Hello all. This is my first post on this site, and I'm glad to have registered. There is a huge wealth of information here.
About a month ago, I bought a Rem 870 express tactical with an 18.5" (bead sight) barrel from a mom and pop gunshop here in North Central Pennsylvania. It was my first shotgun, so I was careful to look over it very thoroughly. I also bought a few 5-round boxes of Remington brand 00 Buck and Remington sluggers, 2.75 inch, I believe they were 1-oz slugs.
Skip to a few hours later, I inspect the action, pull the barrel and check that too. Everything is clean. A thin coat of oil or grease in the action and bolt, no gobs or dust or lead. Looks good. Go to my buddy's farm, and we start off shooting some slugs. I put all five in the tube, and took some relaxed, slow shots at a few water jugs we had set up. What a blast. The butt pad needs upgraded. I rack the action back open to insert a new shell and see a small hairline crack at the tip of the barrel. I inspect it closely and there's another. I'm very certain that these cracks were not present and/or apparent at the gunshop. All I can imagine is that they may have been much smaller cracks, and were opened up a little by the sluggers.
I've searched many forums and websites in the past month, while trying to send the gun back to Remington for repair. UPS has been a hassel, the driver never comes in the same 3 hours of any given day, and I can't afford to take off work. I have found nothing on cracked barrels, on any shotgun model. I've seen some nasty split barrels, but nothing as small and unsuspecting as this.
Anyone have experience with this? Or with Remington repair? I finally was able to meet up with the driver and send it off yesterday afternoon. I'm fairly confident that Remington will give me a new barrel, but I found the incident very odd. I work as a mechanic at a plant that manufactures light aircraft engines, and I've seen material issues before with embrittlement or fatigue. That's the only explanation I can think of. I have heard many quality issues have come to light recently with Rem 870s, I imagine I simply got a weak barrel.
About a month ago, I bought a Rem 870 express tactical with an 18.5" (bead sight) barrel from a mom and pop gunshop here in North Central Pennsylvania. It was my first shotgun, so I was careful to look over it very thoroughly. I also bought a few 5-round boxes of Remington brand 00 Buck and Remington sluggers, 2.75 inch, I believe they were 1-oz slugs.
Skip to a few hours later, I inspect the action, pull the barrel and check that too. Everything is clean. A thin coat of oil or grease in the action and bolt, no gobs or dust or lead. Looks good. Go to my buddy's farm, and we start off shooting some slugs. I put all five in the tube, and took some relaxed, slow shots at a few water jugs we had set up. What a blast. The butt pad needs upgraded. I rack the action back open to insert a new shell and see a small hairline crack at the tip of the barrel. I inspect it closely and there's another. I'm very certain that these cracks were not present and/or apparent at the gunshop. All I can imagine is that they may have been much smaller cracks, and were opened up a little by the sluggers.
I've searched many forums and websites in the past month, while trying to send the gun back to Remington for repair. UPS has been a hassel, the driver never comes in the same 3 hours of any given day, and I can't afford to take off work. I have found nothing on cracked barrels, on any shotgun model. I've seen some nasty split barrels, but nothing as small and unsuspecting as this.
Anyone have experience with this? Or with Remington repair? I finally was able to meet up with the driver and send it off yesterday afternoon. I'm fairly confident that Remington will give me a new barrel, but I found the incident very odd. I work as a mechanic at a plant that manufactures light aircraft engines, and I've seen material issues before with embrittlement or fatigue. That's the only explanation I can think of. I have heard many quality issues have come to light recently with Rem 870s, I imagine I simply got a weak barrel.
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