bobafett
Active Fanatic
Well I finally got one of these and thought I would give my initial impressions.
1st I was expecting this to come in a cardboard box. Most reviews I had read said the box was junk. I picked it up and it was a cardboard box.... but in the box was a hard plastic case. This isnt mine, but to give you an idea:
I unpacked it and put it together. 1st thing I noticed was the detents on the mag
tube aka Dimples. I knew those were going to be removed but I will get into
that later.
Once assemble it was amazing light. I loaded some dummy shells and ran some loading
and cycled it. I noticed the bolt release button was too small imo.
I took it to the range on Saturday and shot some skeet and trap. I had an 870 to
compare the kick. My dad was there too and he said the versa max had 1/2 the
recoil of the 870. I would agree.
About 75 rounds into the session my Dad had problems getting it to cycle. I
looked at it and could not figure it out. Then my dad reached in his pocket
with the shell he was loading and they were covered in sawdust, leafs, dirt and
basically it looked like a handful of the jungle was in his pocket, and made
its way into the mag tub, then into the receiver. I popped out the rounds and
all of this crap fell out of the mag tub. It wasn’t down but it was retarded a
little from dirt being behind the mag shell catch.
He jumanji'd my new shotgun, but I didn’t care. Tore the gun down and blew out all
of the jungle. Took it back to the range with the wife the next day to retest
it. Ran 100 round threw it and she loved it, she said " it’s like shooting
a .22
No problems at all, I ran 3" magnums threw #4 shot, #8,#7 #2. The magnums
did have a little more recoil but my shoulder is not sore at all.
So hands down that is a very nice machine.
The things I need to do are:
1. Remove the detents (dimples). I gave Remington a call and they told me to
remove the factory tube you just need to heat the receiver with a heat gun and
use a strap wrench to remove it. It would not void the warranty on the gun,
just the tube, and worst case scenario just order a new mag tube and install
then send it in for warranty. Remington’s price is $68 for a versa max normal
or tactical mag tube. (Basically I am going to drill my mag tube out and ordered
a +6 extension with new follower and barrel clamp from Nordic (120$.)
2. Ordered a new carrier from Remington ($20) to send to Jeff at C-rums for
welding (45$)
3. Ordered the tactical Bigger charging handle from Remington $20
4. Bigger release button, looking into options on this.
So for about $200 it should be a 3 gun ready. I should have all my parts this
week, less the welded carrier. Can’t wait to get it all put together. On top of
this they are running a $100 mail in rebate on the versa max right now!
I am kicking around putting a picatiny rail on it and ghost ring sights from an
R12, but the stock high vis works great for me.
Remington also sent me out a new cap and mag spring because I told them the furniture was
coming loose when I removed the mag plug. Their customer service is great btw!
1st I was expecting this to come in a cardboard box. Most reviews I had read said the box was junk. I picked it up and it was a cardboard box.... but in the box was a hard plastic case. This isnt mine, but to give you an idea:
I unpacked it and put it together. 1st thing I noticed was the detents on the mag
tube aka Dimples. I knew those were going to be removed but I will get into
that later.
Once assemble it was amazing light. I loaded some dummy shells and ran some loading
and cycled it. I noticed the bolt release button was too small imo.
I took it to the range on Saturday and shot some skeet and trap. I had an 870 to
compare the kick. My dad was there too and he said the versa max had 1/2 the
recoil of the 870. I would agree.
About 75 rounds into the session my Dad had problems getting it to cycle. I
looked at it and could not figure it out. Then my dad reached in his pocket
with the shell he was loading and they were covered in sawdust, leafs, dirt and
basically it looked like a handful of the jungle was in his pocket, and made
its way into the mag tub, then into the receiver. I popped out the rounds and
all of this crap fell out of the mag tub. It wasn’t down but it was retarded a
little from dirt being behind the mag shell catch.
He jumanji'd my new shotgun, but I didn’t care. Tore the gun down and blew out all
of the jungle. Took it back to the range with the wife the next day to retest
it. Ran 100 round threw it and she loved it, she said " it’s like shooting
a .22
No problems at all, I ran 3" magnums threw #4 shot, #8,#7 #2. The magnums
did have a little more recoil but my shoulder is not sore at all.
So hands down that is a very nice machine.
The things I need to do are:
1. Remove the detents (dimples). I gave Remington a call and they told me to
remove the factory tube you just need to heat the receiver with a heat gun and
use a strap wrench to remove it. It would not void the warranty on the gun,
just the tube, and worst case scenario just order a new mag tube and install
then send it in for warranty. Remington’s price is $68 for a versa max normal
or tactical mag tube. (Basically I am going to drill my mag tube out and ordered
a +6 extension with new follower and barrel clamp from Nordic (120$.)
2. Ordered a new carrier from Remington ($20) to send to Jeff at C-rums for
welding (45$)
3. Ordered the tactical Bigger charging handle from Remington $20
4. Bigger release button, looking into options on this.
So for about $200 it should be a 3 gun ready. I should have all my parts this
week, less the welded carrier. Can’t wait to get it all put together. On top of
this they are running a $100 mail in rebate on the versa max right now!
I am kicking around putting a picatiny rail on it and ghost ring sights from an
R12, but the stock high vis works great for me.
Remington also sent me out a new cap and mag spring because I told them the furniture was
coming loose when I removed the mag plug. Their customer service is great btw!
