~8,000 Shells, Now Problems...

[USMCsilver]

I have an 870 Exp. Mag. that is about 7 years old. I got it back when K-mart was a decent place to shop...

Anyhow, the gun has seved me great over the past years. I recall days of shooting skeet when I'd put 400 or so shells through the gun in one session. I'd have zero problems with it.

Well, I was on a dove shoot on Saturday and my gun started acting up.

I'd squeeze off a shot, try to pump it, and it would hang up. I'd have to bring the pump back forward then back again in order to get it to cycle.

Now, granted, the gun rarely gets cleaned, but I've had few problems in the past w/ a dirty 870. It just seemed odd that it would want to hang up when it was needed the most.

I took the gun apart, and I mean a-p-a-r-t. The stock came off, I removed the trigger group, etc. I soaked everying w/ brake parts cleaner and when it went back together, there was no carbon left to be found. Yeah, some nasty junk came out, so I hope the problem is solved.

The funny thing is, the gun would cycle fresh rounds fine. The problems only arose when a spent shell, after being fired, was attempted to be ejected.

Anyone else had these problems? I know 8k is a lot through a $225 gun, but what could have been causing the hang ups?

 

[Al Thompson]

Sounds to me like a bad lot of ammo. I've seen several reports of the El Cheapo ammo acting this way in otherwise reliable guns.

 

[Selfdfenz]

I don't know what ammo you were using but I would want to eliminate ammo as the issue. Try a different kind. Check some fired cases in the barrel and see if they stick. The usual drill.

El cheapo promotional dove loads are just that, steel rims and all.

S-

 

[Selfdfenz]

Al beat me by one El Cheapo minute!

S-

 

[TrapperReady]

Could very well be a crudded up chamber. Not carbon, but plastic. You can get rid of it by putting some steel-wool onto a short bit of cleaning rod and twisting away until the chamber shines. Some folks will do the same, but use a drill to save on the elbow-grease.

Frankly, if you keep the chamber (one of the most neglected things) clean, then most shotguns will run pretty well.

 

[USMCsilver]

I feel as ammo was not the issue. I have shot hundreds, if not thousands of shells of the same stuff w/o problems.

The majority of my shells consist of Remington high velocity stuff -- you know, the black ones that are >$4 a box.

I'll be using the gun again on Saturday for another hunt. We'll see how it runs clean.

Worse comes to worse, I'll have my Huglu O/U as a back-up.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Silver,

Manufacturers change stuff from time to time. Everything might _look_ the same but materials and processes used can change without notice or warning. This sounds very much to me like an ammo issue. It could be that the particular lot of ammo you got was at the edge of spec and just does not fit as usual. Don't rule it out too hastily, try some other ammo brands/loads and see if the problem persists.

And DO give that chamber a good cleaning, no matter what (buck up here, gyrene, you're slipping...). The usual recipe is a brand new bore brush wrapped with some 4/0 steel wool soaked with solvent. If by chance you have a .50 cal chamber brush in your kit, that will work even better- still use the steel wool, tho. The chemical stuff may have gotten out some of the plastic residue etc. but you still need to expend some elbow grease here. In the olden days back when I was young, the wax that impregnated paper hulls helped coat and protect the chamber- with plastic, that protection is gone - though general ammo reliability is enhanced more than enough to make up for it IMHO. BTW, that was why in the even older olden days all the military shotgun ammo was brass cased- the brass cases didn't swell and jam the gun like paper cases did.

Now get on it!

8^)

lpl/nc (no, not Camp LeJeune- Ft. Bragg!)

 

[Dave McCracken]

Something about using a Huglu to back up an 870 rankles me, but I'll get over it.

Recently, I've had some failures to eject and hard cranking with Frankenstein. All occurred with Gun Club hulls that work well in my other 870s. And yes, the chamber is power cleaned. Go figure....

Clean it, try varied ammo and see what happens....

 

[USMCsilver]

Dave, that was funny...

What's so bad 'bout the ole Huglu? Looks good, shoots nice, and has never let me down...

What gives?

 

[sm]

I have to agree on Bad Ammo and the effect said ammo has on Chambering and Extraction. The dirty chamber is one of the most frequent , if not THE reason for Shotgun problems - makes no difference on platform. Then the extractor cannot do its job.

Paper hulls , as stated above , kept chambers from doing this. Plastic Fouling is a bad deal.

Just because something has not before, does not mean it cannot / won't cause problems later.

MFGs change product quality, MFGs charge more money for products with "Premium", "Extreme", "Ultimate" and whatever MARKETING catch- phrase of the day. Folks used to be fooled by "High Brass" loads ....until they learned to reload and learned the height of brass had nothing to do with performance of shotshell. Heck Activ was a all plastic hull....NO metal base , except primer....they worked.

Like fishing , many hunting / shooting gear is designed to catch/ bag the fisherman/ hunter' s wallet - not the critter.

Other thing that gets my goat, The consumer is the beta tester. So "sometimes' (*ahem* ) spec's are not what they should be. " Hey the consumer is paying us more money and we can let spec's slide - a bit".

You teach people how to treat you . The Consumer has allowed MFGs to get by with this.

NOT buying ammo / guns with good components, sending them back to MFG when they do and raising hell...it is the right thing to do.

I'm going to piddle with , smell the smells, and recall the doves felled from the Win and Fed PAPER hulls I used the other day....Blue Peter's Target loads, reloaded these some 20 yrs ago....

Kinda sad when a 20 yr old reload in a blue hull or red paper hull with good components still works , no chambering/ extraction problems, and the hard shot still fells a bird.

 

[Dave McCracken]

USMC( Uncle Sam's Misguided Child?), nothing's wrong with the Huglu. It's just that 870s are for many of us the "When it absolutely has to work" shotgun.

 

[USMCsilver]

Dave, I knew whatcha meant. It was kinda a rhetorical question. The 870 is God's gift to the poor man. I don't think I'll ever be able to give mine up. Hell, mine's been used as a paddle before -- what guns have that story under their bolt and are still able to fire?

I have not had a chance to test my clean gun due to the fact that I went out and bought my 9th shotgun yesterday. I got a Stoeger 2000 in Max4 Advantage. It went out on a morning and evening shoot today and did quite well. I think that I am gonna enjoy the heck outta this gun. I may have to tuck the 870 away for a while. *Gasp*

 

[Dave McCracken]

Enjoy the Stoeger. Common word here is they work well.

As for neglecting that 870, bad Karma results. Shoot both frequently.

 

[Rob62]

Just one recommendation that I'm surprised no one has mentioned yet.

Did you make sure the magazine cap was screwed on tight?

Rob

 

[45R]

The same thing happened to me a few times after shooting a box of ESTATE ammo. I switched up my ammo and I was good to go. My 870 really loves the cheap Federal Bulk packs.

 

[Selfdfenz]

ESTATE ammo

Bought my first 10bx case for the dove opener.

Not gonna do that again.

S-