Shotgun problem

Kinda scary this morning. Took my first shot of the morning at a wood duck. My gun jammed after the shot and I felt a burning on my wrist. I then realized that my sling stud had popped off the end of my magazine end cap. This is what the shell looked like after I got it out of the chamber.



That bulging really scared me, so I didn't shoot the rest of the morning. Got home and tore the gun down to see what was up. Everything looked pretty normal until I took the bolt apart. This is a gas driven ejection system. This part links the bolt to the slide rails.





I'm guessing that the gas was trapped because of this causing the powder to blow down onto my wrist and dislodged the swivel stud to come dislodged from its circlip.

Powder burn

Make and model of the gun? How old? Regular maintenance?

TriStar Viper G2. 3 years old. Maybe has 8 boxes of shells through it. Well taken care of.

There is your problem.

Well, they have a 5 year warranty. I'm about to see how well they stick to it.

Hope they do. I'm glad you didn't lose a finger.

you're very lucky.
glad to see you weren't hurt.

Won't say the shotgun is cheap junk. Those bolt lugs snapped off. Sure don't look good. That shell is quite mangled. Did the barrel bulge?

I couldn't see any other damage.

I have seen several cases of Tristars failing now just this season. First time to see the bolt lugs snapped off like that though.

Just got off the phone with the company. They are sending me a shipping label via email. They said they'd fix or replace it. We'll see.

Are you certain it's a firearm issue?

I shoot that exact same ammo and haven't had any issues but wouldn't rule anything out..


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That shell looks like an out of battery detonation.

I was thinking the same thing. It could be an out of spec Shell, overcharged load or possibly an obstruction? Either way, i'd hang onto the rest of those shotgun shells until after the issue is resolved.

I've got one of these about 3 years old also. Never had a problem at all with it. Tristar was good as gold on a 20 gauge I called in on when it was new. They worked with me to get the issue resolved. Turned out to be my fault on initial assembly. I left out that brass cylinder that makes it eject shells.

If they want to replace it...fine. If they want to repair it, I'd tell them to keep it.

That'all make you pucker

Well, got my shotgun back from TriStar in the mail today. I had asked them to call me before they sent it back to let me know if it was going to be repaired or replaced. I was never called.

The invoice said: replaced locking block and magazine cap. Test fired OK

I don't know. Maybe I'm over reacting, but it seems like with something like this that could've been bad that the company would be more accommodating to the customer, especially since I sent them 8x10 pictures of the burns on my arm and the shell. If my product caused a small explosion about 3 inches from my customer's face, I'd be doing anything I could to make them happy.

I'd sell the gun and buy a quality shotgun.

The shell fired out of battery. Period. The gun malfunctioned and it wasn't because the bolt broke. The bolt was damaged when the gun fired.

Pass it along to someone that isn't a friend of yours and get yourself a quality shotgun before your luck runs out.

I would THROW the gun in the bottom of the lake and get another- I couldn't sell a gun that blew up in my hand to another- not Cool

OMG Seriously?

I thought about selling it, but I don't think I could live with myself if something happened. Even though I would of course be upfront about everything with whoever I sold it too. Bad mojo.

What's not cool about it? They repaired the gun and test fired it. I'd tell the buyer that the gun was repaired and test fired and be done with it. Let them test fire it if they desire.

Let me ask y'all this, should the hammer strike the firing pin if the bolt is not fully closed? Right now, I can pull the action back, take the gun off safety, pull the trigger and the hammer comes forward and strikes the back side of the bolt with the action open.

The answer is no. Run away from that gun.

very interesting and following...

Yeah that gun isn't safe

That shell looks a lot like one I dug out of my old Super X2:






I guess the difference between my story and the OP's is that I spoke with the tech at Browning's service center numerous times before my shotgun was returned. I was satisfied that they went through the entire gun and everything was back to factory specs. I knew exactly what parts were replaced and why. Wound up selling this one to my younger brother when I bought my Benelli.

As an aside, we never figured out why the shell fired out of battery. I do know there has never been another Federal shell through it though...

I am a lefty, so I had powder burns all over the left side of my face (glad I was wearing sunglasses). This incident was the motivating factor in purchasing a left hand gun.