Hello all!
It's been a little while, but I figured I stop by and share some information about the Stevens 320.
At the end of last year I purchased 2 Stevens 320 shotguns; a security gun with ghost ring sights, and one field gun. While I am still working my way through the review process of both guns, I would like to address a very specific issue I have found with both guns.
Many people online have reported intermittent feeding issues with their 320 shotguns, and I too had this issue with both of mine.
These feeding issues were things such as;
double feeds(in this instance, two live rounds being released from the tube instead of one ,pinning the first round to the rear and jamming the gun),
rounds ejecting from the tube when the lifter is up,
rounds not seating correctly on the lifter when loading.
I encountered all of these issues when I took the security gun out for its first 250 rounds, and I encountered the first and the third when dry cycling the field gun with dummy rounds.
The problem:
These issues are caused by shell stop and shell interrupter timing issues. The 320's shell stop and interrupter are affixed to the trigger assembly via a floating pin and a pin with a small screw on one side. What happens is, the movement of the interrupter/stop during shooting causes the screw to loosen up and causes extra movement in both parts. This extra movement, if enough, will cause timing issues for the shotgun.
The fix:
Take the trigger assembly out of the gun, and check to see in you are getting any sloppy side-to-side movement in the interrupter/stop. If so, on the the left hand side of the assembly you will see the screw. Check to see if it is loose. If it is, you can do one of two things; tighten it, and hope for the best... Or remove the screw, clean the screw and hole, apply blue Loctite, and let it set up.
I'm not a huge fan of Loctite(I prefer to set screws to the proper torque) , but the screw in question is a fairly soft metal, and it doesn't take much the strip it. So I recommend the Loctite method in this instance.
That's it, once you're done, take the gun out to the range and run at least 100 rounds through to make sure the malfunctions aren't happening, and the screw isn't loosening up.
This post was more of a post to help anyone who might have run into similar issues as I have.
Have a great day!
~Leo
P.S.
I would check and torque down all other screws on your gun. They don't seem to be tightened well, and after 185 rounds, the ghost ring, and the barrel pin screw(located on the back of the barrel lug, used for the racheting effect on the barrel nut) were both very very loose on the security gun.
I torqued the ghost ring down to 15 in/lbs and I applied a small amount of loctite to the barrel pin screw( I tightened it until I felt that the pin was protruding enough to secure the barrel nut).
It's been a little while, but I figured I stop by and share some information about the Stevens 320.
At the end of last year I purchased 2 Stevens 320 shotguns; a security gun with ghost ring sights, and one field gun. While I am still working my way through the review process of both guns, I would like to address a very specific issue I have found with both guns.
Many people online have reported intermittent feeding issues with their 320 shotguns, and I too had this issue with both of mine.
These feeding issues were things such as;
double feeds(in this instance, two live rounds being released from the tube instead of one ,pinning the first round to the rear and jamming the gun),
rounds ejecting from the tube when the lifter is up,
rounds not seating correctly on the lifter when loading.
I encountered all of these issues when I took the security gun out for its first 250 rounds, and I encountered the first and the third when dry cycling the field gun with dummy rounds.
The problem:
These issues are caused by shell stop and shell interrupter timing issues. The 320's shell stop and interrupter are affixed to the trigger assembly via a floating pin and a pin with a small screw on one side. What happens is, the movement of the interrupter/stop during shooting causes the screw to loosen up and causes extra movement in both parts. This extra movement, if enough, will cause timing issues for the shotgun.
The fix:
Take the trigger assembly out of the gun, and check to see in you are getting any sloppy side-to-side movement in the interrupter/stop. If so, on the the left hand side of the assembly you will see the screw. Check to see if it is loose. If it is, you can do one of two things; tighten it, and hope for the best... Or remove the screw, clean the screw and hole, apply blue Loctite, and let it set up.
I'm not a huge fan of Loctite(I prefer to set screws to the proper torque) , but the screw in question is a fairly soft metal, and it doesn't take much the strip it. So I recommend the Loctite method in this instance.
That's it, once you're done, take the gun out to the range and run at least 100 rounds through to make sure the malfunctions aren't happening, and the screw isn't loosening up.
This post was more of a post to help anyone who might have run into similar issues as I have.
Have a great day!
~Leo
P.S.
I would check and torque down all other screws on your gun. They don't seem to be tightened well, and after 185 rounds, the ghost ring, and the barrel pin screw(located on the back of the barrel lug, used for the racheting effect on the barrel nut) were both very very loose on the security gun.
I torqued the ghost ring down to 15 in/lbs and I applied a small amount of loctite to the barrel pin screw( I tightened it until I felt that the pin was protruding enough to secure the barrel nut).
