Without getting into details, someone I know owns an 870 and let someone else take it apart to clean it.
Secondhand, I got feedback for several hours that the person was having difficulty getting it back together. That surprised me since manuals can be downloaded at no charge and there are a number of how-to videos online as well.
Apparently this person availed himself of none of those resources. He did manage to reassemble the gun, however the next feedback I got indicated that the gun was no longer functional.
I went and took a look at the owner's request. Here's the obvious damage.
The left shell latch was bent. Pretty impressive since it's a substantial piece of spring steel. I couldn't tell by eyeballing it if the right latch was bent as well.
The action bars were bent/misaligned. I'm guessing that he forced the pump trying to get it back together and that's how he bent the shell latch and the action bars. I was able to straighten the action bars.
I recommended that they replace the left shell latch and see how it functions at that point.
I also recommended that they not let the person in question touch one of their firearms again. I was not surprised to find that the "cleaning" apparently didn't extend to something as difficult and complex as wiping out the receiver which was still full of crud.
Secondhand, I got feedback for several hours that the person was having difficulty getting it back together. That surprised me since manuals can be downloaded at no charge and there are a number of how-to videos online as well.
Apparently this person availed himself of none of those resources. He did manage to reassemble the gun, however the next feedback I got indicated that the gun was no longer functional.
I went and took a look at the owner's request. Here's the obvious damage.
The left shell latch was bent. Pretty impressive since it's a substantial piece of spring steel. I couldn't tell by eyeballing it if the right latch was bent as well.
The action bars were bent/misaligned. I'm guessing that he forced the pump trying to get it back together and that's how he bent the shell latch and the action bars. I was able to straighten the action bars.
I recommended that they replace the left shell latch and see how it functions at that point.
I also recommended that they not let the person in question touch one of their firearms again. I was not surprised to find that the "cleaning" apparently didn't extend to something as difficult and complex as wiping out the receiver which was still full of crud.
