I recently noticed something about my Auto-5. It has a 2-3/4" chamber and it doesn't work properly with 2-1/2" shells. I have some 2-1/2" ammo that I like to use sometimes since it has a fibre wad which both increases spread in tighter barrels and doesn't leave bits of plastic everywhere. It worked fine in my old Auto-5, at least the few times I tried it, but in my new one it won't work at all, and I think I figured out why... The 2-1/2" shells actually seem too short to trigger the carrier latch properly when coming out of the magazine, which results in either the carrier not lifting at all, or if the shell actually reaches the carrier latch and triggers it, any following shell from the magazine has already come too far out of the magazine tube for the cartridge stop to be able to hold it when it engages. This results in a jam, since the carrier tries to lift two shells, one of which is halfway stuck in the mag-tube. I've tried switching the carrier latch with a spare, but it made no difference. Is this a common problem, or is my carrier latch in need of adjustment? Is there a risk that 2-3/4" shells will trip the latch prematurely if I adjust it to work with 2-1/2" shells? Could something else cause this? I apologize in advance if I'm using the wrong notation or measurements when it comes to inches. Not used to going non-metric...
I reload 2 1/2" 16 gauge shells and they work in my 2 3/4" chambered guns. I also used 2 1/2" shells in my 1903 12 gauge when I thought that was what it was chambered for, and they worked. I think 2 1/2" shells should work in your gun too, but I don't think it's worth the effort if the gun is reliable with standard ammunition. That said, it sounds like you've diagnosed the problem well. Maybe bending the aft end of the Carrier Latch outward a little so that it trips sooner would work. But why risk it? Isn't this your only Auto-5? Now if you'd been allowed to keep the other one...
I agree Rudolph, it's probably not worth the risk trying to adjust it. I suppose I could try it on a spare latch but the sane solution is probably just to stop using that particular ammo. Not a problem really, I just wanted to check if this was a common issue in Auto-5's. Thanks for the info!
