[ShotgunPro]

Ok, let me first start off by saying the first shotgun I every bought (and still own) was a Benelli Nova with a 26" vent rib barrel. It shoots just as good now as the day I got it.

Now, about 1.5 years ago I bought a slightly used Super Nova Tactical (pistol grip version) and I put a Benelli extension on it to make it 7+1. But for some reason the pump action on the Super Nova SUCKS compared to my old Nova. And if I have 7, or even just 6 shells loaded and I go to champer a round, it spits it out the bottom because the piece that guides the shell in when loading gets pushed up on it's own when racking the action back, instead of moving down like it's supposed to. I have the spring in that came with the the extension tube, so I'm pretty sure it's the gun.

Back to my old Nova... The pump action on it is smooth and crips. If I were to have the gun standing upright and pressed the pump release button the foregrip will fall about half way down just by gravity. But I tried the same thing on my Super Nova and the foregrip doesn't move at all. It is very tight, even when lubed up really well. And I know the two allen bolts on the foregrip are not too tight, but are rather loose.

Does anybody that has experience with the Nova have any idea what's causing this???

*EDIT* I went shooting with both my Nova's today and my Super Nova Tactical began to spit shells I was trying to chamber out the bottom like I mentioned above... BUT this time it would do it even if there was only 2 shells in the tube!

 

[ShotgunPro]

Contact the manufacturer or a reputable gunsmith.

 

[ShotgunPro]

There are zero true gunsmiths in my area. I'll try calling Benelli on Monday...

 

[ShotgunPro]

i agree since you used all benelli parts they should have the answer......
or at least you would hope

 

[ShotgunPro]

wow hate to hear that as the super nova was on the top of my list of shotguns I wanted.

 

[ShotgunPro]

Well I think it's my bad luck because I've never known anyone to have issues with the Nova or Super Nova. But if Benelli doesn't have an answer for me or fix the issue free of charge I'm going to be furious. I work nights and this is my wifes go-to-gun when I'm not home so I want it to be reliable.

 

[ShotgunPro]

The March '11 issue of "Gun Tests" magazine just rated the Benelli SuperNova a solid "A." Granted, it was not the tactical version, but the actions are the same, I'm sure.

I would hope for the price one pays for the Benelli name that they would stand behind their product. I have two Benellis, a Super Black Eagle 12 gauge and a Cordoba 20 gauge. I've never had the occasion to deal with customer service, since both these guns have performed flawlessly, but I will be interested in hearing about your experience.

Hope you get things resolved to your satisfaction.

 

[ShotgunPro]

wow hate to hear that as the super nova was on the top of my list of shotguns I wanted.

Basing a purchase decision on one data point would be silly, IMO.

FWIW, I have a SuperNova tactical and it has no problems. (now you can put it back at the top of your shotgun list).

 

[ShotgunPro]

Does anybody that has experience with the Nova have any idea what's causing this???

*EDIT* I went shooting with both my Nova's today and my Super Nova Tactical began to spit shells I was trying to chamber out the bottom like I mentioned above... BUT this time it would do it even if there was only 2 shells in the tube!

Is it safe to assume you've pulled the fire control group out of the receiver and given it and the receiver a thorough cleaning?

It almost sounds like the cartridge stop lever is not able to fully reset and is getting released too early, allowing the shell to unload out the bottom of the receiver.

Edit: If you have your parts book, I am referring to part # 214N in the fire control group.

 

[ShotgunPro]

Actually, I tried that last night (even though it wasn't very dirty at all) but it still didnt' help. I called Benelli this morning and explained my problem to them and they said that I should send it in. Now I just need to find the right size box... Blah!

 

[ShotgunPro]

I believe I've found an easy method to fix this issue. I came across this thread when I was researching the problem, so I decided to post my solution.

I experienced pretty much this same issue with my new-to-me SuperNova Tactical - After loading shells into the mag tube, the first round out of the tube would often get ejected below the carrier and fall to the ground. Bad news if you need the gun in a stressful situation! In my particular case, I could often eliminate the issue by pumping the gun very aggressively, but why should I have to man-handle my expensive Italian pump-gun to make it work right? Additionally, the issue got worse if the gun wasn't level, for example when shooting clays.

After pulling the trigger group assembly apart, I figured out a solution.

Here's the video I made:

For an exploded parts diagram as well as part names, go here:
ftp://ftp.benelli.it/Public/UM_SPL/G0262600.PDF

The carrier clicks into place when pushed upward to load shells into the mag tube. I found that this click was the bolt stop cap slipping past the notch on the bolt stop tooth. When the carrier is pushed down, either by the bolt or manually, it should click into the downwards position as well, and this indicated that the bolt stop cap was slipping into the notch on the bolt stop tooth. The problem is that in my particular SuperNova, the bolt simply doesn't push the carrier down far enough to move the bolt stop tooth past it's "click point" on the bolt stop cap.

After some careful examination, I determined that I could make the carrier and bolt stop tooth assembly snap into the down position sooner by removing some material from the bolt stop tooth's notch where it interfaces with the bolt stop cap. Where I removed material and how much is detailed in the video.

On my shotgun, the carrier will still snap into the upwards position with the bolt forward. I think you could remove a bit more material still, and eliminate this behavior altogether. This would make the carrier operate like most other pump-gun designs; e.g. Remington, Winchester, and Mossberg. The important thing is that by removing a tiny amount of material from one of the notches on the bolt stop tooth, the bolt now pushes the carrier past it's "click point" when moved to the rearward position and the carrier will snap to the lowered position every time, ready to pick up the next shell ejected from the magazine tube.

I actually like the fact that the carrier snaps into the upwards position when loading shells, as it speeds up reloading. I think this is supposed to be a "feature" that became a victim of tolerance stacking: some SuperNovas never exhibit this issue, while others have problems worse than mine.

 

[ShotgunPro]

That's exactly what mine was doing! It would work as long as I slammed the action back hard enough... For some reason though the pump action on my SuperNova was not nearly as smooth as on my old Nova bird gun!

Good write up and nice video, but I've already sent my gun into Benelli for repair. I figured it would be worth the $16 to ship it in, as long as they can eliminate the issues I was having. But what they didn't tell me until after I mailed it was that turnaround time is 3-5 WEEKS! It's only been about a week since they've had it :?

 

[ShotgunPro]

your tube spring is too stiff. i had the same problem with mine. i was told to cut an inch off of it and try again. i did this and the issue still happend. I took another 1/2 inch off and it is perfect now.

 

[ShotgunPro]

your tube spring is too stiff. i had the same problem with mine. i was told to cut an inch off of it and try again. i did this and the issue still happend. I took another 1/2 inch off and it is perfect now.

That may have fixed the feeding issue... But it wouldn't have done anything to the action being so stiff and tough to work. UPS is delivering it tomorrow. Hopefully its all better now! If Benelli included an invoice of what work they did to it I'll let everybody know.

 

[ShotgunPro]

UPS is delivering it tomorrow. Hopefully its all better now! If Benelli included an invoice of what work they did to it I'll let everybody know.

Any news yet?

 

[ShotgunPro]

Any news yet?

Yeah, sorry for the delayed response. My wife and I had a baby girl on the 23rd so I've been a little preoccupied!

The action on the gun is excellent now. It feels as smooth as my Nova bird gun. The invoice they sent says the ejector fell one when they got it (not sure how...). So they reinstalled it and replaced the entire trigger assembly, and adjusted tue forend fit. Doesn't say they did anything to the tube spring, although I didn't think they would need to since it's the stock spring that came with the Benelli +3 extension kit. Can't wait to go shoot it again!

 

[ShotgunPro]

Glad to hear Benelli fixed it... and also, congrats on your newest addition.

 

[ShotgunPro]

Thanks!