Girsan MC312 12 GA Shotgun (Update)

Originally Posted By: crapshootLooks interesting. But that cost difference has to come at a price. Either quality of materials or quality of craftsmanship.

This is what I was thinking....
 
Originally Posted By: Tim NeitzkeOriginally Posted By: crapshootLooks interesting. But that cost difference has to come at a price. Either quality of materials or quality of craftsmanship.

This is what I was thinking....

Did you watch the video from Buds? One shell that didn't eject all the way out of my gun when it was fired for the first time isn't going to keep me from liking it. There were 5 other guys in the pit and several of them were going to buy one after looking at it and watching it in action. I come on here and ask a lot of advice but I know shotguns about as good as anyone. It's the gun I use the most as I am an avid waterfowler. I'm also just pointing this gun out for other peoples benefit, I don't have any invested interest in Girsan. You can lead a mule to water......
 
We see that FTE a lot here on the coast. We keep our shells in plastic bags to keep any form of rust off of them. Pumps will just lock up until you beat them open, autos pull the extractor past the lip on the brass. I wont go to a blind unless someone has a cleaning rod to push empty hulls out of a chamber. I have seen this problem with Remingtons, Benelli, Browning, and Savage. Duck and goose loads are much better than they used to be but they are not fool proof. I ruined several boxes of 3 1/2s by leaving them in a waterproof shell bag in the boat.
 
Could not find the video, all I found was a link for the shotgun. Is it on the page somewhere ?

First round... I could see, you did not say that. Can not learn without asking questions.....

I don't have any mules either...
 
Originally Posted By: sandy hicksWe see that FTE a lot here on the coast. We keep our shells in plastic bags to keep any form of rust off of them. Pumps will just lock up until you beat them open, autos pull the extractor past the lip on the brass. I wont go to a blind unless someone has a cleaning rod to push empty hulls out of a chamber. I have seen this problem with Remingtons, Benelli, Browning, and Savage. Duck and goose loads are much better than they used to be but they are not fool proof. I ruined several boxes of 3 1/2s by leaving them in a waterproof shell bag in the boat.

This I could see being a problem. However, this is not problem of the firearm but of crusty ammo. Putting crusty rusty ammo in gun is a good way to ruin or wear it out prematurely.

Salt is the good, the bad, and the ugly all in one. I have a crusty rusty truck because of it.
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I have no mules either. Nor was I knocking the weapon. Just stating facts. Sure you pay a premium for certain names. But that is usually because they've earned it due to quality products, quality craftsmanship, and quality materials. If not, they wouldn't be around long and wouldn't fetch the price they do.

Doesn't mean there aren't descent products at cheaper prices. But they usually can't compare 1 for 1 with the higher end products.


I repair tools at work. For everyday use I wouldn't recommend harbor freight tools. Heck, most the time I won't recommend dewalt. But for most home use where they only get used a handful of times a year, the cheaper products will probably last a long time and in that instance would be a smart investment.

Understand what I mean?
 
i have mules. borrowed them from sister sarah. hope she wants them back soon. tired of picking up the poop.

and still hope to hear more on the shotgun after several hundred shells have been cycled through it. hurry up please.
 
Originally Posted By: SlickerThanSnoti have mules. borrowed them from sister sarah. hope she wants them back soon. tired of picking up the poop.

and still hope to hear more on the shotgun after several hundred shells have been cycled through it. hurry up please.

Now that's funny.

I'm going out goose hunting again tomorrow. I'm bringing two large coffee cans full of mismatched 12 ga shells. I'm hoping to have the time and the property owners permission to burn them up. I'll have to wait and see.
 
Not good news!

I was hunting next to my buddy with his Girsan. His operated flawlessly. I had two more failures to eject. I was shooting Black Cloud #2's with every failure to eject. I swapped ammo to Winchester Expert #3's and shot 18 rounds with no FTE's. I called Buds Guns and they said they have had no issues like this but I can send it in and they will repair, replace it or refund my money. I'm not going to do that just yet. I'm going to take the butt stock off and check to see if the recoil spring is gunked up from the factory as soon as I get time. If it is then I will clean it and see what happens. If not, I'm going to put some more rounds through it and see if it gets better on it's own. If not, I'll have to send it in to Buds.

I measured the Winchester hull and the Black Cloud hulls and they were the same. I'm not sure why the Black Cloud ammo has FTE's and the other ammos don't. Either way, FTE's are not acceptable. I'll try and keep you guys updated.

If you guys have any thoughts on the different ammo's, please share them.
 
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If the shotgun had issues with Black Cloud #2 and nothing else I think you are good to go. In my experience there will quite often be a brand of shells that a particular shotgun doesn't like, but the particular shotgun will shoot everything else.

Have you checked the rim on the hulls that had a FTE? On some shells the rim is thicker than normal and quite often will cause FTE's.
 
Originally Posted By: cdbIf the shotgun had issues with Black Cloud #2 and nothing else I think you are good to go. In my experience there will quite often be a brand of shells that a particular shotgun doesn't like, but the particular shotgun will shoot everything else.

Have you checked the rim on the hulls that had a FTE? On some shells the rim is thicker than normal and quite often will cause FTE's.

No, I haven't but I will when I get home. Thanks for the info.
 
I took my daughters boyfriend out on his first goose hunt today. We got into them. He shot my Benelli with Blackcloud and I shot the Girsan with Winchester Super X BB's. It operated flawlessly. I could'nt expect any better. I also looked at the Blackcloud and the Winchester ammo side by side again. The rim of the brass is much thicker on the Blackcloud.(Like someone here said it might be) I'm going to finish goose season with the Winchester ammo and get the gun good and broke in. Then I'm going to switch to Black cloud on the last couple of hunts and see if it has the same problem. If it does, I'll send it back to Bud's and see what they say.
 
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Originally Posted By: LUCKYDOGI took my daughters boyfriend out on his first goose hunt today. We got into them. He shot my Benelli with Blackcloud and I shot the Girsan with Winchester Super X BB's. It operated flawlessly. I could'nt expect any better. I also looked at the Blackcloud and the Winchester ammo side by side again. The rim of the brass is much thicker on the Blackcloud.(Like someone here said it might be) I'm going to finish goose season with the Winchester ammo and get the gun good and broke in. Then I'm going to switch to Black cloud on the last couple of hunts and see if it has the same problem. If it does, I'll send it back to Bud's and see what they say.

If you have a dial caliper I would check the rim thickness to see if it was out of spec.

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Could be a case of stacked tolerances as well, the shell at its upper most limit and the gun at its lower limit
Neither of which by itself is wrong but the combination could cause the issue


HTH's
Briar
 
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My dad bought this gun and we shot it probably 30 rounds this weekend I'm pretty impressed with the gun for the money it feels good and his cycled light #8's and high brass 6's fine but it did have 2 rounds not fire due to light primer hit they were two different shells but that being said I think it's a good deal we both shot it well I will be purchasing one in the near future
 
Looking at this shotgun myself... what is the model # of the one you are reviewing in this thread? I see Bud's has several, but nothing in the $300 price range. Either the prices went up, it was on sale, or it's one of the out of stock models.
 
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