870 Wingmaster loading quirk

2

270Win

New member
Hey all,

I have an old (1982...ok, so not that old) Wingmaster that has a loading quirk - it will not load shells with the action closed. The carrier hits the underside of the breech bolt (the slide block?) and the shell rim simply doesn't have enough clearance to enter the magazine.

If I unlock the action and bring it approximately halfway down - so that the foreend is just above the carrier - the bolt sits halfway back and the shells load perfectly and most easily. I can also load with the action totally open - and load one into the breech - but it's awkward with the foreend perched over the carrier partly.

Anyone know if this was "the rule" for Wingmasters of that era? I can't find a manual from back then on the net. A couple guys at the local Walton League trap range had guns with the same quirk. My best friend's 870 Turkey Express from maybe 3 or 4 years ago, however, loads perfectly with the action closed - I inspected his but wasn't sure what made the difference.

If this is NOT supposed to happen, anyone know what I can do to go about correcting it? Thanks in advance!
 
This is NOT normal. Sounds like a problem in the trigger group.

This also isn't a feature of an older gun.
The Remington 870 hasn't really changed since the introduction in 1950.
About 100% of the parts will interchange between a 1950 and a 2005 model.

For a fast repair done RIGHT, return it to Remington.
http://www.remington.com
 
Huh!

Interesting!

It did this when I first bought it used... and has done it even after complete disassembly for cleaning... the carrier simply doesn't have enough clearance for the shell to fully enter the magazine. It pushes down fully, though, so either the carrier is too close or the slide block is too close, because they when they meet there isn't enough space.

Not really worth fixing, since it doesn't affect firing whatsoever. Thousands of rounds through the gun (great shooter!) without any issue whatsoever. Just, I suppose, a piece that's a little bit over tolerance, and that umpteenth of an inch is just enough.

*edit*

Out of insatiable curiosity, I disassembled it again tonight. Found the following - with the barrel OFF, it loads shells just fine with the action locked. With the barrel ON, it will not. When the barrel is off, the bolt has more vertical play, resulting in the carrier having more room to clear the magazine. With the barrel on, this vertical movement is removed, and the carrier can't move quite enough.

Although the Remington people originally dated it based on the code stamped on the receiver, I just looked up the barrel code, and they match - Oct, 1982.

But like I said, it doesn't really matter. After roughly a thousand shells passing through this thing, it's obvious that this quirk isn't impairing anything. Nevertheless, it's fascinating.

On the other hand, if anyone has had this problem before, and knows how to solve it, I wouldn't mind fixing it either.
 
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I have seen carriers that are not centered that rub the side (usually the left) side and hang up. I have not seen the barrel phenomenon that you describe. That is odd.
 
Sounds like the carrier's bent. The bottom of the bolt is flat and the carrier has a small curve at the end. Maybe your curve is to much.
 
I just replaced a lifter that was misbehaving. The shells were difficult to load and kinda sorta "hung-up" just before the rim passed into the tube. It turned out to be the bottome front edge of the lifter had a little flashing that was not properly cleaned off. I did not feel like filing it off so I replaced it with another that I had in the spares-box.
Those lifters are fairly easy to find on ebay (I know they're anti-gun) and such places. You could even order one new from Midway or Brownells or some pro-gun place. Very easy job to replace. Upgrade to a flex-tab version if you don't have one.
Mike
 
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