[dak0ta]

I have both.

One side of me tells me to appreciate a milled shell lifter that is nice and shiny. The other side tells me that the flexitab relieves jammed up shells in the chamber. I know you're supposed to lean towards utilitarianism, but can you unjam an 870 with the chrome lifter without taking off the barrel?

[dak0ta]

no 870 shell lifter. old school ones used chromed shell lifter before they were replaced with one that were not chromed and had the flexi-tab slot cut in.

[Virginian]

Short answer, yes. I have never let a shell get under the bolt, but I have seen a couple. A pocketknife was all I needed to push the shell back into the magazine tube. I've never had the problem with an 1100 either, in 46 years, but I saw one of those too, and the same pocketknife fixed it.
BTW, those carriers are all stamped, not milled. The chrome ones were a little finer polished before chroming.

[Fred Fuller]

On a "serious" 870, I'd rather have a Flexitab system any day. On the only older 870 here I have set up for serious duty (a 1976 Wingmaster Magnum), I installed the conversion kit from Remington, consisting of the Flexitab lifter and bolt. I've never needed it, but I'd rather have it and not need it. In the old days, one possible remedy used to be milling a slot in the old style lifter to allow use of a key, knife blade etc. to return an errant shell into the magazine.

JMHO, YMMV,

lpl

[Rshooter]

For an HD gun I have a newer "Police Magnum" that has all of the necessary modifications. That way I can leave my older guns as is. I realize that if I ever get a shell stuck it may ruin a shooting day with that gun but hey, I have put a lot of shells through unmodified guns without a glitch. If you bought the gun because you wanted a fine old piece of workmanship why mess with it?

[Dave McCracken]

I had to be told, after a couple decades shooting 870s, that they could be jammed. Good loading technique made the old style lifters workable.

Both "Serious" 870s here have flextabs. Both were retrofitted.

On the old style lifters, one can clear a jam in an emergency by holding down the slide release and racking it hard as one hits the butt against a hard surface. I've busted pieces off stocks doing this but it does clear the jam.

HTH.....

[Virginian]

Although I have never needed to do it for this, all mine, and my 1100s too, have had trigger pins that were pretty easy to remove with a simple ballpoint pen or nail. I would think that to be a lot easier than pulling the barrel.