Had a first happen to me today. Bad experience

[Onpoint]

I got home a little early today so as I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my jebs choke I decide to shoot a couple longbeard 6's through the tightwad that came with my newly acquired 391 urika

I'll start off by saying that there "WAS" no need for a new choke.. (notice how I said was, that should tell u this doesn't end well). After looking at an amazing 40 yard pattern I step up to 20 and shoot to check poa/poi and was pleasantly surprised once again. I noticed the choke was about 1/16" turn loose. had this happen before,  I always just hand tighten chokes. Decided to unscrew it, screw It back in and shoot again. Unscrew the choke just fine but when I go to pull It out of the barrel, it was swelled and wouldn't come out. Ran it to my gunsmith buddy and with a pin through the Ports, Cresent wrench behind it and tapping with a mallet we finally got It out. The choke was swelled in the middle by 6 thousandths. If memory serves I think it was .686 on each end and .692 outside diameter in the middle. the barrel appears to be fine. We got the choke back down to a true .686 and it screws in and out of the gun no priblems. I'm scared of it now though. I don't understand at all. Never had this happen and I've owned and extensively patterned at least 10 turkey guns in the past 2 decades.

The day i bought the gun I ran 3 or 4 turkey thug 5's through it and the patterns were ok, but not what I was looking for. Choke done fine. Unscrewed it pulled right out.

My buddy thinks that the first longbeard I shot the wad got stuck in the choke, second shot it hit and swelled it out. He's pretty sharp but I could tell by the look in his eye he was stumped.. as great a guy and as great a friend as he is, he's not one to just say "hell I don't know"

So I'm all ears. this is the nicest shotgun I've ever owned and I'm kinda bummed out now.

[Longshanks]

Sounds like a bad choke. Throw that choke away.  How tight is the choke? I have been told not to shoot a choke tighter than .670 out of my Beretta urika 2. I've heard of folks shooting allot tighter but I've stuck with Kicks .670 and Pure Gold .670. The Pure Gold shoots the most even patterns but not the high numbers with Hevi 13 or Pb.

[Onpoint]

Sounds like a bad choke. Throw that choke away.  How tight is the choke? I have been told not to shoot a choke tighter than .670 out of my Beretta urika 2. I've heard of folks shooting allot tighter but I've stuck with Kicks .670 and Pure Gold .670. The Pure Gold shoots the most even patterns but not the high numbers with Hevi 13 or Pb.

It's a 655.

I told jebs I was looking for a good even 15" hunting pattern. Not High numbers in a 10 ring. Ive got 2 other guns that'll do that. Just want a good even hunting pattern that'll do it from 10 yards.to 40 yards every time. (the "best" shooting guns I own are the ones I always miss easy shots with

[STP22]

What was the choke that swelled?!

[STP22]

I have been told not to shoot a choke tighter than .670 out of my Beretta urika 2.

Longshanks...where did you find that recommendation? I have a Beretta A400 Xtreme and I ordered a .655 Jeb's turkey choke. Your statement concerns me as the Beretta Optima HP choke system is thin-walled.

Thanks!

Steve

[Onpoint]

Sounds like a bad choke. Throw that choke away.  How tight is the choke? I have been told not to shoot a choke tighter than .670 out of my Beretta urika 2. I've heard of folks shooting allot tighter but I've stuck with Kicks .670 and Pure Gold .670. The Pure Gold shoots the most even patterns but not the high numbers with Hevi 13 or Pb.

I haven't heard that about the .670 constriction, but then again I wasn't even looking at getting another shotgun 2 Fridays ago neither..it was there and I got it without knowing anything other than it felt great, looked great, what it cost new and that it was made in italy. I haven't been able to find alot of info on these set up for turkey guns.. this is a urika 2 I believe as well. It has grooves on top of the receiver to accept 22 rings, which I find very odd. Also takes the mobil choke system.

Any info you have woukd be greatly appreciated..also since other chokes go in and out smooth woukd you agree that the barrel is probably fine

[Onpoint]

I have been told not to shoot a choke tighter than .670 out of my Beretta urika 2.

Longshanks...where did you find that recommendation? I have a Beretta A400 Xtreme and I ordered a .655 Jeb's turkey choke. Your statement concerns me as the Beretta Optima HP choke system is thin-walled.

Steve

655 tightwad

[Onpoint]

I have been told not to shoot a choke tighter than .670 out of my Beretta urika 2.

Longshanks...where did you find that recommendation? I have a Beretta A400 Xtreme and I ordered a .655 Jeb's turkey choke. Your statement concerns me as the Beretta Optima HP choke system is thin-walled.

Steve

655 tightwad

I don't think this woukd be relevant but the barrel has also been ported. I've owned 4 guns from that this guy has ported and never had a problem one. Think I'm going to have him port my baikal mp18 12 gauge that weighs 5.25 pounds and see if he can take some of the bite out of that gun. a swelled cheek bone with as small cut is unacceptable from 1 shot every time you shoot the gun

[STP22]

Ahh... the Primus Tight Wad choke. For a second, I thought you were referring the the Jeb's choke. Sorry.
I am glad no damage was done to you or the barrel.
Hopefully, the Jeb's choke will be much better in pattern and strength!
I am waiting for mine as well.
Steve

[Longshanks]

I have been told not to shoot a choke tighter than .670 out of my Beretta urika 2.

Longshanks...where did you find that recommendation? I have a Beretta A400 Xtreme and I ordered a .655 Jeb's turkey choke. Your statement concerns me as the Beretta Optima HP choke system is thin-walled.

Thanks!

Steve

Supposedly the Optima/ Optima Plus barrels have a larger than standard bore at .732-.734. This being said putting a .655 in a optima plus barrel is allot more constriction than putting a .655 in a standard barrel like a Remington. Supposedly you are creating allot more pressure. I have run a .660 in an Xtrema 2 and had some problems that could only be attributed  to over pressure. Some guys say choke it down and it won't hurt it and others say it creates too much pressure. If you notice Kicks chokes for Optima/ Optima Plus are offered in .670 and larger. Pure Gold is .670 and only recently offered .660 recommended for 6 shot or smaller.  I went to .670-.672 chokes out of my Berettas and haven't had a problem. Great shooting guns.

333 in 10 @ 40.    3.5/2.25/7's.  Hevi 13

240's in a 10 @ 40.   3/2/7's.     Hevi 13

[Onpoint]

Ahh... the Primus Tight Wad choke. For a second, I thought you were referring the the Jeb's choke. Sorry.
I am glad no damage was done to you or the barrel.
Hopefully, the Jeb's choke will be much better in pattern and strength!
I am waiting for mine as well.
Steve

The pattern I got with the tightwad was very impressive.

[the Ward]

I don't think it's a problem with your gun, it is probably just a defective choke. It happens occasionally, plus if the choke is second hand, who knows what was shot out of it. I agree with Longshanks, to be on the safe side I wouldn't shoot that choke again after it swelled, it may have fatigued the metal. Congrats on the Beretta, they are really nice, super reliable guns for sure.

[Onpoint]

I don't think it's a problem with your gun, it is probably just a defective choke. It happens occasionally, plus if the choke is second hand, who knows what was shot out of it. I agree with Longshanks, to be on the safe side I wouldn't shoot that choke again after it swelled, it may have fatigued the metal. Congrats on the Beretta, they are really nice, super reliable guns for sure.

no I'm not going to be shooting it again. I put a monarch turkey scope on my 535, haven't got a chance to sight it in yet, so I'll be toting my mule skinning 5.25 pound single shot baikal 12. The thought of shooting this gun even hurts. It and my beretta are the only 2 guns I have shoot in poi/poa. Well the 535 does but it's so tight that I've missed birds with it I could've killed with a 410

[allaboutshooting]

First of all, you have an excellent shotgun that will give you years of great service. I suspect that the choke that was in your gun, which may or may not have been made from hardened steel, came just a bit loose. When you fired one of those shots, it "fire-formed" to the counterbore and that caused the swelling and the difficulty in removing it.

The design of the Mobil/Crio chokes requires that they be very thin to fit the counterbore. They are threaded at/near the muzzle and even being loose just a bit can allow gas to escape around the skirt. A choke that is threaded at the skirt may remain sealed even if a bit loose.

A higher quality choke like the JEB's that you've ordered, made from bar stock 17-4PH stainless and then hardened after manufacture, is your best insurance for this kind of problem.

I've owned and shot Mobil chokes since 1991 in various shotgun and Crio chokes since they were introduced. I've been fortunate and not had one fire-form but I know it can happen. The good part of it is that Beretta/Benelli shotgun barrels are made from very high quality steel. Once the choke expands it has no place else to go.

I would discard the choke that expanded.

You did nothing wrong, it's just one of those things that happened.

A stuck wad and another round fired into that could easily result in a burst barrel and real damage to your gun, a bystander or you as a shooter. That's why when we shoot and something sounds funny, we should stop and check everything.

I was recently sent a picture of a shell that was probably loaded with enough powder to create a fire but not an explosion when the primer was hit. The wad was ejected and fell some feet beyond the muzzle and a few pellets even hit the patterning board. The shell however melted and partially ejected. The bore was a real mess with lots of gunk in it.

The shooter felt hardly any recoil and since the shell was blocking the ejection port, could not fire another round. Things happen.

Thanks,
Clark