870 express jamming

treedaddy · Post by **treedaddy** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:27 pm

I just bought an 870 synthetic express. A covey of quail rises and I take one shot and I cannot eject the shell. i have to use both hands to eject the shell. Take it home and oil it good and it shoots well for 5 or 6 shots and then jams again. I shoot skeet the next day and it jams 5 times in 25 shots. The action bar lock gets stuck half way and I have to use both hands to shuck the shell out. What do I do?

chukarguy · Post by **chukarguy** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:50 pm

My brother had the same experience with a brand new mossberg about 3 months ago. I took it and cycled it without any shells in it as many times as I could to try to figure out where it was catching and then took it apart and tried to locate whatever was hanging it up. When I took it apart it must have come loose cause I never found what it was catching on and he never had any problems with it since then. It must be getting stuck on something, so maybe it just needs to be busted loose, or if it is a bigger defect you should be able to see signs of wear on it where it is hitting.

AT2 · Post by **AT2** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 4:08 pm

My 870 does the same thing, not quite as frequent. maybe 3 times in a box. sometimes less. when I cleaned it it got a little better. I actually had it tear the brass (alloy crap) on Remington ammo but not Federal. I have not taken it to a gunsmith yet as I just bought some nice O/U's. But I intend to unless someone on here knows a fix for it.

DKA · Post by **DKA** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 6:03 pm

Take a steel barrel brush and work on the chamber, if brush is not big enough use some steel wool (fine). After good and clean put thin coat of oil and go hunting.

hoffmann35 · Post by **hoffmann35** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:18 am

One thing I have noticed with my 870 is that you really have to rack the pump hard and fast to guarantee a cycle. I think most of my problems with having a shell hang up is pumping it too soft, no pun intended. Oil it up and work the pump a bunch with an empty gun.

AT2 · Post by **AT2** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:42 am

This is definately not my problem. The Remington ammo's brass tore. Does that sound like I was pumping like a girl to you. When I used my fingernail and turned the shell clockwise a few degrees so the gun had a differant spot to pull on it came right out.

DKA · Post by **DKA** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:09 am

These matte finish guns have rough surface and it probably needs smoothing down some. Fine steel wool usually does it. Remember take the barrel off so can get to chamber end.

Hasty · Post by **Hasty** » Thu Dec 27, 2007 4:54 pm

My buddies 870 does the same thing. His is a 3.5 inch gun and only does it with light loads, like a standard trap load. He never has a problem with heavier loads. If you're quail hunting though a magnum load isn't at all practical to use. I'd have Remington take care of the problem. If you bought a lemon gun from them, that's their problem not yours. If you try to fix it yourself and you can't get the problem to go away, they may not honor your warranty.

My 870 Express Super Magnum will not feed 2&1/4 ounce 3.5 inch shells unless you pump it REALLY slow, but it works fine with with 2 ounce loads regardless of action speed. It makes me wonder about Remington's quality control. You hear about a lot more guys having problems with new 870's than the ones made in years past.

AT2 · Post by **AT2** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 12:25 pm

I did use a chamber brush on it this week havent got to shoot it yet to see if it fixed it. I used one of the shells that had jammed to make sure its fixed, looking at it the shell seems to not be perfectly round. It would stick at different positions (o'clocks). But after an hour with the brush it was somewhat better. Tried a Federal shell that wasn't fired yet and no matter which way it turned it fit nicely and dropped back out with no effort. So I think it is definitely something to do with the ammo.

tdhusker · Post by **tdhusker** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 3:55 pm

Sounds like the chamber is damaged from tool chatter. That happens when they use a worn out boring tool at the factory. It's possible a gunsmith could clean it up with a reamer.

You could try polishing the chamber with some valve compound on a tight fitting wad of patches and a cordless drill.

mikeyair · Post by **mikeyair** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 11:45 pm

not saying its the problem but ive never had much luck with remmington shotgun amo ive had more missfires and jams than i can count i wonce had a box of 3inch nitro steel miss fire all but 4 shots. i even had one that i dont think there was powder in there was a pop and the shot rolled out the end of the barrel

AT2 · Post by **AT2** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 2:29 pm

mikeyair wrote:not saying its the problem but ive never had much luck with remmington shotgun amo ive had more missfires and jams than i can count i wonce had a box of 3inch nitro steel miss fire all but 4 shots. i even had one that i dont think there was powder in there was a pop and the shot rolled out the end of the barrel

WOW

gwgdog66 · Post by **gwgdog66** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:42 pm

Treedaddy,
Look on shotgunworld forums, in the remington section. They have a thread on there about polishing the chamber on the 870 Express, like one of the previous posts sugested.

I was having a similar problem with my 12 gage magnum. I followed there directions and polished the chamber with 0000 steel wool. I also hit the inside of the receiver. It is as smoth as butter now.

treedaddy · Post by **treedaddy** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:27 am

Took it back to Sportsman's Warehouse and they sent me to their gunsmith. He did what ya'll are saying, used a drill to polish the chamber. He shot it and it jammed. Did some more work and shot it 3 times and pronounced it fixed. It jammed on me 2 times in 8 shots today while dove hunting. I am taking it back to Sportsman's Warehouse so they can send it to Remington. I am wanting a swap, because I will never shoot this gun again.

Post by **Greg Jennings** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:34 am

Is it missing the interceptor latch retainer?

In 1100s and 870s, the ILR can cause flakey jams like that. It's a 10 cent split ring.

Here is a link to a picture:

http://consumer.gzanders.com/itemdetail ... mber=15398

Best regards, Greg J.