I need some shotgun help please...

Chris Barton

Member
Messages
294
Location
Brentwood, TN
Tonight I bought my frist new firearm in over 30 years and I have a question that the manual nor my experience addresses. My new gun is a Yildiz 12ga over and under and will accept 3" magnum shell. I've never owned a shotgun that will fire 3" shells before and the two old shotguns I have now are 16ga and I've always shot 2.75" shells in them. So here's the stupid question; can the new Yildiz take any 12ga shell up to a 3" mag? Or, is it supposed to only shoot 3" shells? The owners manual (it's made in Turkey) is blissfully devoid of any details at all, in fact, it's mostly just pictures but, it never even mentions ammunition at all. Any advice would be helpfull.
 
Chris:

Shotgun shells headspace on the rim at the base of the brass part of the shell and thus your 3" mag capable 12 gauge can happily accept 2 3/4" non-magnum ammunition.

Just like I can safely (and, my shoulder says, happily) use the same 2 3/4" ammunition in my 3 1/2" magnum capable 12 gauge.

Go forth and let the clay pigeon population plague ye no more! :thumb:

And thanks for asking - better to ask than blow yourself up.
 
Thanks Mark,

I respect firearms as much or more so than my power tools and believe that practicing safety makes using them much more enjoyable. My other shotguns are handmedowns from my grandfather and while I've had lots of experience and training with firearms this was something unfamiliar. Better to ask a stupid question and only injure my ego than to take a chance and be a statistic. Thanks again!
 
Maybe you'll enjoy this

Though its a bit of a highjack ;)

Its a Parker VH model with birdseye stock my father made.
 
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Ken beat me to it. Never hesitate to ask that kind of question. And Mark's explanation is right on the money.
 
Many years ago I bought a 12ga single Cooey which would take up to 3" shells. I was told that I should try to use 3" as much as possible because if I was to use 2.75" a lot of the time, a powder residue would build in front of the short shell making it difficult to load the 3" when I wanted to use them if I switched sizes before cleaning it. I no longer have it and rarely used it anyway, but I am curious to know ....

Fiction or truth??

cheers eh?
 
John D,

That's a great side by side and the stock your dad made is spot on nice.

John B,

My grandad had a 22 cal rifle that would shoot shorts to LR loads and he swore that shooting anything but longs would cause problems with jamming. I saw this happen but, I don't know if the explantion he gave which, is the same as recounted to you, is the reason for the jams. I've also heard that shooting differing lengths of rounds in rifles can cause rings of pitting inside the barrel and that these can alter chambering of rounds but, never applied to shotguns.
 
Many years ago I bought a 12ga single Cooey which would take up to 3" shells. I was told that I should try to use 3" as much as possible because if I was to use 2.75" a lot of the time, a powder residue would build in front of the short shell making it difficult to load the 3" when I wanted to use them if I switched sizes before cleaning it. I no longer have it and rarely used it anyway, but I am curious to know ....

Fiction or truth??

cheers eh?

Not a silly question. No problem shooting 2 3/4" in a 3" chamber. This is probably a carry over from blackpowder days. Although, I don't believe there were 3" chambers back then but old tales do hang on. Youd do need to clean the gun occasionally, though. Also, Chris question was wise to ask. I'm borderline obsessive when it comes to firearms safety. BTW, I've never heard of the Yildiz brand. Presume it is Checzlosovakian import or some such.
 
John D,

That's a great side by side and the stock your dad made is spot on nice.

John B,

My grandad had a 22 cal rifle that would shoot shorts to LR loads and he swore that shooting anything but longs would cause problems with jamming. I saw this happen but, I don't know if the explantion he gave which, is the same as recounted to you, is the reason for the jams. I've also heard that shooting differing lengths of rounds in rifles can cause rings of pitting inside the barrel and that these can alter chambering of rounds but, never applied to shotguns.


Chris.....I think the jamming problem with 22 s ...shorts...longs.....long rifles could be related as your grandfather said. I only shoot 22 LR in my target pistol and rifle. A 22 shell is captured by the rim at the rear of the cartridge. IIRC...22 shorts....longs....LR are all different lengths and thus don't extend into the chamber to the same depth. Thus....shooting shorts has the potential of building a residue in front of it. This area could then restrict the longer 22 longs and long rifles from seating properly and jamming. I haven't seen a short in years so my memory could be failing me. I have a Ruger Mark II 22 pistol that the LOML gave me for shooting pistol sihouette competition and I have a 22 rifle that was the last gun my father owned. To get an accurate load with the 22 I just tried different brands and "models" until I found the one that gave that particular gun the best group at 100 and 200 yards and run with that load.

With centerfire rifles, at least mine, it's not a problem. I have 2 custom built rifles....one a 338-06 (short range elk rifle) and a 284 Remington (7mm-06) long range elk, deer and antelope rifle. I hand load for both and thus control the length of the overall cartidge size.

The 338-06 tries to act like a 338 Win Mag but with considerably less powder and kick. My favorite load is a 225 gr bullet.

The 7mm-06 long range flat shooting...tries to act like a 7mm Mag but again with less powder and kick.

I always clean my guns immediately after shooting them. If you use the shorter shotgun loads, I'd clean the gun before using 3" loads.

While shooting benchrest competition years ago, it was not unusual to clean and see other shooters clean their guns between targets as cleaning the barrel removed a possible unplanned variable.
 
Frank,
The Yildiz is made in Turkey and the exclusive importer is Academy Sports which should have some stores located in your area (they are mostly in the southeast). I did a few days of shopping around and this was the best gun for the money I could find. Think of it as the "Grizzly" of the shotgun world. I have attached some pictures. The engraving is very nice but, the checking on the forestock and hand grip are not top quality. The stock is solid "Turkish Walnut" and whatever that is looks very close to our home grown. As stated before, it's a 12ga, 3"mag with 28" over and under barrel.

I just got back from shooting 50 shells from it at our local skeet and trap range and can say that it's a great gun for the money and it performs well. I was also surprised that I managed to shot around a .650 on traps for the first time back in a while. I think I'll get a lot of enjoyment from this gun.
 

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OK, Chris. Looking good. Double barreled shotguns are expensive so not going with the best is very understandable. I see a couple things that would be different on the $5,000.00 to $15,000.00 models but functionality would not be noticably different. Fancy Turkish walnut is among the most beatiful and expensive wood in the world. Of course, there are different grades. I have an importer that sells blanks for upwards of $7,500.00 each. Those are King or Shiek quality.
 
Many years ago I bought a 12ga single Cooey which would take up to 3" shells. I was told that I should try to use 3" as much as possible because if I was to use 2.75" a lot of the time, a powder residue would build in front of the short shell making it difficult to load the 3" when I wanted to use them if I switched sizes before cleaning it. I no longer have it and rarely used it anyway, but I am curious to know ....

Fiction or truth??

cheers eh?
I'm no firearms expert but my guess is that you wouldn't have any problems because of the way shotgun shells operate. Most shotgun shells that I'm familiar with (and my experience is old) open outward when fired so the shell actually gets longer after it's fired. This folded section would protect the extra quarter inch from fouling.

But even if it didn't, my belief is that you wouldn't have residue buildup in that area. Modern powders burn pretty clean, and the heat and velocity in that area would keep it from building up to any great degree.

Most of my experience is with rifles, but I never had a wad of residue come out when I cleaned the barrel - just black color on the oil of the cleaning pad.

But in any case, you'd always clean the gun before putting it away, wouldn't you......

Mike
 
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I'm no firearms expert but my guess is that you wouldn't have any problems because of the way shotgun shells operate. Most shotgun shells that I'm familiar with (and my experience is old) open outward when fired so the shell actually gets longer after it's fired. This folded section would protect the extra quarter inch from fouling.

But even if it didn't, my belief is that you wouldn't have residue buildup in that area. Modern powders burn pretty clean, and the heat and velocity in that area would keep it from building up to any great degree.

Most of my experience is with rifles, but I never had a wad of residue come out when I cleaned the barrel - just black color on the oil of the cleaning pad.

But in any case, you'd always clean the gun before putting it away, wouldn't you......

Mike


Even with many rifle/pistols, you can shoot the 'short' version with no problem. Probably the two most common are the .38 Special and .357 Magnum. The magnum is a longer version of the .38 S but they can both be fired in a .357 revolver. Same with the .44 Magnum and shorter .44 Special. The Special can be fired in a .44 Magnun revolver. There are a few rifle calibers that are similar.
 
Looks like you got a nice one there Chris.

You might be able to tidy up the checkering if it's just shallow. If the lines are un-even thats a bit harder to work with, but maybe not impossible.
 
Regarding the various .22 rimfire cartridges and "jamming" - the use of the word "jamming" implies, to me, that a semi-automatic is involved. These weapons tend to be kind of fussy regarding their diet, especially blow-back action semi-auto's like most pistols and 22 rimfire weapons (pistols and rifles). As an example, I recently reloaded a bunch of ammunition for my 45 ACP (a 4" barrel Kimber) that turns out to not cycle my weapon properly. My buddy at range can use it just fine, but my Kimber has a very stout recoil spring and my reloads are too wimpy for my pistol. Since I had foolishly made a couple hundred before making sure they worked :doh: I was able to take some down to give to Bill G as a Happy Robust Day gift. :rofl:

Back to the 22 rimfires, many 22 rimfire semi-auto rifles use a similar action to pistol calibers, and it might just be that the 22 shorts, while they would fire one at a time, just did not have to "oomph" to cycle the weapon like the 22 LR did.

I hope I haven't bored anyone too much!
 
Regarding the various .22 rimfire cartridges and "jamming" - the use of the word "jamming" implies, to me, that a semi-automatic is involved. These weapons tend to be kind of fussy regarding their diet, especially blow-back action semi-auto's like most pistols and 22 rimfire weapons (pistols and rifles). As an example, I recently reloaded a bunch of ammunition for my 45 ACP (a 4" barrel Kimber) that turns out to not cycle my weapon properly. My buddy at range can use it just fine, but my Kimber has a very stout recoil spring and my reloads are too wimpy for my pistol. Since I had foolishly made a couple hundred before making sure they worked :doh: I was able to take some down to give to Bill G as a Happy Robust Day gift. :rofl:

Back to the 22 rimfires, many 22 rimfire semi-auto rifles use a similar action to pistol calibers, and it might just be that the 22 shorts, while they would fire one at a time, just did not have to "oomph" to cycle the weapon like the 22 LR did.

I hope I haven't bored anyone too much!


Kimber is a quality firearm. I'll betcha that you can purchase a recoil spring that will allow that .45 to function just fine with target loads.
 
Frank, I decided to just leave it alone so as not to worry about forgetting to change the spring back for regular loads - the Kimber is my first choice for a carry piece.

Thanks for the suggestion though!
 
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