I have fired over 2500 rounds thru my Maxus and finally had some problems. My gun would fire fine and eject the shell but the bolt would not return the next live round. I would have to assist the bolt forward or basically perform s.p.o.r.t.s. on it (for you 80's veterans). I decided to break the gun down completely and give it the cleaning of a life time. I started from the butt plate and cleaned all the way to the choke. When I took the stock off and removed the stainless steel spring from its housing I noticed that there was a ton of black gunk on the spring (A pin has to be removed prior to uscrewing the threaded cap). The build up was bad, really bad. I cleaned the spring and reamed the housing with carb cleaner. I dropped the trigger housing and did the same to the firing mechanism. I removed the spring from the magazine tube, cleaned it as well as the spring housing. I soaked the gas cylinder in white gas for 30 mins and sprayed it down with carb cleaner as well. I cleaned everything, even the inside of the forearm. The gun is emaculant. It shoots like a new one. I am sure my problem was in the stock spring, It was filthy. Be careful during the removal of this spring as it is under lots of pressure. I'm serious wear safety goggles when you are unscrewing the threaded cap!!! It comes out really hard and anything it touches is stained for life!!! The whole process took about an hour and a half,,, A 6 pack should get you thru it
As you know, I have had some issues with my Maxus.. I clean it after every shoot to prevent mis fires, etc.. I havn't removed the "butt" spring yet, but I have removed the stock and sprayed celaner down it and gave it a good "flushing." I do not like to clean my shot guns... I was spoiled by Benelli M2 not requiring any cleaning, but the Maxus is so smooth, fast and it fits well that I put up with it..... I've found that very little lube on the rails is all I use.. All the Break Free and other lubs and sprays just cause issues for me.. I hope you have great sucess with yours going forward...
I've had mine for 3 or 4 duck seasons and have yet to break it down completely. It has ate every shell I put through it. I can not recall a misdeed or any fail to fire (except when I fail to reload it.) Probably has close to 2k rounds through it. Love it.
If it breaks tomorrow I'd buy another before the sun set.
Mark and BPshooter,,,,,,,,,,,, I feel the same way about my Maxus, But even after the deep cleaning, I went out with it and it performed perfectly until I ran thru about a box. It is now not feeding. I was just like both of you when mine was chewing shells up n spittn em out but now im ready to pull my hair out. It has got to be a gas thing. I don't know how else to clean that gas piston. I know it comes apart some how but i'm afraid to do that. Mine is headed back to Browning soon as crow season is out. I will let you know the final results..............
I hope I put 2 thousand rounds through a hunting gun in my lifetime. My trap gun, on the other hand, I put 15,000+ rounds on a 1971 BT-99 2 years ago, and about the same on a Browning XT last year, and all I had was the BT-99's ejector break. All I ever cleaned on either of the guns was the barrels and put some oil the metal.
Well if I cant figure out what the deal is Im gonna try a Versa Max then if that don't work its back to the 870,,, Should have never left remington in the first place................... Man I do love how that Maxus fits me tho. Its a sweet shotgun when she feeds properly, Crows are happy right now tho
Chip, Yes it's frustrating as heck.. I agree with all the technolgy, materials, etc.. the Maxus should not give any problems.. They advertise "The most reliable shotgun" .... As I mentioned I hate cleaning a firearm and with only 150 or so rounds thru it no problems should occur... It would do Browning well to publish a video on proper cleaning, maintenance etc ( not the bla bla bla thats already out there) and explain what exactly causes the bolt not to feed a round fully into the chamber.. These shotguns are fantastic when they function as they should.. Something has to be going on to cause this problems and it should be addressed by the mfg!!!
-- Edited by Mark on Monday 20th of January 2014 10:40:02 PM
chip I know what I am firing at the moment has no comparison to the MAXUS , as I am using a cheap HATSAN which over here has the nick name hatstand,it is my main vermin gun which takes a serious amount of abuse, that's why I bought cheaply the reason why I am replying to this, is the only thing I noticed with my gun is it sometimes will not fully chamber the second shell,this gun fire's 3 inch mag BB's on foxes, next it will be shooting crows or pigeon ,or rabbits and I have noticed one thing, do not go below 30 gram cartridges and it solves the problem,with no repeat,my gun is chambered 3 1/2 inch,A friend of mine has the 3 inch chambered gun and that will cycle 28 gram shells all day long,now I clean my gun every 2 month regardless if its been fired or not,unless its been in any extreme of weather,good luck with sorting it I hope this helps don't know if it will its just my observations,
Well if I cant figure out what the deal is Im gonna try a Versa Max then if that don't work its back to the 870,,, Should have never left remington in the first place................... Man I do love how that Maxus fits me tho. Its a sweet shotgun when she feeds properly, Crows are happy right now tho
Mark mentioned that Browning advertises that the "Maxus" is the most reliable shotgun. What else are they going to say, they are selling that model!
Perhaps Chip has a lemon.
Any of the gunsmith's in my part of the world will say that Beretta (gas auto) is number one for toughness and being realiable with any ammo or weather condition. The old Browning Gold and the Maxus are distant seconds in there opinion.
I own two Urika models (Beretta) and have shot well over 40,000 rounds through my number one gun; the number two gun is just a backup gun in the same model. I did have to replace a part on top of the breech bolt (it cracked, perhaps from heat) but the firearm kept shooting; it's like having an AK47, it just keeps on ticking.
Benelli makes a good auto (very reliable) but it's not a gas auto, not unless they have come out with one recently.
If cost (cause they ain't cheap, Beretta or Benelli) is an issue then an 870 Wing Master is hard to beat.
Bob A.
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I'm hoping my problem is simple. I talked to two experts today,,, One from Browning and one from this site. I hope I have the problem fixed soon. The one from this site was quite frankly much more knowlegable. It may be a rear spring thing or more simply a lube problem. I will know in a couple weekends of shooting and will post results. More snow up north means more crows down here
Really????? No 2500 before I had a major mal function, it started acting up around 1200 or so but didn't let me down . I didn't deep clean it until I had my first jam. What worried me was it continued to act up after it was clean as a whistle. I'm on the right track with it now Thanx to the TCP .
lol