New 870 woes

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horsemen61

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So I bought a new 870 last Christmas for 190 otd after this and that from my local wallyworld and I bought a box of estate shells all was fine and good then my lovely little lady surprised me with 200 rounds of Winchester universal :eek: I was all excited but that is where the problem lies ever since then it jams and when I say jams it will fire but then the pump is locked up and I have tried 5 other kinds of ammo and I still get this jam issue sometimes yes I have cleaned it any ideas on what is wrong guys ?
 
WW Universal and 870's do not go well together. Stay away from steel headed ammo altogether and you'll be good to go. Next time you buy ammo carry a magnet and check the head for steel, some are brass plated.
 
There are rough tool marks on the barrel extension, the piece the bolt locks into.

You will find very rough marks there, what happens is the single extractor pushes the spent case against those rough tooling marks and the gun locks up.

As RC has said check the chamber for roughness and polish that also. It is not just one area but two that causes problems.
 
With steel head ammo, it expands and does not contract after firing thus grabbing onto the rough interior marks. A good brush wrapped in 0000 steel wool, with a good oil on it, and chucked into a cordless drill would be the best place to start. With a hone, you can easily remove too much.
 
^^^^^
This +1

"Go to Home Depot and get a 7/16th wood dowel and some 000 steel wool. Take a full pad of the wool and stretch over the end of the dowel about 3-5" down and tape the bottom around the dowel Put the rod in your drill, slather it with gun oil, and polish out the chamber of the barrel til you feel the barrel getting really warm.

Then do it again.

and again..... mirror finish

...about 15 minutes in all

See:
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4367380&postcount=1

then...
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4368507&postcount=25
 
Problem is, steel wool will just knock the microscopic burs off the rough chamber.
The machine marks will still be there.
Only polished top & bottom of the marks.

A brake cylinder hone will take the tops off the rings and make them go away.
That's what they are for.

In my experience, it would take 30-45 minutes or honing to make the chamber oversize.

rc
 
I'd just tell Remington that the barrel is defective. They'll send you a new one for free.
 
Either call Remington or go get a drum brake wheel cylinder hone at the auto parts store. Get a cheap one. I have heard about the ridges on the barrel extension issue, but I have yet to see one in person. I have seen several chambers that needed smoothing, on 870s, Mossbergs, Novas, and one BPS. A hone will fix it, and will not remove too much material. These things are designed to work on car brakes where the consequences of removing too much metal could be REAL bad, and the light little stones will only remove the high spots.
 
It will be rare to have to hone a chamber. I have used a wooden dowl and steel wool to clean and polish smooth bore barrels and chambers since 1980. I describe how how to do the chamber on my web site in the red link "install and cleaning". I have chamber ball hones and sledom have to use them. If I do decide to use one I give it a light spin because as another member stated you can remove to much metal.

As stated the issue is mostly the ammo and that is well documented on all shotguns not just the 870. However, I use Winchester Universal to test fire my custom builds because if they will extract that mess they will extract anything. Since I simply polish the chambers that should prove the statement I made above. I also believe I deal with the 870 barrels more then most people here and at present I have over $30,000 in barrels in stock in my shop and most of them 870 barrels. I doubt a single one of them needs honing.
 
Bailey Boat said:
WW Universal and 870's do not go well together. Stay away from steel headed ammo altogether and you'll be good to go. Next time you buy ammo carry a magnet and check the head for steel, some are brass plated.
Click to expand...
I bet that magnet test will make one leave store without any shells purchased. The best quality Italian made live pigeon loads attract magnet though I heard high quality Remington target shells do not. The Federal Gold Medal shells in waxed paper olympic quality target shells might pass the magnet test.
 
I do not disagree about the ball hones possibly removing too much metal, but the small flat stones on a brake cylinder hone won't. And at about $8 they are way cheaper, although not useful for much else but a quick chamber job.
 
Winchester AA, Remington STS/Nitro and the Federal Gold Medal/papers are the only ones I know that are still brass; others are steel or brass-washed steel - which makes them easier to pick up with a magnet on a stick so you can save them and reload them. (Remington Gun Clubs are EXCELLENT for that)
 
I polish the chamber of every shotgun that comes through the door. I use 400 grit emery cloth around a brass rod. Like rc said, it would take 30 minutes of polishing to remove a measurable amount of metal. I have a hone but prefer the emery cloth since it can be run dry while a hone has to be oiled.
The cheap shotshells available today are horrible, they leave a coating in the chamber and gum up the works on gas autos. Do your shotgun a favor and feed it the better shells.
 
You do not have to fix a new 870, you have to clean it. They are coated with a rust preventative since they it will be months before it is in the end users hand or even longer. I have purchased new guns from my distributors that were in their warehouse for almost a year. the inside of the barrel including chamber are not finished so something has to protect them from rusting for that long period of time. So, you have to clean the gun. Guys take a new 870 out of the box and hit the range without removing that from the chamber and the result is a gunk that affects extraction. Anyone shooting a new gun without cleaning it first deserves what ever happens. Yet many come to forums and blame the weapon instead. I think most everyone on this forum that cleaning a new gun before shooting it is "Firearms 101".

The issue is ammo and dirty chambers. Not some bump that someone grinds away at with a dremil tool on some utube video. I have always said "Dremil tools and Loc-tite should be control substances.
 
Last edited:
I did clean the thing I even polished the chamber with a sotch Brite pad and rem oil ai&p I even pm'd you to see if it was ok you gave me the all clear
 
I have never said use scotch brite pads. Ain't those for cleaning dishes? Use steel wool around a dowl and do it dry. Oil in the chamber cooks and turns to gunk and causes sticky extraction. You need a clean dry chamber. If you do this your issue is over. The only time you want any oil in the barrel is a light coat for long term storage.

A simple test is to remove the barrel. Hold it in your hand with the chamber up and drop a live shell in it. The shell should seat cleanly and not have to be pushed into the chamber. Then slowly turn the barrel upside down and the shell should drop out freely. If it does not seat cleanly or drop out freely polish some more. If this does not correct the issue you may need to have a light honing done. If that is the case then send me the barrel with $12 to ship it back to you and I will hone it with a chamber ball hone.
 
Originally Posted by horsemen61
Ok here it is a gentlemen I respect very much who has an older 870 from the late 80's I believe told me to help make the 870 better to take a scotch Brite pad and wrap it around a 12 gauge chamber brush and running it in the first inch or two if the chamber and mag tube since you are paid to work on the 870 I will ask your opinion do you think this is good advice btw his 870 pump feels like its on ball bearings slicker eel snot as you would say

Thanks chance

Yes, same principle as on the "Install and Cleaning" link on my web site. I use steel wool wrapped over a wooden dowel. the steel wool pulls all the mess out of the chamber and helps with a smooth extraction of spent shells. I do this after each range session since I use cheap ammo to test fire my custom builds and cheap ammo is dirty ammo. So when I asked you if this is good advice and you said yes I shouldn't have taken you at your word?
 
I have had my 870 for a few years and never had any problems until Remington changed their sporting clays shells and the new Winchester universals came out.

I am in gunsmithing school so I have access to all the tools and have lapped my chamber to 1200 grit and they still stick. My extractor will literally tear a section out of the rim before it comes out.
 
While a shell will drop in and out above the extractor at say the 12 o'clock position I found a very rough spot and burr I've since then knocked it down and I think this will help my extraction problems
 
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