870 Express action tuning

W

Wayfaring_Stranger

New member
After a recent shooting across the street from my house I realized the need for a dedecated HD weapon (my shotgun and pistol were in the truck ready for the next morning's hunting trip). During the shooting (all 125 rounds) I sheltered in the basement with my wife, dog, and an old 12 ga O/U for protection.

So being familiar with the 870 I decided to get one for HD only. I decided on the Express with the 7 shot tube. I was reading that the police versions are factory finnished to a higher standard and are smoother. But the price was right on the Express so I ordered it.

My question is: is there anything I can do at home to smooth and tune the action?
 
The best smoothing method is to take the gun out and shoot it.
That smooths things up nicely.

After firing a couple of hundred rounds, field strip it, clean it out thoroughly, and lube with something like CLP Breakfree.
This will flush out any crud, and factory dirt or lube, and will coat everything with a clean, good lube.

You'll be amazed at how much smoother it is, but since the smoothing happens over a few hundred rounds, you won't notice it all at once since it's cumulative.

There are ways to do an action polish, but in my opinion, this is not better than just shooting the gun, plus shooting not only breaks in the gun and turns up any potential problems, it allows you the really "learn" the gun and get more effective with it.
 
My older 870 I use for hunting was broken in this way. Funny thing is over the years it went from rough (new) to smooth to rough again. I've cleaned it thoroughly but its still rough and now a bit sloppy.

I'll tell ya it was alot easier to break in a hunting gun when you go hunting most weekends during the season than I imagine it will be to break in this HD gun.
 
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