I'm a long time bird hunter / shotgunner (41yrs) and huge fan of the venerable 870. I've never owned a semi auto shotgun before because frankly I've never seen one that was reliable in all the foul conditions I put them in -- NONE! With that in mind I bought a versamax today and I'm optimistic that it will be the one that can.

My new acquisition is a waterfowl camo, 28" barrel from Cabelas for $1399.99 It will accompany me shooting comptitive sporting clays, to seaduck hunting on Puget Sound, Chukar and Grouse hunting the Cascades, Canada Goose and puddle duck hunting the Columbia Basin and back to my birth state of Kansas for Snow Goose and Pheasant hunting all during the 2013-14 seasons -- I'll be posting my impressions, experiences and opinions of the gun here. It will be digesting around 3000 rounds of all types during this time.

Initial impression out of the box, great lines, simple take down and assembly, points well for me from box W/O any adjustment. Gun has a good hefty solid feel -- sick and tired of reading about people whining that its heavier than some other autos out there. If the extra pound or less is to much for you then you should be hitting the gym not your keyboard. High vis sights are great as is larger safety button and enlarged trigger guard. I love that this gun has an aluminum reciever and nickel lined internals and barrel for rust prevention but I hate camoflouged guns. I'm a traditionalist - I train my own retrievers, carve my own decoys (as well as many rigs for others) and like blued steel and deep richly finished wood, but thats just cosmetic and a personal choice.

As I stated above I'm optimistic about the VM but its not going to be an easy season for it. I'm blunt and direct but fair - if the VM is the greatest thing to shotgunning since smokeless powder I'll tell you but if its an overpriced piece of crap I'll tell you that too.

So my first real experience with this gun was the decision to clean it after Remingtons factory test firing and before using it in a Friendlies Sporting Clay Shoot tomorrow. So how many rounds does remington put through these things while test firing? my guess is not very many but this thing was FILTHY!! I've cleaned blackpowder guns that didnt have this much residue in them. My concern is that the major concentration was in the area of the gas ports in the chamber -- The residue in this area refused to yield easily and a full can of Rem-Clean, a bore brush, most of a roll of paper towels and a tired arm later that section is still not really clean. the rest of the barrel was shining like a mirror after only a couple of passes which concerns me that the residue collection is a matter of the finish of the metal in the area of the gas ports -- Has anyone been having similiar experiences with this gun? Our sporting clays shoot tomorrow is 100 rounder and I'll post results.

Nice writeup. Im interested in hearing how it performs for you.

Sent from my Mossberg 930 using Tapatalk2

So I headed out for our sporting clays friendly shoot yesterday in a steady rain -- not unusual for Western Washington this time of year and fitting for the first test of of a mainly water fowling gun. My choice of shell for this shoot was Rio 2 3/4" 8 shot 1oz loads. These are not my favorite loads by far but they are inexpensive and overall perform fairly well in my opinion.

My first stop was to the patterning wall, mostly prompted by reading others reviews stating that the Versa Max shot other than at point of aim. Now being a lifetime shot gunner I know that those types of problems are typically the shooter and not the gun but it still plants a seed in your mind when you read it. I pretty much exclusively use a full choke or "pass shooting" as it is labeled with the Versa Max and that it what I had in today. I started at 10 yards on the pattern wall and the first round from the gun was a tight dense pattern exactly at point of aim. I backed out to twenty yards and the second shot again impacted exactly at point of aim with a good even pattern. 40 yards for the third shot and again the center of the pattern was exactly at point of aim. So no accuracy problems here, I should also point out at this time that I'm also a left handed shooter.

Our local clubs sporting clays course is a 13 stand course and very well set up - we had predetermined the numbers and types of shots we would take at each stand, true doubles, report doubles, singles etc for a total of 100 "birds." At the end of the course I had broken 92 of 100 and was totally enamored with the Versa Max. The gun performed flawlessly, was quick to point and fit me perfectly right out of the box. I enjoyed shooting it so much that after the sporting clays shoot I joined another companion on the trap range for two rounds of 16 yard trap. I went 52 for 52 on the trap range -- there are no accuracy problems with this gun and the choke patterned great with these loads.

The felt recoil is so light on this gun with these loads that I could actually feel the action close as it cycled. Never having been a semi auto shooter I'm not sure if that's typical or not and frankly it bothered me a little bit but by the end of the sporting clays shoot I still noticed it but it was no longer bothering me. I imagine it will be less noticeable with heavier rounds as it blends with the recoil. My only negative -- and it is minor is that I occasionally noticed a light puff of hot exhaust in my face when shooting. Being a left handed shooter I attributed this to having my face on the ejection port side of the firearm - something I'm familiar with from putting tens of thousands of rounds down range in automatic and semi automatic rifles in my day job. However a couple of times I felt the hot gas on my hand on the fore grip and realized that the gas I was feeling was exhausting from the gass tubes and escaping the fore grip to the rear and back towards the shooters face. This was confirm red when I cleaned the gun and it was clear by the gas marks that the gas was escaping the fore grip to the rear. It was only noticeable on a handful of shots but I'm concerned that it may increase with heavier loads. I see this as a fairly significant oversight by Remington and given the molded synthetic fore grip it would have been relatively easy to build in baffles to direct the exhausted gases forward. This may prove to be a non problem, time and rounds through the gun will tell.

I'm off to Kansas for the opening of teal season on Sept 7th for two days of teal and dove shooting on the Great Plains. I'll post my experiences with the Versa Max on our first hunt together upon my return.

Well, a little late posting about last weeks hunt, I also carve decoys and have been busy trying to get rigs done for the upcoming season. The Kansas teal hunt was plagued by unseasonably hot temperatures, 104 on one afternoon. Needless to say, not the best water fowling weather, I only fired three rounds at teal and ended up with three birds, one was a single and the other two in succession out of a flock -- no issues from thee Versa Max.

While hot temperatures are not conducive to water fowling it does fit dove shooting to a tee. We shifted our main focus to dove and set up in an area between a water hole and a roosting area in the evenings for some fast and furious pass shooting - we had an average of 5-6 shooters and two retrievers working each evening and had no problems filling our limits of 15 dove each in about an hour and half. The Versa Max performed flawlessly. Shooting at times was so fast the chamber and barrel were two hot to touch. I shot a variety of light loads during the dove hunt just to try as many different shells as possible in the Versa Max, Fiocchi, Federal, Remington and Rio in 71/2, 8, and 9 shot -- 7/8 s to 11/8 once loads. The gun performed flawlessly with all of them.

As much as it goes against my grain I resisted cleaning the gun to test performance in a dirty state -- headed off of a round of sporting clays to continue testing it dirty with light loads.

OK, first problem with the Versa Max and although its exceedingly minor it's really annoying. As you know the sights consist of the fiber optic main sight and a small metal bead mid barrel. I was on the third sporting clays stand today when I came up to shoot and something didn't look right -- the small metal bead was gone. Yep it just fell out. I examined the threads in the hole and they look fine, it wasn't broke, it hadn't hit anything, the threads weren't stripped, it just fell out. Not indicative of great quality control.

Now the question is how will Remington handle this - will I have to ship in my whole, just the barrel, or what to get a $1.50 part replaced. My preference will be that they ship me the bead to install myself, he'll I might even be smart enough to use some thread lock like Remington should have. I'll let you know what happens. Other than the bead the gun worked flawlessly and I broke 119 of 125 "birds".

For something like that I would hope they would just send a new bead. I would definitely make sure it has some loctite on it regardless of how they handle it.

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Call them up 1-800-243-9700, explain what happened and tell them you need part number 17.
They will take down some info and ship it to you for free.
Just have your serial # handy and date of purchase......did you online register for the warranty when you bought it?

Had an issue with my Versa Max today. Was shooting hyper sonic 3.5" #4 shot. On the sixth shot, it snapped the firing pin, firing pin retainer pin, broke the bolt handle, and broke the pin that holds the rod/bar that attaches to the back of the bolt that slides in the buffer tube. Talked with a tech at Remington, he said the hyper sonic is to much for any gun. The tech is sending me a new bolt and assembly kit! He said my issue isn't the first he dealt with. He said the hyper sonic and black cloud 3.5" hard to powerful for the Versa Max or any other gun.


If its up high, it's coming to the ground

I've been extremely busy and did not have a chance to contact Remington until today. The phone call was quick and very easy -- told the tech about the issue, he took down my info and is express shipping the bead out to me today, I should have it early next week. Can't complain about the customer service.

Thanks TuJays for the info it went just as you said!

Assault -- I find it hard to believe that any gun manufacturer would label their product as a "magnum" capable firearm if it was not able to handle all commercially available ammunition, especially ammunition they manufacture as in the case of the Hypersonic. In fact the weapons are typically over engineered to provide an acceptable safety margin. Additionally no ammunition manufacturer is going to accept the liability of producing ammunition that is going to damage weapons and potentially injure users! That being said anomalies do occur and if the account you shared is accurate it would fall into that category.

Orion wrote:I've been extremely busy and did not have a chance to contact Remington until today. The phone call was quick and very easy -- told the tech about the issue, he took down my info and is express shipping the bead out to me today, I should have it early next week. Can't complain about the customer service.

Thanks TuJays for the info it went just as you said!

Assault -- I find it hard to believe that any gun manufacturer would label their product as a "magnum" capable firearm if it was not able to handle all commercially available ammunition, especially ammunition they manufacture as in the case of the Hypersonic. In fact the weapons are typically over engineered to provide an acceptable safety margin. Additionally no ammunition manufacturer is going to accept the liability of producing ammunition that is going to damage weapons and potentially injure users! That being said anomalies do occur and if the account you shared is accurate it would fall into that category.

No to be rude to you bud, but I have no reason to blow smoke up someone's azz!!! Frank Sanders Is the rep I spoke to at Remington and he said they have had several issues with the bolt in the versamax shooting hyper sonic 3.5" and black cloud 3.5". Believe want you want! I've had the issue, pins got sheared in my bolt and now I can't use it. This is the second issue I've had with this gun. Just cause all you shoot is skeet and up-land birds, some of us use this gun as a tool for hunting year round. I didn't spend $1400 on a gun to be broken longer than I get to hunt with it!


If its up high, it's coming to the ground

Assault, did the Remington Tech advise what Hypersonic shells could be shot from the Vera Max using the Pass Shooting choke? I am anticipating a duck hunt at Kern next week and I have purchased 3.5" and 3" Hypersonic steel shot shells and I am a little anxious about using them in my new Versa Max Waterfowl......Any recommendations from the veteran duck hunters out there would also be welcome!

"No to be rude to you bud, but I have no reason to blow smoke up someone's azz!!! Frank Sanders Is the rep I spoke to at Remington and he said they have had several issues with the bolt in the versamax shooting hyper sonic 3.5" and black cloud 3.5". Believe want you want! I've had the issue, pins got sheared in my bolt and now I can't use it. This is the second issue I've had with this gun. Just cause all you shoot is skeet and up-land birds, some of us use this gun as a tool for hunting year round. I didn't spend $1400 on a gun to be broken longer than I get to hunt with it!"

Assault - chip on your shoulder there buddy - I don't know where you got the idea I only shoot skeet and upland birds, I bird hunt upwards of 100 days a year from coast to coast and typically kill 200 - 300 geese every year ranging from giant Canada's to both Atlantic and Pacific Brant and everything in between. I'm a professional shooting instructor and former professional competitive shooter - I'm as well versed in ammunition and the firearms industry as your gonna find. So my comment doubting the validity of your tale of the too hot for most guns ammo is valid -- I never stated that you fabricated the story just that the info in was extremely unlikely. Whether the tech is misinformed as to the causes of the reported problems or your a negative blowhard with a chip on your shoulder was not discussed in my previous statement, so grow up -- if you want to have thoughtful discussions about firearms, hunting etc. I'm all for it if you want try to be a big man from behind the safety of your computer than move on, I have to deal with enough of those types during my day job.

My 3rd Rem is a VMax wrote:Assault, did the Remington Tech advise what Hypersonic shells could be shot from the Vera Max using the Pass Shooting choke? I am anticipating a duck hunt at Kern next week and I have purchased 3.5" and 3" Hypersonic steel shot shells and I am a little anxious about using them in my new Versa Max Waterfowl......Any recommendations from the veteran duck hunters out there would also be welcome!

All he told me was the powder was real hot and caused a lot of recoil causing issue with the bolt shearing pins in the bolt. The Versamax was built to manage recoil from normal shells (1500fps). Black cloud and hyper sonics put a beating on the bolt assembly. He even said that they were having issues with the bolt/slide on the 870's with the hotter rounds. I was using a mod choke when I had my issue. I backed my shells down to the Remington sportsman ammo. He said those where perfect for the V-Max

Orion wrote:"No to be rude to you bud, but I have no reason to blow smoke up someone's azz!!! Frank Sanders Is the rep I spoke to at Remington and he said they have had several issues with the bolt in the versamax shooting hyper sonic 3.5" and black cloud 3.5". Believe want you want! I've had the issue, pins got sheared in my bolt and now I can't use it. This is the second issue I've had with this gun. Just cause all you shoot is skeet and up-land birds, some of us use this gun as a tool for hunting year round. I didn't spend $1400 on a gun to be broken longer than I get to hunt with it!"

Assault - chip on your shoulder there buddy - I don't know where you got the idea I only shoot skeet and upland birds, I bird hunt upwards of 100 days a year from coast to coast and typically kill 200 - 300 geese every year ranging from giant Canada's to both Atlantic and Pacific Brant and everything in between. I'm a professional shooting instructor and former professional competitive shooter - I'm as well versed in ammunition and the firearms industry as your gonna find. So my comment doubting the validity of your tale of the too hot for most guns ammo is valid -- I never stated that you fabricated the story just that the info in was extremely unlikely. Whether the tech is misinformed as to the causes of the reported problems or your a negative blowhard with a chip on your shoulder was not discussed in my previous statement, so grow up -- if you want to have thoughtful discussions about firearms, hunting etc. I'm all for it if you want try to be a big man from behind the safety of your computer than move on, I have to deal with enough of those types during my day job.

I have no chip, and I'm not one to hide Behind a computer screen! I had an issue with my gun, narrowed it down to having the wrong bolt assembly in my gun and the ammo I was using is to hot for the specs of the gun! Call it what you want!

Orion wrote:OK, first problem with the Versa Max and although its exceedingly minor it's really annoying. As you know the sights consist of the fiber optic main sight and a small metal bead mid barrel. I was on the third sporting clays stand today when I came up to shoot and something didn't look right -- the small metal bead was gone. Yep it just fell out. I examined the threads in the hole and they look fine, it wasn't broke, it hadn't hit anything, the threads weren't stripped, it just fell out. Not indicative of great quality control.

Now the question is how will Remington handle this - will I have to ship in my whole, just the barrel, or what to get a $1.50 part replaced. My preference will be that they ship me the bead to install myself, he'll I might even be smart enough to use some thread lock like Remington should have. I'll let you know what happens. Other than the bead the gun worked flawlessly and I broke 119 of 125 "birds".

Sorry for coming in late. I own a VersaMax and my wife has one too. In both cases we lost the middle bead and Remington replaced them with a phone call. Use blue 242 loctite when you install. Otherwise the shotgun is great. Has anyone bought a VersaMax where the bead didn't get lost?

It's been a busy fall, I've bird hunted 52 days since Oct. 1st in 6 different states ranging from Scoters and Goldeneyes on Puget Sound to Giant Canada's in Kansas -- even through in a few pheasant and quail hunts for good measure -- all with the Versamax. Against all of my natural instinct I have resisted cleaning the gun in sort of a unscientific torture test. I've hunted in rain snow ice and temperatures down to the low teens and shot every variety of shell I could find from every manufacturer including some very hot 3 1/2" reloads without the slightest hiccup. I quit counting rounds through the gun at around 600 probably around 1200 now. Many days we started with a morning duck hunt, quick lunch then a few hours of pheasant hunting before an evening goose hunt. The only complaint this far is the build up of residue at the rear of the fore grip. I still love my 870's but I'm believing that the Versamax is the best auto loader out there-- more to come.

Orion wrote:OK, first problem with the Versa Max and although its exceedingly minor it's really annoying. As you know the sights consist of the fiber optic main sight and a small metal bead mid barrel. I was on the third sporting clays stand today when I came up to shoot and something didn't look right -- the small metal bead was gone. Yep it just fell out. I examined the threads in the hole and they look fine, it wasn't broke, it hadn't hit anything, the threads weren't stripped, it just fell out. Not indicative of great quality control.

Now the question is how will Remington handle this - will I have to ship in my whole, just the barrel, or what to get a $1.50 part replaced. My preference will be that they ship me the bead to install myself, he'll I might even be smart enough to use some thread lock like Remington should have. I'll let you know what happens. Other than the bead the gun worked flawlessly and I broke 119 of 125 "birds".

\
After reading this and just picking up my VM this past week,I decided to check the bead.Lo and behold the mid bead was unthreading and the front white bead was loose.Not no more!I took them out and applied a couple drops of red loctite thread locker.I gotta say thanks for the post because there is no doubt the bead/s would have fallen off in the woods somewhere.