870 Police Magnum jamming

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Airburst

Airburst

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Posting for a friend. He picked up two 870 Police Magnums from Summit Gunbroker last month and today, we went out to the range. One 870 shot everything put in it, birdshot (federal and winchester) and 00 buck. Federal. The other gun would not shoot the birdshot. It would jam after the second shot with both brands of birdshot. 00 buck-NO PROBLEMS. Anyone else experience this issue with an older 870 Police Magnum?
 
Airburst said:
Posting for a friend. He picked up two 870 Police Magnums from Summit Gunbroker last month and today, we went out to the range. One 870 shot everything put in it, birdshot (federal and winchester) and 00 buck. Federal. The other gun would not shoot the birdshot. It would jam after the second shot with both brands of birdshot. 00 buck-NO PROBLEMS. Anyone else experience this issue with an older 870 Police Magnum?
Click to expand...
Define jam. FTF? FTE? Operator headspace and timing? (short stroking?)
The most common "jams" of 870's are (in the order of frequency I've noticed)
1. Short Stroking: Not a mechanical error, must be corrected by shooter.
2. Worn extractor, often in conjunction with worn extractor spring.
3. Worn/broken shell latches. Usually results in no feed/double feed.
4. action gunked up,can have same effects as any of the above. It takes a lot of gunk to stop an 870!
5. Although not always needed, it doesn't hurt to polish the chamber, particularly at the base. Sometimes the cheap range birdshot (Walmart 100 round paks, particularly Winchester, are notorious) have aluminum "brass" and have stuck in some guns. While some guys will say, ,"Just use good brass-based shells", it's not hard to polish the chambers so you don't have to resort to that.
6. If the guns don't have flex tabs, put them in, or mill a slot into the carrier to be able to clear prematurely released rounds. (from the shell latches)
7. Ejector. Hope it's not the ejector, they are a bit of a PITA.
 
I have noticed some brands of birdshot stick more than others in my guns. Brass expand way too much. This is more apparent in break actions, but sometimes I'll have one stick in my pumps.
 
entropy said:
Define jam. FTF? FTE? Operator headspace and timing? (short stroking?)
The most common "jams" of 870's are (in the order of frequency I've noticed)
1. Short Stroking: Not a mechanical error, must be corrected by shooter.
2. Worn extractor, often in conjunction with worn extractor spring.
3. Worn/broken shell latches. Usually results in no feed/double feed.
4. action gunked up,can have same effects as any of the above. It takes a lot of gunk to stop an 870!
5. Although not always needed, it doesn't hurt to polish the chamber, particularly at the base. Sometimes the cheap range birdshot (Walmart 100 round paks, particularly Winchester, are notorious) have aluminum "brass" and have stuck in some guns. While some guys will say, ,"Just use good brass-based shells", it's not hard to polish the chambers so you don't have to resort to that.
6. If the guns don't have flex tabs, put them in, or mill a slot into the carrier to be able to clear prematurely released rounds. (from the shell latches)
7. Ejector. Hope it's not the ejector, they are a bit of a PITA.
Click to expand...
1-No short-stroking, as it happened to both of us.
2-Will need to look at that.
3-No double feeding, the bolt became stuck and wouldn't rack.
4-I asked if he cleaned weapon, I am not sure how much or if any cleaning done.
5-I have read as much about polishing and the expansion of the aforementioned Walmart Winchester ammo.
6-That will have to be determined if it has them.
7-Yup
Thank you for your response. I'll pass this along to him.
 
Wisco said:
I have noticed some brands of birdshot stick more than others in my guns. Brass expand way too much. This is more apparent in break actions, but sometimes I'll have one stick in my pumps.
Click to expand...
My research on the topic found that to be so with a few others, mostly shooting the Express Magnum and many people complaining about the build quality of the newer 870's. This is an older Police Magnum. Thank you for your reply.
 
BS. One new gun with any issue and it becomes "internet knowledge" 870 quality sucks. Aside from a few Expresses with rougher than normal chambers - which got paraded around the internet ad nauseum - there is no big history of issues.
 
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I have had issues with cheap birdshot in over unders, my ithaca 37, and my JM pro moss 930. It seems Winchester had the most issues, so now I use Federal.
 
Airburst said:
1-No short-stroking, as it happened to both of us.
2-Will need to look at that.
3-No double feeding, the bolt became stuck and wouldn't rack.
4-I asked if he cleaned weapon, I am not sure how much or if any cleaning done.
5-I have read as much about polishing and the expansion of the aforementioned Walmart Winchester ammo.
6-That will have to be determined if it has them.
7-Yup
Thank you for your response. I'll pass this along to him.
Click to expand...
Clean the 870's thoroughly, and polish the chambers; Chuck an old shotgun cleaning rod in a drill, use a 10 ga. brush wrapped with 0000 steel wool, and preferably JB Bore Paste. Run it no more than 30 seconds at a time, leaving time in between to cool down. You could also replace the extractor, extractor plunger and spring, cheap insurance. If it still "jams" after that, repeat the chamber polish again. And, like FL-NC, I prefer Federal shells also, despite what that darn duck whispered in my ear when I was sleeping. ;)
 
Virginian said:
BS. One new gun with any issue and it becomes "internet knowledge" 870 quality sucks. Aside from a few Expresses with rougher than normal chambers - which got paraded around the internet ad nauseum - there is no big history of issues.
Click to expand...
I said a few others, not millions. The common thread seemed to be birdshot not functioning in a variety Remington shotguns.
 
If you look at the carrier floor, if there is an angular "U" shaped cut in it that is bumped in a bit, it has the flex tab kit in it. If the guns are going to be used for "social" use, they should definitely have it. Back in the day before flex tabs, we just milled slots in the carrier so you could stick a key or knife blade in if the latches malfunctioned in a sticky situation. If they are just going to be hunting guns, it's really not necessary. Older police guns should already have one of the two done to them already.
 
I've had problems with 2 recent (last 10 years) 870s.

1. Avoid winchester universals. IME they are universally crap
2. Clean and Polish the chamber really well with some 00 steel wool wrapped around a brass brush chucked in a drill.
3. look closely at the extractor and make sure there's good tension and a sharp hook.


Ooops I see entropy already covered this
 
do this 870s have the extended magazine extensions on ? I had all kind of issues with the Remington OEM mag extension on mine, took it off and works fine now.
 
I had problems with my 870 Express fail to extract I polished the chamber with steel wool and a cordless drill. I ordered a new Extractor changed that out and after a very good cleaning I have not had any more problems.
 
My Police Magnum from Summit arrived plenty clean, but absolutely dry. That may or may not have any bearing on feeding, but it could be a good indicator that the action needs a thorough inspection.
 
I cut my teeth on the Wingmaster. I acquired a LEO Police Magnum several years ago. It's been 100% reliable. I've seen a few newer ones that wouldn't feed back out of the box and the issue was all the. u shaped cutout that Entrophy mentioned. A little bit of adjustment was all it took to get them running. If you ended up with a shotgun used for training it likely has a high round count. It may be necessary to replace the shell latches, extractor and ejector. The shell latches and ejector will need to be re-staked and will require the correct tool and some know how. Beyond that I replace the plastic followers in all my Remingtons with an aluminum follower sold by Brownells
 
Well, my friend ended up trading the 870 and a Model 10 revolver for an M&P 9mm. He was going to attempt the barrel polishing, but in the end felt that he couldn't trust a shotgun that wouldn't fire any 12g round put in it. Thanks for all of the replies.
 
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