through the breech face slightly. You don't want that to happen.

[smyers717]

I experienced problems this year with misfires from Remington Accutip ammo in my 20gauge H&R Ultra Slughunter Deluxe. I used Lightfields the last two years and never had a misfire. On the day I had the misfires 2 out of 5 of the Accutips misfired. My gun shot 5 Remington Buckhammers and one standard Remington Slug fine. Remington tried to blame it on the hammer extension but did send me a check for 25.00 since I sent them 2 boxes back for testing. H&R advised that it must be the ammo. I have yet to drop the hammer in the woods on a deer this year but if it misfires I'll be using my T/C Encore Prohunter Muzzleloader for the rest of the season until I get the gun serviced.

[questor]

We in the Maryland area are fortunate of having the one of the best Match Gunsmiths in the US. I put the question to him and the following is his reply. Note: we never tested 3" rounds


***
I strongly suspect that the three inch chamber on that barrel is not seating the 2¾ shells tightly enough to allow for a headspace seal. It’s possible that the barrel/bolt would headspace with gages, but in actual real-world situations, the variance in the dimensions of shells might be just enough for it not to function. You didn’t mention if this gun works with the three inch rounds. If it does, you may have only three choices:

experiment with a bunch of different 2¾ brands to see if you can find one that works

use only three inch

or get the barrel replaced

I suppose the bolt could be bad, but my money is on the barrel chamber.

I can do some work on shotguns, but sorry, I couldn’t help with that. If you experiment some more, and it still continues to malfunction, try raising hell with the factory, which would be my road.

[Helix_FR]

This is a very interesting perspective on it and I would love to know the outcome on it. A barrel swap may fix the issue but since you have 2 that have this problem and I have heard of others, I'm thinking a manufactures defect. Refacing the barrel with a break action is not as simple as it sounds. The lug pin in the receiver would also have to be replaced with a thicker stud to make up for the gap. His suggestions are very good. Try different shells. Or better off measure the rims of the shells you did use with a micrometer and then head to the store and measure until you find a brand thats thicker. Just warn the shop workers what your doing

[SlugThrower]

I belong to a hunting club consisting of 35 guys. We hunt the Jersey pinelands. 14 of us hunt with 12 Ga. H&R Ultra Slug guns and two others use the 20 Ga. version of that same gun. None of the 12 Ga. Ultra Slugs have misfire problems but both of the 20 Ga. versions have had to be sent back to H&R for just that problem. This is the first time I have heard of any 12 Ga. H&R Ultra Slugs misfiring but I have heard of numerous 20 Ga. Ultra Slugs with the problem. It makes you wonder if they moved some people from the 20 Ga. line to the 12 Ga. line doesn't it? H&R better find out who it is that decided to day-dream rather than focus on his or her job before they start losing business bad.

By the way, all 14 of the 12 Ga. Ultra Slugs are real shooters. Before getting my 12 Ga. Ultra Slug, I wouldn't have believed any slug gun could shoot this accurately. They are heavy and butt-ugly but boy can they shoot!

[Roadkil]

I have encountered a similar issue; however, with my Mossberg 500 while using Remington 2 ¾” sabot slugs. The failure to fire has always occurred in cold conditions and when examining the slug you could see an indent in the primer, but it was very light.

This would occur sporadically but when it occurred it was always cold weather conditions. Eventually after several attempts it would fire. I have yet to test this under the same conditions with other slug manufactures, but it very well could be the way in which the slug is manufactured with the seating of the primer. I would use the same gun for squirrel season late in the year (different barrel) and would shoot Federal ammunition 4 shot high brass shells and I never once experienced a failure to fire when I pulled the trigger in cold weather conditions. This unscientific experience has me leaning toward the ammo manufacturer though.

Until I actually test my ammo theory with several different brands of ammo, it remains only a theory as it could very well be the spring, or the pin, or the way the slide sets in the receiver, etc. But since this issue has cost me a deer or three over the last few years I have switched to a muzzleloader for all my deer hunting.

[LesLee]

Originally Posted by questor

Today I took a friend to the range so he could sight in his weapon along with his fathers. Both weapons are one year old H&R 12 ga, 3" Ultra Slug Hunter with Thumbhole Stock.


He was shooting; 2 3/4" Winchester Supreme & 2 3/4" Remington Premier Core-Lokt Ultra. Both weapons has numerous misfires with both ammo, the primers had an indent, but not enough to ignite.

His weapon has been back to the factory twice for the same problem and still unresolved.

Anyone have any words of wisdom and or experience with this weapon?

I have a Mossberg 835 12ga with a Slugster Barrel and before this I have never had misfire problems. I normally shoot Reminton Copper Solid out of the gun with no problems, but our BassPro was out of those shells last week. I bought 2 boxes of the 3” Premier AccuTip 385 Grain Bonded Sabot Slug shells. The first time I pulled the trigger on a doe the gun misfired making only a slight indention in the cap. I test shot the gun after that and the shot fired fine. The next time out I pulled the trigger twice on a nice wide 8 pt. buck and both times the gun misfired. Needless to say I ejected all those shells and will never try them again. I currently have a trouble ticket in with Remington to see if they will refund the money for the shells.