870 Cycling Problems

T

TEX

New member
Would like opinion on what kind of problem I have and what I should do about it. I own two 870s. One is a bird gun that is 25+ years old (Pop's) and probably has a thousand shells through it. The other is a tactical police model that is about 5 years old and that has maybe 150 shells through it. The bird gun, no matter how slowly you cycle the action , removes the spent shell and chambers the new round as smooth as oiled glass. There is one little spot about a third the way to chambering a new shell where you can feel the resistance increase just a little and then drop off, but it is still super smooth. The police model has a spot seemimgly in about the same place, where if you don't have some speed going on the pump, it will hang up, sometime enough that i have to hold the forend and bump the rubber butt pad on the deck to get it going again. I have clened and oiled it, but it still occasionally does this and the more slowly you cycle it the more it catches, but not every time (about 75% of time). If the bird gun ws doing this it would be irksome, but I would only loose a bird. With the police model which is for self defense it can't be tolerated. If I can't fingure out what and why it is doing this - and what the fix is, it will have to go. Someone suggested it might be a tight chamber, but this seems to happenbefor th eround begins chambering.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.
 
If the hang up occurs with the action about 2/3 open my 870 had a similar problem. I used a scotch bright pad and polished where the fore end tube assembly and shell latch bars meet (2 angled pieces rub past each other). Now it is smooth as silk.
 
What you have described is pretty typical for Rem 870 made in the last 5 years. Take it to a gunsmith.
 
So don't pump it super slow. What's the problem? After a few thousand rounds it will be as smooth as the other one.
 
Try one small drop of RemOil where each action bar enters the receiver and after a while the parts will wear in smooth.
 
The bottom line on the 870

Many don't like steel based shells. Sometimes polishing the chamber helps. Many times it does not. Shooting brass based shells fixes the problem. Brass shells cost more.

Were you shooting steel based shells?
 
If you have issues with the cheap shells, hone the chamber. Not burnish with a brass brush with steel wool wrapped around it, but hone it with a drum brake wheel cylinder hone. Removes any ridges and polishes. I have not had to do it to mine, but I have done others, and they all eat the cheap stuff now without having to beat on the ground. My 1100s will rip the bases, but they do cycle.
 
Thanks for the info folks. Sould like I need to either do some polishing or run snap caps thru it about 1,000 times.
 
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