I didn't want to hijack JD's thread about his morning hunt, but Bob mentioned something that I have been curious about lately.....
He mentioned that after a soaking in the rain, one should get at the mag tube and spring and clean and dry them out. I can do this to my mag tube on my SX3. I have heard that it cannot be done on the Maxus. A buddy of mine mentioned that he could not do this to one of his shotguns. I forget which one he said. He has an Ithica semi, and a Beretta model 303.
Just to satisfy my curiousity, what shotguns can this procedure not be done on.
If it's a tubular magazine in a semi auto or pump the design of the gun must allow you to gain access inorder to clean it. If not the design has a flaw for sure and I wouldn't think of owning a model like that in my opinion. I would venture to say that you can take the magazine spring out of any shotgun, it's just knowing how to go about it, I would check the manual that came with the firearm.
Bob A.
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To listen to this radio talk show go to episode 12, Bob Aronsohn
The Browning BPS has a expanding piece of spring steel, shaped like a cup, that fits inside the end of the magazine tube. The magazine tube has a slight crimp on the open end. This mg spring retainer has a hole in the center and a cut through to the outer edge but the springingness (new word?) of the steel keeps it pressed against the inside wall of the end of the magazine tube. On either side of the cut, on the outer edge of this mag spring retainer there are two holes. To remove or install it, one needs either three hands working two awls or a spring clip tool that is really a pair of pliers with pins on the end to squeeze this retaining thing to achieve a smaller circumference and get the retaining thing past the crimp.
Candidly, it is a bit of a hassle to remove/replace, so I only do so occassionally. Or, in the event that I suffer a submergence.
Having said that, the BPS is an excellent foul weather repeater since it has no side ejection port to allow rain or snow to get into the receiver.