Remington 870

shell latches

The only issue I've had w/ 870's are the shell latches/stops shooting loose/ battering loose, and weak carrier dog springs.

This is in guns that live "half loaded" theie whole lives, and only shoot heavy recoiling buck/slug ammo. I think the combination of those factors does a number on the shell stops/latches.

Staking tool fixes that.

The spongy dog springs........not sure the cause, but replacement on 3 under my vigil cleared up any feed problems.
 
My 870 Wingmaster was the first shotgun my dad bought me when I graduated hunter's safety at 12. I've had that gun for 12 years and I've kept it clean, oiled, and use it regularly for trap, deer hunting, goose, pheasant, whenever I can. It's been crashed through a cedar bog every year, dropped, rained on, chewed on (only part ever replaced was the recoil pad...damn dog), it's a trooper. I've had no parts fail on it, it's the smoothest working pump action I've ever owned and shot. I would never hesitate to recommend one to anyone or get another.

Oh and it doesn't have a thumb safety which is a +1 for me. :D
 
Got an 870 12gauge Wingmaster that is just over 40 years old and has had several thousand rndsat the least shot through it. It is a full choke chambered for 2-3/4 or shorter shells but will shoot and eject 3" all day long and has for years. Never had a single problem and has seen some extreme weather in its lifetime with no problems. Best shotgun I have ever owned or shot in my opinion!
 
It is a full choke chambered for 2-3/4 or shorter shells but will shoot and eject 3" all day long and has for years.
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It's admissions like this that serve to reinforce my thought that the most common problem is typically the owner's failure to peruse the instruction manual.
 
what are the most common reliability problems that are associated with this gun? are there any? do any parts fail?
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? I do not know of any, but with all guns parts do fail over time. Main reason why I went with a 870 because the moss 500 reciver isn't as strong.
 
Glad I don't use your thought process. Gun was given to me by my Grandfather who bought the gun new. He was told years later by the local gun smith that even though it was advertised to be chambered for the shorter shells, that due to the depth of the shell bore in the barrel and the length of the chamber opening that it would safely shoot and eject a 3" magnum. So upon his word and 56 years of experience at the time, my Granfather tried it and just as the man said, no problem. He continued to shoot them in the gun untill I inherited it ( over 20 years ago) and I have been shooting them in it ever since. My gunsmith told me pretty much the same thing. The depth of the shell bore in the barrel is plenty deep. To be precise the depth to the shoulder in the bore is 3-1\8" which is more than enough for the 3" magnum that is 2-15\16" when spent and fully opened. The length of the chamber opening is just a hair over 3" which is plenty being the spent casing comes out at an angle and requires less room. So for your comment , no I didn't read the instruction manual because as I said, I inherited it from my Grandfather when he passed away and was not afforded one. But after seeing my Granfather shoot it with the 3" magnums for years and me pretty much being raised with a shotgun in my hand so to speak, I didn't feel it nessesary to find an instruction manual and read up on it before I shot it. Not to mention I had shot it plenty of times under my Grandfathers supervision with the short and longer loads when growing up. Men were created to walk the Earth, not fly! If the Wright brothers had read the "Instruction Manual", who knows!
 
hydroholic

There is a reason that manufactures of shotgun barrels take the time and money to stamp each barrel with maximum chamber length. Bursting pressure in shotguns is a very serious issue. The fact that there may be up to 1/8" difference in hull length from manufacturer to manufacturer and my simple explanation below might tend to give one pause!:eek:

Firing shells of excessive length for the chamber can generate dangerously high pressures for the following reason: The inside diameter of a shotgun barrel rapidly becomes smaller just forward of the front end of the chamber in an area called the forcing cone. When a three-inch shell is fired in a 2 3/4-inch chamber, its crimp section opens into the forcing cone and in doing so effectively reduces bore diameter at that point. If the shot charge and wad column are required to squeeze through this partial obstruction, chamber pressure can increase. I am also surprised that you are not having ejection problems due to shell length!

Good Luck & Be Safe
 
Glad I don't use your thought process. Gun was given to me by my Grandfather who bought the gun new. He was told years later by the local gun smith that even though it was advertised to be chambered for the shorter shells, that due to the depth of the shell bore in the barrel and the length of the chamber opening that it would safely shoot and eject a 3" magnum. So upon his word and 56 years of experience at the time, my Granfather tried it and just as the man said, no problem. He continued to shoot them in the gun untill I inherited it ( over 20 years ago) and I have been shooting them in it ever since. My gunsmith told me pretty much the same thing. The depth of the shell bore in the barrel is plenty deep. To be precise the depth to the shoulder in the bore is 3-1\8" which is more than enough for the 3" magnum that is 2-15\16" when spent and fully opened. The length of the chamber opening is just a hair over 3" which is plenty being the spent casing comes out at an angle and requires less room. So for your comment , no I didn't read the instruction manual because as I said, I inherited it from my Grandfather when he passed away and was not afforded one. But after seeing my Granfather shoot it with the 3" magnums for years and me pretty much being raised with a shotgun in my hand so to speak, I didn't feel it nessesary to find an instruction manual and read up on it before I shot it. Not to mention I had shot it plenty of times under my Grandfathers supervision with the short and longer loads when growing up. Men were created to walk the Earth, not fly! If the Wright brothers had read the "Instruction Manual", who knows!
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Is there any possibility that Grandfather had the chamber lengthened by one of those gunsmiths or that it was a factory anomaly?

Regardless, what is it you are saying? That it is all right to shoot 3" Magnums in guns with 2 3/4" chambers or are your Grandfather's gun has a 3" chamber even though the barrel was stamped 2 3/4"! Is there any possibility that Grandfather had the chambered lengthened or that it was a factory anamoly?

I trust you aren't advocating that any gun with a 2 3/4" chamber can safely shoot 3" Magnums.

There is no need to comment on your suggestion not to read the manufacturer's instruction.
 
chambered for 2-3/4 or shorter shells but will shoot and eject 3" all day long
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WRONG!

Glad I don't use your thought process.
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That would mean thought was involved and following the instructions actually happened

Glad no one was hurt following that incorrect "advice" - shooting what is essentially proof loads in your gun is unsafe, and trying to make it sound like it is OK is also wrong - your gun, your fingers and face - do what you want

Darwin was right
 
A couple of other points that some knowing heads may wish to address.

Regardless of whether a 3" shell will fit the chamber of your barrel, meaning the chamver is long enought to permit the crimp to open fully without opening into the forcing cone,

a. Is your barrel designed to safely handle Magnum pressures?

b. Same question but regarding the receiver.
 
3" shells will fit in the chamber of a 2-3/4" gun, because - as has been stated many times here - the shell length is the fired length, not the unfired length.

Shooting a shell that is the wrong dimension adds unnecessary pressures to a system not designed to handle it

Some can claim how they have done it and "gotten away with it" - whoop de doo and good for them

Glad I am not shooting next to them
 
No I definately am not advocating shooting 3" magnums in any gun that is chambered for 2-3\4". Just stating the facts of my particular firearm as it has been used for over 40 yrs. As far as the chamber being lenghthened ,I can definately say no it has not been and is the barrel that was bought with the gun new. I can tell you that between my Gandfather and me that it has had over a thousand at the bare minimum, 3" magnums fired through the 2-3\4 inch barrel with no problems ever resulting to the barrel or reciever. My grandfather hunted geese , turkey and duck with this gun in the 3" magnum and 2-3/4" for smaler birds and game. I have hunted turkey, duck, hog and deer as well with the 3" magnum in the gun. About 4 years ago I bought a rifled slug barrel chambered for 3" magnum and now use it to shoot the sabot slugs if I choose to hunt deer with it. Still no ejection problems or reciever problems.As far as the strength of the reciever as to handling the pressure of the larger load, I think it is built a hell of a lot better than the reciever on my 870 express which is chambered for the 3" magnum. I think after as many rounds that have been fired through it with no problems, I will continue to use it as I and my Grandfather have.
 
My 870 is 20 yrs old --- and has about 5,000 rounds through it through casual skeet/trap shooting.

No problems. Just keep it clean and oiled.
 
No I definately am not advocating shooting 3" magnums in any gun that is chambered for 2-3\4". Just stating the facts of my particular firearm as it has been used for over 40 yrs. As far as the chamber being lenghthened ,I can definately say no it has not been and is the barrel that was bought with the gun new. I can tell you that between my Gandfather and me that it has had over a thousand at the bare minimum, 3" magnums fired through the 2-3\4 inch barrel with no problems ever resulting to the barrel or reciever. My grandfather hunted geese , turkey and duck with this gun in the 3" magnum and 2-3/4" for smaler birds and game. I have hunted turkey, duck, hog and deer as well with the 3" magnum in the gun. About 4 years ago I bought a rifled slug barrel chambered for 3" magnum and now use it to shoot the sabot slugs if I choose to hunt deer with it. Still no ejection problems or reciever problems.As far as the strength of the reciever as to handling the pressure of the larger load, I think it is built a hell of a lot better than the reciever on my 870 express which is chambered for the 3" magnum. I think after as many rounds that have been fired through it with no problems, I will continue to use it as I and my Grandfather have.
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There you go calling it a 2-3/4" barrel again, when I was trying to get you to clarify whether it was a 2-3/4" or a 3" chamber as measured.

The problem with shooting any gun with loads in excess of its design and manufacture is that you can get away with much, until it fails. It hasn't shown any problems, yet, as far as you can see. So you go ahead and assume any risk betting that it never fails.

How about the guy or gal next to you when you shoot that thing. Somehow I dougt that you give everyone the informed option to stand back away from you. Pehaps that isn't a problem if you only hunt, but don't stand next to me on a firing line.
 
the 870 is an awesome gun. I got my first one when I was 14. I shot it all the time and never cleaned it. Then about the time I was 19 I moved for collage and could not bring the gun (I lived on campus) so I left it. after a while the years went by then about 10 years later my dad asked if I wanted to go bird hunting. I agreed and asked my father in law if I could borrow his single shot 20 gauge (HE does not shoot much) because I though I left my 870 with a friend that I had not seen in years so I wrought it off.

Any way I meet my dad and grand father at the hunting grounds and my dad laughs at me because of my cheep single shot 20 ga and hands me the 870. He said that he found it the day he called me for the hunt and cleaned it up. It still shot fine even though it probably had about 5000-6000 rounds through it with out cleaning and then sat for about 15 years in cardboard box in my father tool shed. It worked great.

P.s. I now take much better care of it.
 
Shooting 3" shells ...in any gun chambered for 2 3/4" shells ...is just plain not advised...and doing any number of things ( because it hasn't blown up yet ) ...does not make it ok / it is still not a good plan....

Lots of experienced shooters have chimed in here ...to say its a bad idea .../ so why you continue to think its ok ...just makes no sense.

The other side of this - is why keep doing it / when its entirely possible - balistically - that a 2 3/4" shell will meet your needs ??? If you really need a gun chambered in 3" or even 3 1/2" - then go buy one ....
 
I have had two malfunctions with my 870 while shooting skeet. I'll bet good money that the cause of both of them was the nut holding the gun. If I had been really alert I would have figured out what I did that caused the problem, so as to learn from the mistake, but instead I just grinned sheepishly at my squad and held the thing thing in various positions (not various directions! downrange!) until the shell fell out.

Odds are, I short stroked (I think that is what it is called), so not fully ejecting the spent shell before I closed the action again. It wasn't quite a stovepipe either time, but I think that it was close.

So, yeah, don't short-stroke. I even got four snap caps to practice cycling the action.
 
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If you watch some competitive R-1100 shooters, part of their routine is checking the tightness of the magazine nut every time they step off the shooting station. The same action can be applied to shooting Skeet with a R-870; of course, it won't cure a short stroke.
 
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