Slide jams on Remington 870

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Yoda

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I'm very new new to shotguns, so I may not even be using the correct terminology. Please bear with me. I bought a used-but-looks-new (maybe unfired) 870 in 20 gauge at a pawn shop. I'm running into a frequent problem, and I don't even want to load the gun until it is sorted out.

Frequently, when working the slide, it locks firmly in place about a third of the way back. Nothing I've tried seems to get the slide working again except pushing the slide forward while banging the muzzle against the floor or a table.

I figure I need to resolve this, and be certain it's resolved, before I ever load the gun. Ideas?
 
Check the action bar rails and the corresponding cuts in the receiver for them for burrs, as well as the shell latches for burrs or whether they stick to far out. (are bent inward toward the middle) Id say replacing the shell latches is the most likely fix.
 
Use the standard gunsmiths trouble shooting method.....

Field strip the gun according to the owner's manual. You can see a online manual on Remington's website.

Inspect the shell stops to insure both are securely staked in place. The shell stops are two long, flat bars inside the bottom of the receiver. The ends are turned inward slightly. They must not be loose in the receiver.

Inspect the action bars for bends, kinks, cracks, or other damage. The action bars are the two long bars on the fore arm.

With the barrel off, the bolt removed, and the trigger guard out, install just the fore end and action bar assembly. Check to see if the the fore arm slides smoothly back and forth. If not look for the cause.

Then install the bolt and bolt carrier, check again.
Then install the barrel and check.
Then install the trigger group and check.

Using this method you'll eventually find the problem when after installing a part the problem will appear.
 
The nice thing about the 870 is the rather simple takedown and assembly. As was stated above, watch a couple of you tube vids and use the manual for the step-by-step descriptions. You'll eventually get to the root of the problem.

My older 12 ga 870 Wingmaster had a shell latch come unstaked. This allowed two shells to pop down onto the shell lifter rather than the regular one shell, so it would jam. Fortunately I was in an 870 armorer's course and the instructor had the staking tool with him, so it was a 5-minute fix.

Good luck, and let us know what you find is the issue.:thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
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dfariswheel said:
Use the standard gunsmiths trouble shooting method.....

Field strip the gun according to the owner's manual. You can see a online manual on Remington's website.

Inspect the shell stops to insure both are securely staked in place. The shell stops are two long, flat bars inside the bottom of the receiver. The ends are turned inward slightly. They must not be loose in the receiver.

Inspect the action bars for bends, kinks, cracks, or other damage. The action bars are the two long bars on the fore arm.

With the barrel off, the bolt removed, and the trigger guard out, install just the fore end and action bar assembly. Check to see if the the fore arm slides smoothly back and forth. If not look for the cause.

Then install the bolt and bolt carrier, check again.
Then install the barrel and check.
Then install the trigger group and check.

Using this method you'll eventually find the problem when after installing a part the problem will appear.
Click to expand...


Thanks! Checking the on-line owners' manual today.
 
Riomouse911 said:
The nice thing about the 870 is the rather simple takedown and assembly. As was stated above, watch a couple of you tube vids and use the manual for the step-by-step descriptions. You'll eventually get to the root of the problem.

My older 12 ga 870 Wingmaster had a shell latch come unstaked. This allowed two shells to pop down onto the shell lifter rather than the regular one shell, so it would jam. Fortunately I was in an 870 armorer's course and the instructor had the staking tool with him, so it was a 5-minute fix.

Good luck, and let us know what you find is the issue.:thumbup:

Stay safe.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Devoting today to resolving this.
 
Don't know how, but the problem appears resolved. The wife suggested that I just keep cycling the slide and see if it just needs to be "broken in." The jamming appeared to get progressively softer, and eventually went away after 70-80 more cycles than I had already made when I originally posted. Is this an approved technique? Also, a friend said there might have been some debris from a bad ammo case stuck in the action. I'm still going to take it apart and learn the gun.
 
I had a similar experience with an old Wingmaster. It was clean, slick, and functioned perfectly time after time until I went to shoot it. Somehow after a few shots in a trap round it would jam and not want to cycle. The ammo hull wasn't stuck in the chamber, but in essence the pump would not want to come back and allow the hull to be ejected. Sounds similar to your problem. I took it apart many times cleaning and lubing each time. An 870 is not that complicated really. It started working and I never knew exactly what caused the problem. Here is a pic I still have of it. Hang in there until you discover the problem. Ain't much that can't be corrected on an 870, and parts are plentiful. 3752.JPG
 
With brand spankin' new 870's, I like to coat the action bars and the cuts they ride in heavily in Gunslik and work the action for a while, then clean that out and lube with CLP or Slip 2000 EWL.
 
Virginian said:
The gun will function perfectly without the shell latches being staked. That is just for ease of reassembly. The trigger group and action pins keep them correctly aligned when assembled.
Click to expand...
I’m going to differ a little bit only because of my personal experience with my 870 on the “functions perfectly” part.

I get it that one can drop the shell catch into the groove if they come loose when reassembling the gun, it’s not the easiest chore to keep everything lined up but it can be done. It should then stay in place as you described and work as if there was nothing amiss. (That being said, I feel that putting together a gun that has loose parts inside is an easy way to have problems later.)

In my case, the second latch came loose and moved out of position when the staking failed. I hadn’t recently disassembled the gun before it happened, so I had no idea it had come loose until it started double feeding and I took it apart.

As a result my 870 didn’t function perfectly, as it would allow two shells to drop, the one being cycled and then the following shell that was supposed to be held by the second. This led to the jams, which were immediately rectified when the latch was moved and staked back into its proper place. :)

Stay safe.
 
You can't get the trigger group pins back in fully if that happens; You'd think one would notice that. The shell latch bar would have to break in front of the pins in order to move while the trigger pins are in. ( except as noted below) Never seen that happen. As Virginian said, the gun will function just fine without the latches staked in; they will only slide forward or come out, when disassembled, depending on how bad the staking is damaged.

On 1100's it is possible to loosen the staking on the feed latch by letting the bolt go forward after reinstalling the link, but before reinstalling the trigger group. BTDT. :mad: Repair is tap the latch back into position, restake, and install trigger group and pins.

Riomouse911 said:
In my case, the second latch came loose and moved out of position when the staking failed. I hadn’t recently disassembled the gun before it happened, so I had no idea it had come loose until it started double feeding and I took it apart.
Click to expand...

I have seen the holes for the pins elongated from firing (at leas one whole season of 3" duck and goose loads, possibly more) enough allow the latch forward enough to jam with the latches not staked. Repair was simple; New latches, stake, new pins.

Riomouse911 said:
In my case, the second latch came loose and moved out of position when the staking failed.
Click to expand...

Aside from the two types of failures I mentioned, both of which require replacing the latch, I am curious as to how your malfunction happened when the trigger assy. pins were installed, and how it was repaired without replacing the latch.
 
I have no idea how it happened. It’s a 1960’s vintage wingmaster with the old style lifter. I don’t think that the lifter was any cause for it, but it shows the vintage of the shotgun.
The gunsmithing instructor from Lassen Community College who was teaching the 870 armorers course when it happened hadn’t ever seen it happen in this manner either. He, too was stumped when he looked at it and didn’t know what had transpired.

It happened in the class while we were working with no powder 12 ga dummy/function rounds. I loaded it up, racked the action and one shell popped out to the lifter and then a second one followed jamming it up. When we opened it up the latch had come loose and fell out when the bolt was slid out. Once it was restaked it’s been 100% since.

This is one of those events that was out of the ordinary for sure. I can say with 100% certainty it happened in the manner I described because it happened to me and isn’t a retold tale from someone else’s explanation

Stay safe.
 
I had the "D" clip break [rear tube] and jam up the hammer and trigger. Make sure the clips are on the tubes.
 
Yoda said:
Don't know how, but the problem appears resolved. The wife suggested that I just keep cycling the slide and see if it just needs to be "broken in." The jamming appeared to get progressively softer, and eventually went away after 70-80 more cycles than I had already made when I originally posted. Is this an approved technique? Also, a friend said there might have been some debris from a bad ammo case stuck in the action. I'm still going to take it apart and learn the gun.
Click to expand...

One thing to consider.
The age of the firearm.
One example of a 1950's era shotgun that was lent to me to hunt phesant.
The shotgun had sat in my farmer uncles closet since he graduated highschool in the mid 1950's (35 years)
I found the bolt stuck shut with old oil lubricant that had dried out creating a shallac type coating that glued everthing together, it took time and lots of penetrating oil in order to get the slide release to push in, lots of work till the bolt would retract a 1/2"
Basicly over a hour.
Then discovered a live round in the chamber! And a magazine with 3 more live rounds.

Never assume a new firearm will operate properly right out of the box,
a friend of mine back in early 1990's bought a brand new in the box chinese made sks, excited he bought some cartridges and directly went out to shoot his new rifle(-19°F)
It shot fine, but would not cycle the action, in that reguard it was a 10 shot straight pull rifle.
He found cosmoline had stuck the spring loaded piston in the rear sight block that unlocks the bolt, it was glued in place with adhesive like consistancy.
cosmoline is a preservative used in storing weapons for long periods which should be cleaned out of weapon before use.
 
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