I read a post from a guy back in September that was having the same problem, but he said it fixed itself with a bit more lube and a few repetative cycles. Furthermore, it won't load the shell from the lifter into the pipe. The action on this gun is sticking a bit, like it's catching on something and the bolt kind of hangs up at the back end of the cycle. I took it apart and cleaned it really well, lubed it up and put it back together. I just purchased a Franchi 912 Variomax from a guy and when he sold it to me, the gun was quite dirty. Hey all, I'm new to the forum world and needing a bit of help.