HB419, I shoot a 3 1/2" Gold Stalker, my brother has a MOSG 3 1/2" Gold and my son a 3" Gold Stalker. None have given us a bit of trouble. I tried running mine dry and it did not work. IMO there are places that have got to be oiledfor it to work properly. These are the rails and also the places on the bolt that rub during cycling.

Where I live, Benelli rules. A HUGE percentage of hunters here shoot Benellis. Most every one of these owners loves them. I had one for a couple years and sold it. The Golds I have personally been around have been much morereliable. But, that is a very small sample size.

As for your particular problem. I would suggest taking it all apart and give it a good cleaning. Then oil the rails and also the bolt. Also, shoot a shot of oil down in the recoil spring in the stock. You can do this by slightly depressing that spring. Then work it back and forth.

Also, some of the 3 1/2" Golds seem to cycle very light 2 3/4" loads while some don't. I would definitely shoot some 3" loads to break it in. If you shoot any of the 100 round promo boxes from Walmart, I highly recommend the Remingtons. I have had no problems with those, but have had problems with the Winchesters as well as the Federals.

That about does it for my suggestions. One last suggestion though. You might want to check out Shotgunworld.com. There is a guy over there that goes by Worc and he is a great source of info on the Golds.