[41magsnub]

He has a plain jane 870 express magnum he traded a winchester 1300 to his brother for.

If there is a round in the chamber the gun will not fire (pull trigger, nothing happens at all. No click, nothing, no marks on the primer).

If there is no round in the chamber it seems to operate just fine and will dry fire.

He claims he sees what the problem is and some sandpaper will solve it, but is too complicated to describe over the phone. I'm going shooting with him tomorrow and would like to have some ideas what the problem might be, or to be ready to slap him and tell him to take it to a gunsmith before he ruins his gun trying to amateur gunsmith it.

Thanks for any advice!

[oletymer]

It sounds like the action is not locking up with a round in the chamber. Are they reloads? If so the base may not be sized correctly.

[41magsnub]

All new rounds, mix of new estate trap loads, some really old Remington lead goose loads I have, and some other stuff. The same ammo he could not shoot did fine in my wingmaster. He would attempt to fire, eject the unfired shell, then I would pick up the ejected shell and fire it in mine.

[Dave McCracken]

Scrub the chamber out, maybe with 4/0 steel wool, and try again. My guess is that the shell doesn't fully go into the chamber and the bolt doesn't lock up like it should, though there may be enough contact to feel that way.

HTH.....

[rcmodel]

Make sure the magazine cap & barrel are on all the way & tightened.

rcmodel

[Pete409]

All good advice above. Try it. Make sure the barrel is on tight. Make sure the chamber is clean. SLAM that sucker shut when chambering a round in the chamber. Then slide the safety to the "FIRE" position and pull the trigger. If it doesn't fire, take it to a gunsmith.