I feel like i'm either tightening it too much and getting too much silver steel in the ejection port area or I'm leaving it not tight enough and not getting the barrel assembly far enough into the action of the gun. Help needed. It ejects some ammunition but some seem to get hung up in the action. I've done all of the ring adjustments etc.
Hello John, and welcome. The cap should be hand tight. I retract the barrel a little while tightening to ensure it's as snug as possible, and I check it periodically at the range. Barrel position in the receiver is not adjusted by the cap. A loose cap will allow the barrel to ride too far forward and cause forearm cracks or even receiver damage from the operating handle slamming into it. Over tightening could not possibly move the barrel too far into the receiver to cause cycling problems. Barrel position is determined by the forearm. Wear at the end of the barrel ring channel will position it too far forward. I suppose an ill fitting forearm could position the barrel too far aft, but I think that is unlikely. You don't say what gauge your shotgun is. A 2 3/4" 12 gauge's barrel extension should be flush with the front of the receiver. A 2 3/4" 16 should extend about 3/16", and a 2 9/16" 16 about 3/32". With more information I can help you diagnose your cycling issue.
^^This. ^^ Believe it or not, I have seen a shotgun that has marring from where someone took a pair of Channel-Locks to the cap. YIKES! Just hand tighten it, retract the barrel a few times manually, work the bolt once or twice, then tighten again. You should be good from there.
Sounds great. I apologize it's a 12 gauge. I love it and it's in pristine condition. I'll try and take some pictures of what the chamber/receiver look like when it's hand tight.
Someone did take a pair of pliers to my 16 gauge's cap at some point....it's a bit marred but what can you do? When I received the shotgun the mag cap was too tight for me to get it off by hand so I wrapped it in a few revolutions' worth of black tape and used a pair of pliers: it came right off without further damage.
