# Kent Misfire.....



## Storm (Dec 8, 2004)

About 5 years ago I bought a case of Kent 3 1/2" 2 shot shells for duck hunting. They have always worked great for me until today. I also take a trip out to the rainwater basins in central Nebraska at least once a year specifically to try and bag a nice bull Pintail. Today was the annual pintail hunt. I get to the marsh early and get all set up to bag a pintail. Right before sun up I have a group of 20-30 pintails coming right over the top of my spread. They make 3 passes which gives me enough time to pick a nice pintail. On the fourth pass they come right into my decoys. I sit up to shoot and pull the trigger and nothing happens. I eject the shell after a few cuss words and notice the primer has a dent in it so there was obviously a problem with the shell. I put another shell in my gun and here comes a nice flock of mallards right into my decoys. I sit up to shoot and the same thing happens....another misfired shell. I haven't ever had a problem with this before in my life and it happens two times in a row. So I put another shell in my gun and pull the trigger to see what is going on, this time it fires. Has any one out there had trouble with Kents misfiring? I think I remember a previous post on here where a person had the same issue. I was getting ready to buy another case of Kents since this is my last box, but now I won't.
I didn't get a pintail, oh well there is always tomorrow.


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## Quacker Wacker (Oct 12, 2006)

well i had some shells in my coat pocket when it was raining and i think they might have gotten wet somehow and they did the same thing but one time i had a perfectly fine fedral premium 3 1/2 in BBB and it just pushed the wad and all the bb's and shot halfway into my barrel and i had a very hard time pushing them out.


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## TANATA (Oct 31, 2003)

Kent doesn't have a very good reputation for wet conditions. Works well for me in the field though.


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## bandman (Feb 13, 2006)

Storm, are you byhaps shooting a Mossberg or an older pump? Sometimes the pumps don't get locked far enough ahead (835's are notorious for this) and therefore the shell isn't set in properly leading to the misfire. Or, your firing pin spring could be going bad but that's usually the case if many a shell has been cycled through the chamber.

My prior pump had to be put down due to annual trips to the gunsmith, wasted shells, and heartache/cuss words at the end of her life. I blamed the shells off the bat, but I later found out what the real culprit was.

It's possible you got a bad batch of primers, but I'd look deeply into these other possibilities if it persists.


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

Ask goosebusters about that. I know he had some of the same problems with Kent. I've never had one misfire, but I haven't shot too many of them either.


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## The Warden (Jul 2, 2005)

I've seen it a hundred times but it wasn't the shells, it's the gun; Benelli Nova to be exact. If that's the case it's time to join team 870. Personally, I've never had a problem with Kent.


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## scissorbill (Sep 14, 2003)

I'm betting it's your gun. Probably a weak firing pin spring. Also you may want to give it a good cleaning as dirt and gunk can cause this as well.


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## GW (May 31, 2007)

I've shot one load for all my duck and pheasant hunting for 5 years now: 3 inch, once and a quarter of Kent Fasteel #4s. Cases of these shells have been through my two Benelli SBEs and I've never had a misfire. I can't say as I've ever had a shell wet though...the boxes stay in my blind bag.
GW


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## mallardrocker (Nov 29, 2006)

my ithaca did the same thing, but when i pumped it, it went off 

scary..


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## ruger1 (Aug 16, 2006)

The Warden said:


> I've seen it a hundred times but it wasn't the shells, it's the gun; Benelli Nova to be exact. If that's the case it's time to join team 870. Personally, I've never had a problem with Kent.


The Warden, elaborate on this will you? I've got a new Nova this year. Is there a trend you are seeing? Is there something I should be looking for? Is this one guy or a number of them? Do they clean their guns or do they just put them away when they are done?


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## bowhunter04 (Nov 7, 2003)

ruger1, if it makes you feel better, I've had my Nova for 6 years and I've never had an issue. I wouldn't worry about it too much.


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## Blue Plate (Jul 31, 2006)

Over the years I've had this happen twice. I shoot Kent fast steel #2 3 1/2". This is over 10 cases of shells, so I can live with it. :wink:


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## goosebusters (Jan 12, 2006)

last spring in South Dakota I waded accross a chest deep lake with a box of Kents in my pocket that got completely soaked. Hardly any of those shells fired. But what sold me for never buying Kent's again was this year having a group of four Canadas, on film, coming right in at about 8 to 11 yards to two shooters. I pulled up at my first shot was the whole crappy powder shot, it made a pfffffffff sound as the shot visibly rolled out the barrel. Second shot I was a little frazzled and I tried again, POW! but I missed because I wasn't concentrating. Third shot I dialed in on a goose, CLICK nothing. I know what shortstroking your gun does to a shell with the dimple. I also no that if you put a shortstroked shell back in your gun and pull the trigger in will go off. This wouldn't. Those shells had never been wet or even damp. Just sat in the case in my room until they went out on that day. I had two duds out of three shells so I will never shoot Kents again.


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## Storm (Dec 8, 2004)

I shoot a Benelli Super Black Eagle II. I haven't ever had it misfire in two years, maybe three I can't remember exactly when I bought the gun. I also found the shell that didn't fire and it has a deep dent located in the center of the primer. Maybe it didn't strike the primer hard enough? I did fire my gun 5 times that day with two misfires. I can't find the second shell that I had in my gun that didn't fire so I can't comment on how big the dent was in that primer. I will clean my gun out with solvent today and take apart the fireing mechanism. Maybe it isn't the shell. I also wasn't very wet conditions this trip. I have hunted with Kent shells when I was actually standing in a marsh with no problems. This time I was in a layout blind on the bank on a bright sunny day. I couldn't sleep very will last night...I just kept thinking about that big Bull Pintail coming into my decoys and the sound of my gun going click.......


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## bowhunter04 (Nov 7, 2003)

Here's another post about Kent Shells:

http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/forums/vie ... php?t=9404


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## pinfeather (Nov 3, 2007)

i had a benelli nova with a problem. thought it was the shells, turned out to be the gun. what would happen was if i pushed ahead on the forearm would never missfire. now if i pulled back on the forearm(like raising out of a ground blind to shoot) it would almost always misfire(dent the primer slightly) i shot a box of shells just to verify it was the gun, and it turned out to be the gun. now this gun had alot of shells fired through it in its life, i think it got sloppy. a trip to the gunsmith fixed the problem. i love my SBE and nolonger have the nova, but it was a good gun and just needed the touch from a gunsmith to get it back to true form. this was my experiance, it could be bad shells i dont know.....good luck.


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## TANATA (Oct 31, 2003)

ruger1 said:


> The Warden said:
> 
> 
> > I've seen it a hundred times but it wasn't the shells, it's the gun; Benelli Nova to be exact. If that's the case it's time to join team 870. Personally, I've never had a problem with Kent.
> ...


He doesn't have a clue he's just stickin with team 870. Nova doesn't have any problems that are consistent other than people complaining they rattle too much.


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## Water Swater (Oct 23, 2003)

Do your self a favor and never shoot Kent again it is crap. That is why it is so cheap. It has blown out 2 barrels of our guns and multiple misfires. Kent's customer service is a bad as its shells.


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## Storm (Dec 8, 2004)

I looked at four fired shell casing that I had in my waders and noticed that the dent in the primer was deeper than the one shell that I have that didn't fire. It's also stange that I didn't find the other shell that I had in the gun when it misfired, this happened twice. So I'm thinking that it didn't even dent the primer. On further review I think it is a gun issue and not the shell. I will give it a super clean job and try it again. I have always had good luck with Kent and was planning on buying another case.


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## mshutt (Apr 21, 2007)

The only thing wrong with the kent shells is when you get the brass wet, and it appears to be rusting. Whenever I have rust on them, i need to take my rust remover cloth to get it off, and it shoots like a champ. And when i forget to clean them off after they get wet, and rust, then shoot them, they shoot normally, but when i eject they get stuck, and im not able to eject the shells without having to stop, put my gun down, and force the shell out. I also have recognized that this only happens to guns that can't shoot the 3 1/2 in. shells. My gun only shoots 3"...so i think its the size for the shells to eject is whats wrong.

If anybody has compared a 3" kent, to a 3" of any other shell, the kents ARE bigger. not but much, but there is a for sure difference.

I've shot 6 cases of Kent shells, and have never had a MISFIRE, but have had the shells be little buggers trying to eject around 20 times... I still love them, and will continue to buy them without hesitating.


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## bckwtr (Nov 6, 2007)

I have had extremely bad luck with Kent shells: get them wet and they misfire and they regularly jam in my 870 chambered for 3" shells. I have run a lot of shells through my gun and the only brand that has given me problems is Kent. Although I shoved a Federal in backwards a few weeks ago and it didn't work too well either.


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