Deltaman Log

[Deltaman]

Haven't yet asked Olly to create a log for me, but Rick had mentioned last year, that it might be better for me to create a log instead of boring ya'll with a long report. I took Rick's template (Thank You Sir), and am starting one.
Olly, could you please add me to the Log list?

Date: 9/11/17

Time: Early a.m for the La Opener

Location: Marsh South of Venice, La

Cloud Cover: off and on

Wind Direction and Velocity: East 15+

Temperature: Mild, low 60's overnight

Moon phase:

Special Notes: Annual pilgrimage to the Promise Land (LA)

Waterfowl Activity: Scads of gadwalls, teal, pintails and redheads.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Exceptionally well, with big ducks pitching to stool as bid. As many teal as there were mosquitoes, but we held off in hopes of big ducks.

Hunters: Me, Mike Thompson and Keith McGraw

Guns: Benelli Super Eagle, Benelli Super Eagle II and............Baretta A390......that didn;t make it in the boat

Malfunctions: None

Dog(s): None (except me)

Special Equipment: None

Curses: That Mike Thompson's gun didn't make it in the boat for the ride to the blind. He didn't cuss, scream, or holler, and we even offered to run back to the camp to get it (and had the time to do so), but he wouldn't have it. Said he would wait for one of us to limit and then he would shoot one of ours. Know it had to be painful, especially since we had little ducks all over us, and were not shooting them. I was first to finish and handed him my gun, and with the birds all over, it didn't take him long to shoot his 6.

Kudos: Birds...........we had birds

Birds By Species: 12 gadwalls, 4 redheads and 2 gw teal

Photo Ops: Never took out a camera other than two phone pics of birds

Lagniappe: No lost birds

[Deltaman]

Date: 9/12/17 (Sunday)

Time: Early A.M.

Location: Marsh South of Venice, La

Cloud Cover: Started out clear but clouds moved in not too long after daylight

Wind Direction and Velocity: Started the morning off with light East winds, but around 8:30, the NE wind started kicking 15-20 mph

Temperature: Warm, in short sleeves.........damn mosquitoes

Moon phase:

Special Notes: All 3 guns in the boat this morning

Waterfowl Activity: Teal everywhere the first hour, and knowing that day 2 is usually not as good as the opener, opted to take a half-dozen teal just in case, while we waited for big ducks.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Much more skittish today, and they did not want to finish. made a few decoy changes and then the wind flipped, and the big ducks started working well.

Hunters: Me, mike Thompson and Keith McGraw

Guns: Benelli Super Eagle, Benelli Super Eagle II and Baretta A390

Malfunctions: Nunyon

Dog(s): US

Special Equipment: None

Curses: Wish I was able to hunt down there more often...........our marsh in AL is but a thumbnail of the LA marsh

Kudos: When the wind flipped to the NE and started blowing hard, it was like a light switch getting turned on, birds working everywhere, and knowing that I will never tire of seeing it.

Birds By Species: 7 teal (3 bw/4 gw), 6 gadwalls, 2 pintails (both drakes), 2 redheads and 1 drake baldpate

Photo Ops: Took a pic of the two pintails and drake widgeon on phone.......but haven't figured out how to post yet.......damn photobucket bastages

Lagniappe: Unbelievably good trip with great friends. Made it back to Mobile around 7:15 last night, and nobody had to rock me to sleep!!!!!

[DComeaux]

Awesome hunts. That is the place for variety, so I've seen.

For pictures taken from my phone, I send them via email to myself and save them to a folder on my computer. You can then resize if needed and upload directly from there, no need for a host website. I've never used one.

[Rick]

Just getting there being an adventure in its own right, it's good to see it payed off.

[Deltaman]

Date: 11/24/17 - Opening Day in Coastal Alabama

Time: Early-thirty

Location: Pothole in woods off of Mobile river

Cloud Cover: very little, off and on

Wind Direction and Velocity: NW 10+.........predicted to be bluebird

Temperature: low 40's early

Moon phase:

Special Notes: Decided to stay away from the opening day crowds on the causeway. With the largest boat ramp torn up with our local water company laying a line through the parking lot, and Nate's high water pier destruction, very limited parking on what is left, and between a good fall fish bite and the opening day of duck season, we chose not to get in the fray, opting for a low key hole hunt instead.

Waterfowl Activity: Several wads of Woodrow passing over, but we made the mistake of waiting, hoping for some to pitch. Never happened, and that was the only duck activity we had..........picked up and went scouting for the rest of the morning.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Nil.........

Hunters: 2, me and my stepson, Dustin

Guns: Benelli M2 and Benelli Nova (POS)

Malfunctions: none.........never fired a cap!

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: Only needed 6 decoys

Curses: No birds, and hole is largely filling in with floating grass.

Kudos: easy hunt

Birds By Species: nunyon

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: Scout for tomorrow paid off.

[Deltaman]

Date: 11/25/17 -- 2nd day of first split

Time: LST

Location: Nook on the side of a river

Cloud Cover: Off and on

Wind Direction and Velocity: Light NW

Temperature: Low 40's

Moon phase:

Special Notes: Had enough water to hunt from boat without the need of a sneak............for a little while anyway, as tide was falling fast.

Waterfowl Activity: In our faces early.............almost too close.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: They came to die, and our bag would've been much heavier if we had 2 working guns.

Hunters: me and Stepson, Dustin

Guns: Benelli M2a, Benelli Nova (POS)

Malfunctions: Dustin's new Benelli Nova would not fire after first shot. Depite breaking down and re-seating everything, multiple times, the firing pin was not hitting the shell hard enough. It was barley making a mark on the primer, and had a lot of empty clicking, followed by some frustrated cursing going on.

Dog(s): None, but damn sure needed one today

Special Equipment:

Curses: Malfunctioning Nova (how does a pump malfunction????????), and I set us up too close to the decoys, as the birds weren't 15 yds out when over decoys, and we all know how tight patterns on close birds work (suffering mightily as Rick says )............made for some fine misses. After the first two bunches, handed Dustin my gun and sat back with a turkey sandwich in hand and watched as he banged away the rest of the hunt.

Kudos: We had birds, and would've no doubt had a heavy stringer had we been able to both shoot when the opps came.

Birds By Species: 2 Mottles, 2 Gadwalls (lost 4 more chipped birds to the bank, very frustrating)

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: Always a fine time with Dustin. That boy loves it more than I do, and it is nice having a young gun with enthusiasm in the blind.

[Rick]

Wish I had a gun-fix suggestion, but never saw a Nova that did that. Wouldn't even know how to tear one down, as the need's not come up, not that I see a great many of them. (Biggest bitch I've heard is how hard they kick with 3 1/2" shells.)

[Deltaman]

Dropped it off at a local gunsmith on the way home, and after checking it out, he noted that this one needed to go back to the factory I bought that gun for Dustin because of a break-in this past summer, in which he lost all of his guns........and two of mine, and so that he would have something dependable to shoot this duck season........ while he saved for a replacement........go figure!

[Deltaman]

Have had some motor issues during the first weeks of December, and finally remedied with a new 25 Yammie (with elect start and a pull cord), have hunted a few times since, and need to update my log. My older 2-stroke Yammie will be fixed this week and will be used as spare Love the new motor, but do miss the responsiveness and hole shot of the older 2-stroke.

Date: 12/16/17 - Sunday

Time: Predawn

Location: Tensaw River, North of Stockton (upriver in our book)

Cloud Cover: Hard to tell with the thick fog

Wind Direction and Velocity: Light Southerly wind

Temperature: Overnight lows in the upper 40's

Moon phase:

Special Notes: With action on lower delta getting stale, and dense fog predicted, decided to do an upriver hunt in a small feeder creek where we scouted and found plenty of Woodies to hunt, and the run was a straight shot down opposite the bank of the river, and only a mile run.

Waterfowl Activity: Woodrow was home!

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Most of the action here is in passing, at treetop level, and very quick snap shooting. With a bumper crop of acorns falling all around us, better understand the reason they are here.

Hunters: Jack, David (two of my 4 brothers), Jackson, Michael (SIL), and myself

Guns: M2, Montefeltro, 1100's and Franchi

Malfunctions:None, just a PIA in the fog, and happy that we were the only boats launching at the ramp

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: A handful of palmettos with short and long stalks to blind out agaist the bank

Curses: Hour long ride in truck to launch

Kudos: Plenty of birds

Birds By Species: 13 Wood Ducks

Photo Ops: Took a few but haven't tried to download

Lagniappe:Great time with brothers, Nephew and SIL

[Deltaman]

Date: 12/20/17 - Wed

Time: Predawn

Location: Mobile Causeway

Cloud Cover: Again, dense fog, with clouds above

Wind Direction and Velocity: Good Southerly wind 10-15 mph. Would've thought the fog would be blown out by wind, as it was predicted to strengthen, but the thick white stuff hung around until 9:00ish

Temperature: Overnight lows in the 50's

Moon phase: New Moon tomorrow

Special Notes: Started on the West bank of Chocolatta (a local bay), with just a few dekes out. Had cut two bundles of cane earlier, to build a blind where we found birds, but held off building until we found birds. Pulled dekes up and scouted the rest of the bay as the fog lifted, and did not find an appreciable amount of ducks anywhere in it. Made a run South, to check a bar at the North end of the bay, and found enough birds to set up on at the head of a pocket in the bar.

Waterfowl Activity: Slow but steady

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Most came to die, but did have a few Gadwalls do their thing and light about 80 yards out

Hunters: Michale (SIl) and myself

Guns:M2 and Montefeltro

Malfunctions: None

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: Having the pre-cut cane to build where needed

Curses:

Kudos: Finally found a few birds to hunt

Birds By Species: 7 Gadwalls, 1 Spoonie and 4 Bluebills

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: First limit of the season for me in local waters.

[Deltaman]

Wednesday 12/21 - With new motor and the need to break in, spent the day scouting. Launched at two different places in the delta, and ran 9 gallons of gas through new motor. Considering the amount of water we eliminated, saw very few birds. Even checked some of our hard to reach old Mallard haunts, and came up blank. Did fins a couple of creeks with enough Woodies to make a hunt, but the long run in our daily fog, made them much less attractive, and will save for future hunts, when the weather changes.

[Deltaman]

Date: 12/22/17 - Thursday

Time: Predawn

Location: Tensaw River, above Stockton

Cloud Cover: Again, hard to tell through dense fog

Wind Direction and Velocity: Light Northerly

Temperature: Mid 50's overnight

Moon phase:

Special Notes: Hunted same place we hunted last weekend, as we killed a limit quickly, and got out of there so that the birds could work back in

Waterfowl Activity: Fair

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Good

Hunters: Jack and David (brothers), Michael (SIL) and myself

Guns: M2, Montefeltro, 1100's

Malfunctions:None, just cursing the dense fog that has been present everyday at daylight

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: Used the same palmettos we had pulled and staked on bank, to cover up

Curses: Lost 1 cripple

Kudos:

Birds By Species: 9 Woodies, 1 Hooded merg

Photo Ops: None

Lagniappe: Easy hunt, short run, but damn the fog

[Deltaman]

oops........got my days screwed up, it was Wed, Thursday and Friday, not Wed, Wed and Thursday

[Deltaman]

Date: 12/23/17 Saturday

Time: Predawn

Location: Mobile Causeway

Cloud Cover: Yes, again with dense fog

Wind Direction and Velocity: Southerly 10-15 mph

Temperature: Overnight lows in teh 60's

Moon phase:

Special Notes: Cut two bundles of cane before dawn, and stuck a new blind in an area that was holding a few birds earlier in the week. Was pretty much a trash can hunt, but the action was fun, and considering that there were very few other shots fired in the crowded bay, knew we made a good decision. Made a spread of 50 coots and 10 gadwalls decoys to "match the hatch" so to speak

Waterfowl Activity: Occasionally popping thru fog

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Those that saw our decoys wanted to play

Hunters: Michael (SIL) and myself

Guns:Montefeltro, M2

Malfunctions: None

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: Pre-cut Roseau for blinding new blind

Curses: Damn Fog, and we need some fresh birds. What few puddlers are here, have their PHD in blind and bank avoidance

Kudos: Only blind in the bay to have any significant shooting

Birds By Species: 1 Gadwall to crown a trash can bag of 6 Bluebills........ and even shot 3 Bufflehead..........action is action

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: We were the only boat at the launch to have more than 1 duck.

[DComeaux]

I forget you have this here in the blind. Do you hunt near I10? I pass there every year headed to the beach and always wonder if that area is hunted.... How's the fishing?

[Deltaman]

I forget you have this here in the blind. Do you hunt near I10? I pass there every year headed to the beach and always wonder if that area is hunted.... How's the fishing?

Dave,
Yes, I-10 runs through the southern end of my stomping grounds. The funky little cane patches you are seeing scattered about are the blinds we hunt from. The fishing, like the hunting, used to be spectacular, but time and crowds have made it a little tougher. Still much better fishing than duck hunting, and I fish year round, just not as much during duck season. This time of year, when we have an outgoing tide and North wind, we do the "do nothing" drift in the river channels. Which means you throw out your grub with anywhere from 1/4-1/2 oz jig head, peel out some line, loosen the drag, and place in the rod holder. The grub bumps the bottom as you drift, and the speckled trout eat it up. Great way to fish and drink beer too The beauty of this kind of fishing is that everybody is moving, and when the bite slows, just a matter of running back up current and setting up on another drift. Will sometimes watch democrats, as they drive up in their boat and watch us catching fish. Never fails, they will then proceed to anchor up in the middle of the river and scratch their head at all of the people around them catching fish, yet they don't get a bite. Have enlightened quite a few with a handful of jigs, grubs, and some gentle advice as to what is really going on, and made fast friends. Redfish are caught all year, but the flounder numbers have been in peril for the last 5-6 years. Our freshwater fishing can be good too, with bass fishing all year. Crappie are biting now in the deeper creeks, and will start to bed in Feb. Bream bed fishing typically starts in March, and remains good thru June.

[Rick]

Damn, friends who are Democrats. I like to think I'm pretty liberal minded, but I don't know about that...

[Deltaman]

Damn, friends who are Democrats. I like to think I'm pretty liberal minded, but I don't know about that...

[DComeaux]

That's pretty neat. I'll now think about when I drive through there.

[Deltaman]

Date: Friday 1/5/18

Time: LST 6:21 a.m.

Location: da Nigra (used to be known as Nigger Lake for as long as I can remember, and we had a houseboat there for 40 years before the name was changed to McReynolds Lake...........but it will always be da Nigra for me

Cloud Cover: Just enough cloud cover to keep the temps from reaching the low 20's as predicted. Temp when I got up was 30 degrees

Wind Direction and Velocity: Very light NE wind

Temperature: 30

Moon phase: waning, but still damn near as bright as the sun

Special Notes: With overnight temps in the low 20's all week, was hoping that the backwaters have frozen and pushed the ducks into the open creeks.

Waterfowl Activity: Much slower than anticipated. Apparently, the daytime temps in the mid 40's with sun, kept the back waters open, because we only had a couple of Wood duck opps

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Woodies doing what Woodies do, squealing while buzzing the treetops and creeks

Hunters: Mike L. and myself

Guns: Browning A5 and Benelli M2

Malfunctions: None, and love having a new motor that starts easily with the push of a button

Dog(s):

Special Equipment:

Curses: Slow daylight bird flight, and lost a 3rd bird to the swamp

Kudos: Always love hearing the owls hooting in the swamp..............

Birds By Species: 2 Wood Ducks

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

[Deltaman]

Date: Saturday 1/6/18

Time: LST 6:21.........or near about

Location: Farther North in the delta, to part of our Upper Delta Management Area. I found a long feeder creek a few years ago that was blocked by a treetop. With my boat being so small, was able to use a machete and whack off a couple of 4-5" thick limbs to allow access. Then creek is lined with white oaks and this year, as it was 5-67 years ago, we seem to have a bumper crop of acorns, as I listened to them dropping the whole time we were there (squirrels were thick and I may have to revive my childhood and do a hunt soon.

Cloud Cover: A few clouds, again, keeping the predicted low 20 temps more in the upper 20's

Wind Direction and Velocity: NE and light

Temperature: 29 degrees when I got up, and 26 at the boat launch.

Moon phase: Waning, but still bright

Special Notes: Brother hunt. I have 3 brothers that love to hunt as much as I do, and we always try to get a few brother/nephew hunts in during the season.

Waterfowl Activity: Woodies doing what Woodies do, only a lot more of them up here than we saw in da Nigra yesterday.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: The creek we hunted was only 15-20' wide, so we had to hunt the areas that have the most open sky amongst the cypress and oaks.

Hunters: Jack (my youngest brother), and his youngest son, Bay

Guns: Franchi Auto, 1187 and M2

Malfunctions: None

Dog(s): None

Special Equipment: Made it a two boat hunt, as we both had plans after the hunt. Both of us were going to scout, and I wanted to go South to the causeway and try to kill the other half of my 6 bird limit, hoping to kill a couple of Gadwalls.

Curses: 2nd hunt sucked.............set up in John's bend around 11:00 a.m., and watched the Gadwalls as they kept bunching up in the middle of the bay.......educated and happy to be avoiding the guns. Never fired a shot and picked up around 3:30 p.m. Spent the rest of the afternoon scouting other bays in the surrounding area, and cutting some palmettos for future cover. The hard freeze here last week has killed the roseau, rendering it worthless for duck blind building

Kudos: Awesome daylight Woodrow hunt, and Bay shot a hen Woodie that was banded. (2 1/2 years old when banded in Henry County, GA in Aug 2017)

Birds By Species: 9 Wood Ducks

Photo Ops: Only on phone, and I still haven't attempted to figure out download

Lagniappe: Bay got his first duck band

[Deltaman]

Date: Sunday 1/7/18

Time: Waited until after daylight, and looking at weather report before making the decision to go. Midday winds predicted to be 10-20 mph out of the East, Southeast............my favorite wind for pushing the birds out of the middle of Mobile Bay and into the delta.

Location: South of the causeway, at the end of a small channel that juts out into the bay with sand bars on either side (excellent fall trout spot). We had glassed about 200 birds sitting out there from the causeway, and decided to make a go of it, building a new blind in an area that hasn't been hunted this year.

Cloud Cover: Plenty of cloud cover, and loved not having the sun glaring down on us.

Wind Direction and Velocity: East, then SE, 15-20 mph.......perfect!

Temperature: Temps in upper 40's, low 50's

Moon phase: Waning, and still visible early on before cloud cover

Special Notes: Despite setting up exactly where the birds had been sitting, Gadwalls will be Gadwalls, and the majority of what we pushed just sat out in the bay in groups, trading back and forth and pulling most newcomers.

Waterfowl Activity: Slow, slow, slow...........but just enough to keep us from picking up and heading in.

Waterfowl Responsiveness: they were either all in, or in for the taunt.

Hunters:Dustin (Stepson from last marriage) and myself

Guns: SBE II and M2

Malfunctions: Both of us at one time or another, suffered the dreaded benelli click

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: Glad that i pulled the few good bamboos stalks from blind yesterday, cut palmettos, and we stopped off and cut some more bamboo on the way this morning. Looked like the Beverly Hillbillies heading out in our 13' boat with 4 sacks of decoys, and Dustin riding the top of the cane bundle.

Curses: Lot of time between birds, but worth the wait

Kudos: Dustin shot a Scotch Double on a pair of Pintails. I had killed a hen Pin earlier, and when the pair pitched, I stayed seated and told Dustin to shoot the drake. When he shot, both birds fell stone dead...........ruh roh, we are now over one Pintail per man limit.............what to do.........said screw it, was an accident, so I left it in our bag and took the chance. Thankfully, being the last boat in, did not get checked at the launch.

Birds By Species: 4 Readheads, 3 Pintails, 2 Gadwalls and 3 Bluebills

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: Shot a few Pintails, rare for our area nowadays, and the scream of joy by Dustin when he made his double was worth the price of admission.

[Rick]

Good on ya for not wasting the bird. (I eat our mistakes.)

[DComeaux]

Stuff happens, and what you did is the right think to do. Wonder how many birds are stomped every year.

[Deltaman]

I have been remiss in finishing up my online log, but did keep up in my paper log. I'm on a computer all day at work, and am able to peruse off and on during the day, but the last few weeks have been quite busy, and the last thing I want to do when I get home, is get back on the computer. Made some notes out of my paper log last night, so that I can finish out my online log.

Date:1/14/18

Time:LST

Location: Upper Delta management Area

Cloud Cover: Clouds were thick

Wind Direction and Velocity: NW 15-20 mph

Temperature: low 30's

Moon phase:

Special Notes: Ducky weather

Waterfowl Activity:

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Typical daylight Wood Duck

Hunters: Dustin and myself

Guns: M2 and SBEII

Malfunctions: Nunyon

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: Palmetto's used for cover up

Curses: Not in the right place

Kudos:

Birds By Species: 2 Woodrows

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: Tried turning a squirrel or two on the way back, but the strong wind had them on the ground, and the few we saw were running thru tree roots along the bank, searching for acorns, and moving so fast we laughed at each other as we tried to get off a quick shot from time to time

[Deltaman]

Date: 1/20/18

Time: LST

Location: Back up to Upper Delta Management area

Cloud Cover: a few clouds early

Wind Direction and Velocity: NW 10-15 mph

Temperature: low 30's

Moon phase:

Special Notes: Brother had boat issues, so I ferried them to their spot, and came back for Dustin

Waterfowl Activity: Better than yesterday, and we were set up ina better spot

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Typical Wood Duck daylight flight

Hunters: Dustin, David (brother), his son David Jr., and myself

Guns: m2, SBEII, 1100, and a 1940 Browning "Sweet" 16

Malfunctions: Only my brother's outboard

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: Used the same Palmetto's we had hidden on the bank

Curses:

Kudos:

Birds By Species: 9 Wood Ducks, 1 BW Teal

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe: Love a good family hunt

[aunt betty]

One post mentions two hunters suffering from the binelli click.


Not sure but I think what helps cause it is setting the gun down hard.

One day a guy I won't hunt with anymore showed me how to set a guy up for his binelli to "click". I didn't pay too close of attention because I just won't do pranks around firearms.

[Deltaman]

Date: 1/21/18

Time: LST

Location: A pothole on the Lower Delta Management Area at daylight, then moved to an area South of the Causeway around 9:00 a.m.

Cloud Cover: Very few early, but building as the day progressed

Wind Direction and Velocity: Light NW early, switching to SE by midday

Temperature: low 40's

Moon phase:

Special Notes: 2 hunts

Waterfowl Activity: very slow, both morning and evening

Waterfowl Responsiveness: Stale, educated birds

Hunters: Dustin and myself

Guns: m2, SBEII

Malfunctions: Dustin's ADHD makes it tough for him to hold a gun without bumping it on his foot, or the bottom of the boat, and it cost him a couple of times, with the dreaded Benelli "click"

Dog(s):

Special Equipment: 8 dz Gadwall dekes on open water afternoon hunt (1 1/2 dz of them were butt feeders)

Curses: Slow, slow, slow.............and the long day was taxing on the back

Kudos: Happy that we had low water and a hard bottom when picking up decoys, sure made it easier

Birds By Species: Morning hunt - 1 GW Teal
Afternoon Hunt - 1 Gadwall, 2 Bluebills

Photo Ops:

Lagniappe:

[Rick]

One post mentions two hunters suffering from the binelli click.


Not sure but I think what helps cause it is setting the gun down hard.

One day a guy I won't hunt with anymore showed me how to set a guy up for his binelli to "click". I didn't pay too close of attention because I just won't do pranks around firearms.

Bumping the butt of a Benelli or the those who now clone its bolt can jar the action back and let it close to slowly to lock into battery. The overwhelming majority of such clicks I've seen, however, were caused by either manually easing the bolt closed after putting a round in the chamber or pulling it back a bit to see if there's a round in the chamber. Neither of which lets the bolt close fast enough for the bolt's face to turn on its cam and lock into place to fire.

Nervous or "careful" souls should probably just avoid such bolt systems, though it's easy enough to tell if the bolt face has rotated properly by looking to ensure that the extractor claw is above horizontal after too "careful" loading or a bump.

The latest Benellis are said to address the camming issue, but won't help if, like me, you've just let the works get so mudded up that the bolt can't close hard.