# Winchester 1400 Question



## frankwright (Mar 1, 2019)

A friend gave me a well worn Winchester 1400 12ga semi auto shotgun. Stock was horrible and it had a 30" full barrel. 
I decided to make it a handier shotgun to leave in the garage and carry when I am checking the hog feeders as I have walked up on some pretty close before.
I sanded and stained the stock and shortened the barrel. It shoots regular buckshot great. but it will not eject my favorite Federal Low Recoil Law Enforcement buckshot rounds. I understand this is pretty normal for the 1400.
I don't fully have a grip on the operation of the shotgun but is there anything I can do to make it cycle these. Open/Close gas ports? Increase/Decrease recoil spring? I love the unbelievable pattern of this buckshot and soft recoil.
The inside of the gun and gas system is very clean and properly lubed, I just need more ooomph!
Thanks!


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## Gator89 (Mar 1, 2019)

Mil-spec buckshot should work fine without beating you up.


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## rayjay (Mar 7, 2019)

Did it function with these rounds before you shortened the bbl ? Shortening the bbl reduces the amount of time that the gas system is seeing pressure. 

The gas system is very simple and straight forward on these guns. There are 2 gas ports in the bbl that match holes in the magazine tube/gas cylinder. There is a piston inside the forward end of the mag tube/gas cylinder. When the wad passes the gas ports in the bbl high pressure gas enters the gas cylinder and pushes the piston to the rear which pushes the bolt carrier rearward via the strut. 

The lockup is via a rotating bolt head just like the way an AR15 functions. I would make sure the gas ports in the bbl are not carboned up restricting the gas flow. I have shot several 1400s quite a lot. They all fed low velocity loads just fine but all had longer bbls. They did offer a 20" deer bbl so a short bbl should work ok.

The nut that secures the bbl and forend to the mag tube contains a spring loaded pressure relief valve that gets carboned up but always seems to work. If the spring has lost preload it could be bleeding off some of the gas.


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## frankwright (Mar 10, 2019)

I bought some Federal 00 buck and it patterns and functions great now. It has a little more oomph!
Thanks!


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