Remington 870 Mag tube Malfunction

N

nmam0305

Inactive
I recently acquired an older Remington 870 from my brother-in-law, he told me that there was an issue, but I thought I would take a look at it anyway. Everything works great, except that the shells will not stay in the magazine tube. I have read a lot of posts about poor loading techniques, not the case, that is the first thing I checked... The shells seem to stay were they are supposed to if the action bars are not there, but once it is all put together, they come out of the tube as soon as the first shell is chambered, if not before. Anyone ever had this happen? why would it do this? How can it be fixed? Thanks for your help!

Mark
 
What is suppose to happen is that the first cartridge in the magazine is suppose to rest against the primary cartridge stop on the left side of the gun. As you pump the gun, the secondary cartridge stop on the right moves in and the primary stop releases the first cartridge onto the carrier. The second cartridge is caught by the secondary stop. As you close the action, the carrier pushes the first cartridge up and into the chamber as the primary stop is activated and the secondary cartridge stop releases the second cartridge onto the primary cartridge stop.

Given that information, see if you can determine whether the primary or secondary isn't working.
 
This is usually related to the shell stops, which are in the lower inside walls of the receiver.

If the stops are badly worn, bent, broken, impacted with old fouling, or not staked in place, you may have this problem.
Note that the stops are supposed to be tightly staked in place, and not removed unless they're being replaced.
Note also that staking requires a special staking tool.

Here's an exploded view of the 870. The shell stops are parts 33 and 34.

http://www.stevespages.com/ipb-remington-870.html

Press the stops against the receiver walls to test for free movement and plenty of spring tension.
If they're sticky, use a gun scrubber spray to clean the back side by spraying the cleaner behind the stops, dry then spray in a lubricant. (Keep the cleaner off the wood).

If this doesn't correct the problem, either take it to a gunsmith or send it in to Remington for repair.
 
yup

Wheel has got it, most likely

The shell stops are the Achilles Heel of an 870 in my opinion and can fail if the gun is stored loaded for prolonged periods (as in a duty gun), shot regularly with high recoil ammo (slugs and buck), is stripped regularly (trigger group) or was built on Friday.

Typically the darn things will fall out if loose when the trigger group is pulled.

A common failure at our academy when I was there on temp duty. Guns were shot 5 days a week, buck and slugs by trainees.
 
The shell latches have plenty of spring in them, and hold the shells in the mag tube as long as the action is open or the entire forend assembly has been removed. Once I close the action(slide the forend all the way forward) the shell latches dont even touch the shells. If I load them with the action open, then close the action, once it gets just over half way, the shells come out. I think that something on the forend assembly is messing up the shell latches.
 
Check the action bars to insure they're not bent in or out, or up or down, or are kinked.
You can use a straight edge to check the bars on the top or bottom side and on the outside or inside for bends. In order to cause your problem the bars would have to be in really bad shape.

Check the activating bevels on the bars for burrs, damage, or excess wear.
The bevels are the small "ramps" on the action bars that activate the shell stops.

The 870 action bars and shell stops are not a complicated system.
When the forearm is slid to the rear, the left action bar ramp presses the left shell stop out and allows a shell to be pushed back into the receiver.

As the forearm is pushed forward, the right action bar ramp presses the right shell stop out to allow the next shell to slide back and be caught against the left shell stop in the next to feed position.

Remove the entire trigger unit and take the gun out to a safe place.
Load a single shell into the magazine pushing it all the way in past both shell stops, and slowly operate the forearm, watching the interaction of the shell stops as the shell is fed.
Then load two shells and operate the action again.
You should be able to see how the system works and any problems with the shell stops failing to retain the shells properly.
 
Dfariswheel, I apologize for my ignorance, but I have never owned an 870 so this may seem like a dumb question. Everything I have read, and from what you said, both shell latches work together to hold shells in the mag tube? If that is the case, the left shell latch is bent. The right shell latch seems to work just fine with the action arms, but the left shell latch is not over far enough to engage the shells.
 
Like almost all shotguns, the 870 shells latches each serve a separate part of the feed cycle.

As above, when the pump handle is pulled to the rear, the left action bar presses the left shell stop out toward the inner receiver wall and releases a shell into the action.

When the pump handle is pushed forward, the right action bar presses the right shell stop outward against that receiver wall and allows the next shell in the magazine to move a short distance to the rear until it's caught by the left stop.

Each shell stop has a slightly different bend on the front that contacts the shell head.
It sounds like one of the shell stops is defective.

Again, either find a local gunsmith who knows how to replace the 870 shell stops AND who has the special staking tool needed to do the job, or send the stripped action in to Remington for repair.
 
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