Strange 870 feed issue, need advice.

C

colostomyclown

New member
Took my 1981 870 Police Wingmaster out this week twice and have put about 225 shells through it, all low base federal target loads. The gun seems to be in great shape, although it's having a strange feed issue. My technique I feel is sound, I rack hard and clear to the back and forward, no shortstroking...what happens is a shell will fire and eject fine. When the next shell drops onto the lifter, its almost as if either the bolt or the lifter are making the shell bang into the bottom of the barrel itself rather than going straight into the chamber. It's easily cleared, I rack backward after it hangs up and forward again and it will fire.

Any idea whats going on here? Shells stops, extractor, ejector seem just fine.
Basically picture the shell feeding in to the chamber low and impacting rather than going directly into the chamber like normal..have never had this issue before on any of my scatterguns. Usually its double feeds cause of bent shell stops or bad extraction or shortstroke...
 
Lee,

since I'm converting to Flextab capability and swapping these parts out I'll probably just replace the spring at the same time. Based on the issue and what youve said, really this seems like the only possible variable. If that springs bad or gunked up the carrier will be pretty lifeless. It's a 30 year old gun and has probably never been swapped out and I'm inclined to believe it was bad because it was spotless and well oiled when the issue was occurring.

Strangely, the gun started off functioning perfectly and worked its way into acting like this. Maybe the spring went bad right then and there..
 
It could happen, I suppose. On modern 870Ps the carrier dog spring is heavier than on standard 870s, I don't know when they started using the heavier spring though.

Hope that fixes it for you,

lpl
 
Thanks!


A little disclaimer for everyone reading the thread - this is a 30 year old gun. The issue's probably a minor one. Once it's fixed, I'd bet my life on this gun many times over. The all steel construction of the older 870s and 870ps are really a thing of beauty. This gun is smoother than polished glass, it really is a joy to shoot and handle.
 
I wonder if the magazine spring in it is a standard length spring instead of one for an extended mag.
 
carrier dog spring

We had several "870 Magnum"'s in the 15-20 yr old range (not Police models) as duty shotguns that exhibited the same failure, the new shell striking the lower lip of the chamber. Clean and lubed did not really help.

Carrier dog spring HD did the trick.
 
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