Just picked it up today. Studied a bit, field stripped, cleaned, lubed and put back together- I hope correctly. Action and trigger worked fine manually.
The problem I have is that shells won’t always stay in the tube when loading. It might happen with the first shell loaded or after others are in the tube, one will pop back out into the receiver.
It may be that I’m just not familiar with this gun and I’m doing something wrong?

Push one shell well up into the tube so you know it the shell rim is past the shell catch. (The trigger group needs to in the gun and the hammer cocked when doing this test)

Does the shell catch securely hold the shell in the tube even when you wiggle the shell side to side? (it should block the shell from exiting the tube)

If that shell is securely blocked by the catch you are are likely not inserting the shell far enough to get past the catch.

If you can wiggle the shell and get it to slip past the catch and come back out of the mag tube you have another problem, likely related to a weak or out of spec shell catch.

Thank you, I thought I was shoving them in as far as I could. I’ll have more time to try things again this evening??

Thank you, I’ll be able to look at it some more tonite…

Someone (maybe Clint Smith) said: you should be feeding the shells forward into the magazine tube like you’re trying to push them out the front.

I admit I’m still learning this gun. Took me a bit to learn what the cartridge release lever was and how it interacted.
On this gun, closed bolt on empty chamber, I have to manually push the shell stop/bolt release button after inserting each shell to make the CRL drop back down engaged. If not the shells just eject back out the tube. Is it normal to have to manually reset the CLR after each round loaded?

Edit, I did order a new shell stop to try, it looks easy to swap out. If that’s not an issue I’ll have a spare.

I have had it out twice since figuring out how to keep it loaded and the first 50 rounds of cheap buckshot ran great.

If it is actually a copy of the M4 then NO, you should not have to manipulate the CLR or bolt release when loading.

Make sure the hammer is cocked when loading. Remove the trigger group and verify that the cartridge drop lever (tab on the side/front of the trigger guard) freely move and has a spring that keeps pressure on that tab

Thank you, I will check for that spring later. I do think it’s something to do with the shell stop and drop lever interaction.

I ordered a new shell stop, the GG&G one, it came with a spring and roll pin. Took out the factory-installed shell stop and noticed the spring was seated/wedged further up (toward the chamber) than any pictures or videos I had studied. Installed the new unit with the spring as far back as it would go and things worked like they should.