Had the RBL-16 out at a local range this past week. Met, and enjoyed the pleasure of shooting with a gentleman I've gotten to know fairly well over the past couple of years. Obviously a very experienced guy around guns and clay targets in general, and as we discussed on numerous previous outings, the proud owner of an early RBL Launch Edition.
He was shooting reloads, as was I... I don't have a gun in the cabinet that has not been fed a steady diet of reloads.. Shooting "factories" only to obtain usable hulls when none are available for scrounging!
Well, this gent had a round that wouldn't fully chamber, and consequently the RBL wouldn't close. No amount of opening and slamming shut would cause the gun to go into battery and latch shut! And numerous attempts were made! All I could do was stand behind and cringe at every attempt..
The gun was taken down with thoughts of a return trip to CSMC for repairs. I looked at the receiver and all appeared normal.. What else could cause the gun to keep from closing completely?? I picked up the barrels, looked under the ejectors and sure enough, a sliver of brass from a broken head on a AA-20, probably from a previous trip through an autoloader... Doubled over onto itself, no less as if a single thickness would not have been bad enough.. Upon removal and closer inspection, the two plies of brass looked as if they had been squeezed in a vise, obviously hammered with some force.
The gun was re-assembled and finished the round flawlessly!
I don't know how many other guns would have taken that abuse without damaging an ejector.. A testament to the toughness that Connecticut Shotgun has engineered into the design of the RBL..
The RBL design, in spite of all the polarizing reports by the all-knowing on the ubiquitous "innanet," earned my respect that day...
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