I wouldn't hesitate at all to shoot it. If it breaks again, send it back again. That's the only way these companies can know the have design flaws or a bad batch. Sounds like Weatherby took care of him pretty well.
Yes, they took good care of him, and he's back to using it this season. But from what we could see, our thoughts were the bolt is not quiet as beefy as some other brands. It also appeared to be cast and not milled, which may represent a cause. We couldn't take it apart because Weatherby wanted it back just as it was and untouched. So our examine was limited to just a what we could see.
Interesting, one of two or both scenarios happened in my opinion, especially when someone other than the owner is posting the broken bolt. 1. The bolt had a metallurgy issue, or 2. The bolt's been beaten too hard against the receiver. This shotgun comes with two pistons, one for heavy loads, one for light. Likewise, if you have a high round count you need to think about replacing the recoil spring to prevent the bolt beating the receiver. My SA-08 is over 5 years old and flawless, granted a low round count, good recoil spring and a owner who uses the right piston for the right loads. A good rule of thumb is anything 1 1/8 and under use the light piston, anything over use the heavy. However mine cycles 1 1/8 Remington Heavy Dove with the heavy load piston w/o a hitch.
The owner doesn't have a UA-cam account and doesn't post videos, so I asked him If I could do it. His gun was about 5 years old when it broke. He had shot many heavy loads in it without any issues. The bolt broke when he was shooting Prairie Storm, which I told him on a few occasions that I felt they may be too heavy for the gun to handle. Ironic what happened. After Weatherby sent it back, the bolt wouldn't hardly open, so we took it apart. After pulling the trigger assy out, it was determined they had jammed it in and it was locking the carrier. Upon a closer look, I also found a broken pin, or rather chipped on one end. Whether that was the original cause, we don't know since we didn't take it apart beforehand per Weatherby's request. I replaced it with a good one I made for him, and have had no issues since. However, the question still remains: how trustworthy is it? Weatherby personal, said it had happened once before, or at least the person who received the call had seen it before. It's up in the air as to the cause. Bolt? Ammo? Wear? Who can say. But I was surprised to see a casting was used for a bolt. And yes, he and I are aware of the different pistons and I explained to him when he first got it how to determine which one to use. The standard, or ringed piston, will shot everything, hands down. The heavy piston will not shoot the light loads. He was using the heavy piston at the time, which has since cracked. The way to determine which piston to use is done 2 ways. Cycling, and recoil. Since the gun cycles all with the standard piston, the other factor of recoil comes into play. If the recoil is hard on the shoulder, then use the heavy piston. This reduces the recoil, and is less stressful on the gun. You would think the size of load can be used, but is not totally correct. The reason is velocity. Some loads are the same weight, whether 2-3/4 or 3", but have different velocities, creating different pressures. (even on the shoulder) Therefore, a 1-1/8 load in a field load can shoot well with the standard piston, while a 1-1/8 load in steel at 1500 fps will require the heavy piston. The load factors and felt recoil, are no doubt the best way to determine what piston to use. What ever is lightest on the shoulder, and still cycles the gun, is the right piston to use. I have since offered to make him a heavy piston out of stainless since the original is aluminum. But he hasn't said yet what he wants to do. He may end up just buying another gun.
My weatherby sa-08 bolt broke identical to this today. It's about 6 years old and probably had 2000 rounds through it. Been a good gun until today.
Yours is the third one I've heard of breaking. Call them and see if they will warranty it. They did his.
I wouldn't hesitate at all to shoot it. If it breaks again, send it back again. That's the only way these companies can know the have design flaws or a bad batch. Sounds like Weatherby took care of him pretty well.
Yes, they took good care of him, and he's back to using it this season. But from what we could see, our thoughts were the bolt is not quiet as beefy as some other brands. It also appeared to be cast and not milled, which may represent a cause. We couldn't take it apart because Weatherby wanted it back just as it was and untouched. So our examine was limited to just a what we could see.
Interesting, one of two or both scenarios happened in my opinion, especially when someone other than the owner is posting the broken bolt. 1. The bolt had a metallurgy issue, or 2. The bolt's been beaten too hard against the receiver. This shotgun comes with two pistons, one for heavy loads, one for light.
Likewise, if you have a high round count you need to think about replacing the recoil spring to prevent the bolt beating the receiver. My SA-08 is over 5 years old and flawless, granted a low round count, good recoil spring and a owner who uses the right piston for the right loads. A good rule of thumb is anything 1 1/8 and under use the light piston, anything over use the heavy. However mine cycles 1 1/8 Remington Heavy Dove with the heavy load piston w/o a hitch.
The owner doesn't have a UA-cam account and doesn't post videos, so I asked him If I could do it. His gun was about 5 years old when it broke. He had shot many heavy loads in it without any issues.
The bolt broke when he was shooting Prairie Storm, which I told him on a few occasions that I felt they may be too heavy for the gun to handle. Ironic what happened.
After Weatherby sent it back, the bolt wouldn't hardly open, so we took it apart. After pulling the trigger assy out, it was determined they had jammed it in and it was locking the carrier.
Upon a closer look, I also found a broken pin, or rather chipped on one end. Whether that was the original cause, we don't know since we didn't take it apart beforehand per Weatherby's request.
I replaced it with a good one I made for him, and have had no issues since. However, the question still remains: how trustworthy is it?
Weatherby personal, said it had happened once before, or at least the person who received the call had seen it before.
It's up in the air as to the cause. Bolt? Ammo? Wear? Who can say. But I was surprised to see a casting was used for a bolt.
And yes, he and I are aware of the different pistons and I explained to him when he first got it how to determine which one to use.
The standard, or ringed piston, will shot everything, hands down. The heavy piston will not shoot the light loads.
He was using the heavy piston at the time, which has since cracked.
The way to determine which piston to use is done 2 ways. Cycling, and recoil.
Since the gun cycles all with the standard piston, the other factor of recoil comes into play. If the recoil is hard on the shoulder, then use the heavy piston. This reduces the recoil, and is less stressful on the gun.
You would think the size of load can be used, but is not totally correct. The reason is velocity. Some loads are the same weight, whether 2-3/4 or 3", but have different velocities, creating different pressures. (even on the shoulder)
Therefore, a 1-1/8 load in a field load can shoot well with the standard piston, while a 1-1/8 load in steel at 1500 fps will require the heavy piston.
The load factors and felt recoil, are no doubt the best way to determine what piston to use. What ever is lightest on the shoulder, and still cycles the gun, is the right piston to use.
I have since offered to make him a heavy piston out of stainless since the original is aluminum. But he hasn't said yet what he wants to do. He may end up just buying another gun.
I've noticed the majority of these Turkish shotguns look and function the same or similarly.
Me too.