935 Mossy shell elevator sticking in up position(updated see replies)

[Mike Honcho]

Bought a new 935 Mossberg recently and about the 5th shell I fired in patterning (a 3.5" Fed Turkey Thug 2 oz 6)
cause the shell elevator to wedge firmly against the inner left side of the receiver in the fully raised position....so hard the release button was jammed and I had to remove the barrel to get the elevator to release.

Also I was loading the gun singly by dropping round in from ejector port and pressing release button to chamber...no 2nd shell in magazine. So it would have been like firing the last round from magazine.

Previously I had fired a 3.5" Mag Blend and a couple of 3.5" Winchester lead turkey loads with no problems.

I am curious if anyone else that owns a 935 has seen this happen?

[BrowningGuy88]

Bought a new 935 Mossberg recently and about the 5th shell I fired in patterning (a 3.5" Fed Turkey Thug 2 oz 6)
cause the shell elevator to wedge firmly against the inner left side of the receiver in the fully raised position....so hard the release button was jammed and I had to remove the barrel to get the elevator to release.

Also I was loading the gun singly by dropping round in from ejector port and pressing release button to chamber...no 2nd shell in magazine. So it would have been like firing the last round from magazine.

Previously I had fired a 3.5" Mag Blend and a couple of 3.5" Winchester lead turkey loads with no problems.

I am curious if anyone else that owns a 935 has seen this happen?

I have had mine a couple of months and shot several 3.5" buck and turkey loads through it. It has run without a hiccup. I also ran 3" copper plated lead BB's for predators - it ran those too.

I would check the springs and bolt to frame interface. Sounds like your bolt slammed back way to hard and bent the elevator in the process. I would also call Mossberg this morning and let them know. They should fix it for free!

[BrowningGuy88]

You may also want to PM Clark Bush (allaboutshooting) as he has been running a 935 and now a 930 for years. He probably knows the internals to those guns as well as anybody.

[Mike Honcho]

Thanks Daman...I e-mailed Clark yesterday about it.   I think those 3.5 Turkey Thugs are HOT loads...it patterned very well too.   Maybe with no shell coming from magazine onto the elevator to provide some "mass" to slow down elevator may have made it worse?  Still it should function properly on last round.

I think you are probably right...looks like cause by bolt coming back too fast.   I noticed the elevator did not sit exactly "straight " in the receiver opening when gun was new before firing...ie looks like it sits at a bit of an angle front to rear rather than parallel. 

I'm sure Mossberg will make right if I don't mind going without the gun all season. And yes I should have bought a Benelli LOL.

[Big Gun]

I have not had that happen to my 935.  I have been shooting Hevi loads and just bought a box of Turkey Thug 3.5" 6's to try.  May be something to watch out for once I touch one of them off on the Lead Sled.

[BrowningGuy88]

I don't agree with should have bought a benelli. If you wanted one fine, but Mossberg makes a decent product.

I shot mine Saturday with H510 Nitros with no ill effects so I don't think "hot" has anything to do with it.

May want to tear it down completely and bend the elevator back right and try it again. Mossberg may send you a heavier spring kit and a new elevator and you install it.

[Mike Honcho]

I'm not giving up on the 935...I've wanted one for a long time and have an 835 I have killed a bunch of turkeys with.  I may try to find someone locally who has one I can look at their elevator and compare with mine.   I may send it back to Mossberg after season is over if nothing else. I noticed some of you have been shooting Nitros and agree if "hot" is a problem they would make it show up.  Mossberg owners manual says they won't ship any individual trigger group parts other than to a licensed repair center. I looked carefully today at bolt group and internals of receiver and see nothing that appears wrong.

Thanks for the advice guys!

[BrowningGuy88]

Hope you get it straightened out. If you want to email me some pictures, I will compare them to mine.

[Mike Honcho]

I removed trigger assembly last night and very carefully applied pressure to the elevator to try and get it back to what I thought looked normal and it did sit in the receiver better...looked straight anyway.
I took a few shells out after work...

1st test: 3 thrree inch 4 shot 1 7/8 oz....rapid fire worked perfect
2nd test: 3 3.5' steel triple bb Win (improved cylinder choke) ....rapid fire worked perfect
3rd test;  1 3.5" Remington Nitro Turkey #, followed by 2 , 3" Remington # 4's...rapid fire worked perfectly

Keeping my fingers crossed she is good to go!

[BrowningGuy88]

Sounds good Mike! Let me know if you need any help.

[Mike Honcho]

Well I will put the Mossberg factory repair service to the test soon.  I thought my new 935 was over the shell elevator jamming in the raised position problem but in one of my last hunts of the season I went back to 3 1/2" Win. Super XX # 6 lead and it did it again...had gone back to 3" loads with no problems.  I documented with photo and e-mailed Mossberg Customer Service.
Next day I rec'd a nice e-mail with instructions on where and how to ship etc.  I wrote up a nice report on the problem, attached the photo and will ship it out to them tomorrow.  Their e-mail said anticipate a 15-20 day turnaround , which seemed reasonable to me plus turkey season is over for me.

I will report the results when I receive the gun back...I'm hoping it will function as it should with 3 1/2 loads.

[Mike Honcho]

Got my 935 back from Mossberg Service Center a while back.  It didn't take very long...not much more than a week. No info in box on what they did...they did return to me in the same original box the gun came in...I liked that.  I could see that they replaced the shell elevator...the original one was bent...it was difficult to load a 3 1/2" shell.  The new one sits lower...the "muzzle" end of the elevator actually protrudes down form the receiver just a bit...the old one didn't.   So loading is easy (normal) now. 
First trip to range...loaded up 3 , 3 1/2" Federal Turkey Thug 6's.   These were some of the shells that had caused the elevator to jam in the up position and stick before.  First shot fine. Second shot...click...empty chamber.  Gun didn't load second shell from mag.   Two more tries and exact same results.  I'n not very happy at this point.
Finally I am out of Turkey Thugs.  Tried a Winchester 3 1/2"  2 oz. turkey load with two three inch Win. turkey loads in magazine.  Fired all three bang , bang , bang.  Out of ammo, went home.
Few days later, bought a box of black hull Win Super X 3 1/2" , 2 oz 6 turkey loads.   Loaded three, shot three rapid fire no problems.  Repeated two more times...fired three each time rapid fire without a glitch.   Happier now but can't understand why my initial test was bad.  Next trip to range will be expensive...3 1/2 Mag Blends but I need to see if it will handle them.  When gun was new this spring it would only fire one and then the elevator jammed up.

[ShotGunSniper]

Sound's like your gun don't like the Fed Tky Thugs 3.5 ammo. I have a 9mm that hate's CCI ammo but will feed Winchester ammo just fine. It would not feed right and jammed alot. So I wont shoot CCI ammo through it never again. Problem solved. Btw, I read all the replies and such because Im a Mossberg owner myself and lookin to buy a 935 TKY gun in the future. Imo, I would not run Fed Tky Thugs 3.5's through it anymore. I do hear those 935's are great semi-auto's, alot on different forum's. I know every gun company has afew gun's that has issue problem's. Even the high dollar gun's. Believe me, I have seen $2,000 gun's malfuction in some really bad way's. Just sayin, they all have issue's that pop up, time to time. But glad to see, Mossberg replaced the elevator, though.