Just can't win

Feel your pain Pete. Had a Versamax & the bolt handle would “fly out” when I shot. Returned it - Remington repaired & returned. Happened again and returned it again. Happened 3rd time (after 2 repairs) so called Remington and they sent me a check - this was around the time Remington announced “lifetime warranty”. Some guys swear by their Vmax. Like you, I did a ton of research trying to see what others had to say, etc. TuJays on Shotgunworld had a substantial amount of posts about the Versamax, and made update recommendations to Remington that they incorporated in future Vmax releases. Some guys swear by them. My experience was terrible. Ever try to find a bolt handle in a combined wheat-barley-or pea field? Found mine twice. Not fun trying to pull the bolt back without the handle either. It was a sad day when they went bankrupt back around ‘18. I doubt Remington can ever rebound from +3 years out of production. Can’t imagine how many skilled employees they lost over that down time.
Your chronology makes sense. I have Wingmasters from the 60’s through 2010, and they’ve all cycled fine.
Did replace the Vmax with 2 V3’s. Bought them both with the Vmax money. They run dirty but have performed well. I grew up shooting Wingmasters and they have been extremely reliable. My 11-87’s have also run flawlessly.
I hope your gunsmith takes care of you.
Agree it’s sad to see the US gun mfg’s all fading away
BTW - talking about Winchester, they say the Super X1 production (74-81) put Winchester into bankruptcy. They built a beautiful semi auto that cost more than they could sell it for. What a fine shotgun - just too heavy for upland hunting
 
Oh yes, I also have often been a temporary owner of many fashionable Versamax bolt handles from the factory zippo lighter design, spirals, jeweled pattern, tactical knurls. I am running out of new gun part machining adjectives to try. May have to resort to gluing in the next ones.

Reminds me of my brother who was an early adopter of synthetic stocks to which my dad quipped in the duck boat "What does the gun cleaning kit look like for that thing, super glue and 409?". He might just have some handy.
 
Chestle and Kismet, you make a 51 year old guy feel young again. But I did take two birds this year from the hip so young-and-dumb is still in my bag of tricks. That's why the mare's leg stock on the truck gun is a feature, not a bug for me.

I'm surprised the Classified Ads forum on this site doesn't look more like this-

"Not for Sale. 86 year old gun, 1 or 2 owners (can't remember). Just a couple cases have run through it but has reliably brought down 1000s of pheasants. Only jams when there's video proof on camera or or the rare times I've needed a second shot."

I lied to my gunsmith. I told him "no rush, I won't need it until next fall". I check my e-mail several times a day now looking for their message on what they found. I post on here in between checking to entertain myself.
 
Just a 2.5 week turn around and Alhmans was done with it. They put the micrometer to it and found the cam bolt pin was worn down. This is part of the bolt assembly that rotates as part of the shell extraction. They were not at all surprised to be replacing one, despite having less than 500 rounds through it. They do them all the time around that many rounds to remedy jamming problems and keep a large supply of this part on hand. They think it is a poor design due to the thin metal around the hole and the metal used being soft and not well heat treated. When I handed it over to them it was jamming every other shell and they ran half a box of both target and magnums through it with no problems.

Now that I search specifically for that part, it shows up a good candidate for Versamax jamming issues. There are just so many other jam points that this is way down the list. Most of the reports are three gun competition shooters and their solution is replacement with Benelli M2/M4 cam bolts. They point out many parts in the Versamax like the hammer assembly that peen and chip easily. However they like the gun for the low recoil for their speed shooting so they deal with it. I don't think I ever would have figured that one out on my own.

I see threads for many years complaining of out of stock issues for online Remington parts suppliers but they will sell them from Alhmans and Paducah Shooters Supply which are the recommended non-corporate, non-warranty repair locations. However the Benelli M2/M4 parts are apparently superior metal and in stock everywhere online. Comp shooters replace so many of these internal parts they call them Remelli's so it looks like that is in my future as well. I would be very careful about purchasing anything Remington from 2011-2021. Know what you might be getting into and not rely on the heritage of reliable guns because there is now a dark decade of potentially bad units out there. The famous lifetime warranty is also gone as they will run your serial number and if it's not from 2021 or after, you will be on your own. I don't think we know if their new guns since then are any good for another couple years.
 
Thanks for the update Pete - glad to hear it was a “simple” fix - wonder if the replacement part was aftermarket & known to be better than OEM?
agree with you assessment of Remington - only exception - Wingmasters
Not sure I’ll ever buy a “new” Remington gun
Can’t imagine the new Remington will survive after all the damage done with the latest bankruptcy - time will tell - what’s crazy is spare parts is usually the highest margin segment for most manufacturers- so where are the parts?

Another option - Recently saw a review by Randy Wakeman on Impala Plus inertia semi autos mfg in Turkey - the price point is around $450 - wow!- & Buds sells them - perhaps there’s one close enough for you to check out - they also have free shipping - the other reviews I’ve read are also good - the big questions- as always - 1) spare parts availability 2) model years in production 3) Manufacturer viability
 
Just from the color of the part, I do suspect the gunsmith was using Benelli parts. They have not been in bankruptcy for years so they have abundant parts that are cheaper than Rem parts. Rem parts were darker like a blued metal while Benelli was silver metallic. Here's the common wear items that the three gun shooters end up replacing with Benelli parts due to early wear around 500 rounds:

extractor and spring
firing pin and spring
cam pin
hammer and spring

Here are the common issues to Versamax's made in the 2010s that are no longer under warranty:

Barrel IssuesBent to the left and patterns way off. Buy a new barrel.
Failure To Feed/MisfeedsReplace action spring in the stock with Wolf XP, check spring tension
Heavy TriggerSmooth, sharpen and clean the trigger. Gunsmith recommended.
Shells Don’t ReleaseClean any dirt, file the sharp edge of the shell release.
Misfires/Light strike on primerFix the hammer or faulty firing pin. Replace if chipped/peened.
Bolt Locking IssueClean metal parts, replace cam pin, buy bolt assembly replacement.

Many of these parts have Benelli M2/M4 direct replacements so that is often what you buy. At the time I got the Versamax, it was priced competitively with the high end Benelli autos. I hunt beside one often and it never jams. Lot's of regerts when I'm constantly down and buying Benelli parts when I could have just bought a complete one if the first place. But once the Versamax gets running it is a fun gun to shoot due to the super soft recoil. Getting to 500 shells quickly is really easy so that is what I am looking forward to.
 
Great report Pete! I hope you posted this on Shotgunworld; I'm sure there are guys that would appreciate this summary!
 
Book marked this for my buddy, just incase some day he encounters an issue with his VM.

I never realized the VM was ever priced similar to the SBE or whichever SBE was in production when they came out. I am very surprised that the Benelli and Remington have interchangeable parts! Lots of stuff I don't know.

Give us a 500 round report when you get to that mile marker Pete.
 
"Honey, the internet demands I get a gunclub membership and double the number of hunting trips as soon as possible to get to 500 rounds. It's important research. Yes, I know- but think of all the children that will grow up and buy a used Remington from the 2010s, unaware they have doomed themselves to a lifetime of frequent trips to the gunstore and gunsmith. Yes, that's why I go there so often, it's the Remington's fault."

Benelli allowed Remington to copy basically all the receiver setup parts in the middle of the gun. On either side of that is where the gun designs depart. Benneli went with rubber pads in the stock that absorb the recoil, Remington went with gas ports in the forearm that reduce the force of the bolt recoil coming back at you. Both are very soft shooting, even with magnum loads or goose pellets. At the time the Rem variants of this gun where about $1200-1400 and the SBEs were $1400-1800 so they were near peers in the market. It's one thing if you get the $500 gun and another set of expectations when you step up to the over a thousand $ range. I was expecting quality near the expensive import Benneli and I got home grown knock-off crep from the peoples republic of NY.

I am subscribed to the 3899 post thread on Shotgun world and I have prayed many times in my Versamax trials and tribulations to St. Tujays who was the revered expert but is now in a place where guns never jam. That thread did have the occasional poster who did have the same types of jams I did but that thread is so old they were getting warranty repairs still and just got an entire new bolt assembly instead of cam pins. I will post there since every 6 months somebody bumps it and brings the thread back alive.
 
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