Finally, An Express With Issues....

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Dave McCracken

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As you may know, the Net is full of stuff about 870 Expresses not being very good shotguns, according to a small but extremely vocal minority.

I've publicly wondered where these are. I've handled and shot maybe 35 or 40 Expresses in the last couple years belonging to other folks without one single glitch.

One finally turned up yesterday, like an albatross in my flight path. It belonged to a new shooter who got an 870 because his cop friend has one.

I had shot a couple of rounds of wobble on Range 4 at PGC and was taking a break when this guy showed up on my radar. I noticed he was having trouble on the line,so I stepped up to help.

He had fired ONE round from his brand new Express,and the case was stuck in the chamber. I took the weapon and attempted to bust the hull loose by the bash method.

No luck. Lending the owner my Beretta to finish his round, I removed the barrel on the Express and used a rod to bang out the Top Gun hull. While the owner shot his round, I broke the 870 down and observed that the preservative was everywhere inside rather than oil.

After the round, I had the trappper throw a couple for test firing. The Express shot OK, and ejected old Nitro hulls perfectly.

But neither a Gun Club Reload nor a Fed "Pink" did. Had to use the rod again.

Giving the Express back, I advised the owner to RTFM, and the 4/0 steel wool trick. And to get some brass based ammo.

Discussion may now begin....
 
I broke the 870 down and observed that the preservative was everywhere inside rather than oil.

Imagine that.

I've had problems with one 870 barrel so far. It showed sticky extraction with Fiocchi hulls, but only when it was hot. I'd shot the gun a good bit but never in a protracted manner, ten or fifteen rounds as fast as I could load and fire them. I discovered the problem in the middle of a Rolling Thunder drill in a shotgun class. Fortunately I had a backup gun along to finish the class with.

The barrel that had problems was clear of all factory preservatives. And it was a barrel from an 870 Police gun, not an Express...

lpl
 
Ah, the good old days - they wonder why I miss them. When I bought an 870 in 1974 and killed two geese with it the next morning with the first two shots I ever fired out of it, and never dreamed of doing anything but taking it out of the box, putting it together, and wiping it off. Did exactly the same thing with an early Express in 1987, including the two geese trick.
 
Ah, the good old days - they wonder why I miss them. When I bought an 870 in 1974 and killed two geese with it the next morning with the first two shots I ever fired out of it, and never dreamed of doing anything but taking it out of the box, putting it together, and wiping it off. Did exactly the same thing with an early Express in 1987, including the two geese trick.
Click to expand...

I did that just last year, except instead of two geese, I killed 200 rounds of bulk pack birdshot. I've still had no hiccups out of the gun. 870HD.
 
I have 2 870's and I've never had a problem with either of them and they are both new express models. I hear lots of bashing and complaints about the express line, but for me they just plain work. I'm not real fond of the finish on the guns, but mine show no signs of rust either.
 
Thanks, folks. I have a PM from the owner of the Express we're talking about, mayhap he'll join in after I tell him about this thread.

Backup gun,Lee. Knowin' you, you probably had a backup for your backup's backup.

Did that barrel clean up OK?

Guys, perfect performance is the norm. Going on what I see, my guess is the rate of problem Expresses is<3%.

FTI, I got a PM from the owner of that Express. I'll point him here.
 
I shot a round or two of trap on this past Saturday with a guy who had a brand new 870 Express with the laminated wood. He was shooting the Diana loads bought at the clays course clubhouse. He was having trouble removing the empties after the gun barrel got hot about 2/3rds the way through the first round. After we finished I ask to see his 870. He said it was brand new and it looked it. I asked if he had ever cleaned it. The answer of course was no. I advised him the same as you Dave. Clean it and then use some steel wool on the chamber. I did tell him why and he was receptive. We shot another round before he left. It was 105 deg F outside. I think the heat and him banging his new gun on the dirt was a bit too much, so he called it a day.
 
Did that barrel clean up OK?

I even went so far as to hone the chamber lightly with a small brake cylinder hone in a slow variable speed drill, lubed with ATF, under the supervision of the family gunsmith. Still no joy with those Fiocchis, when it got hot it would still stick with them. Didn't hang up with anything else. So I just don't shoot Fiocchis in that barrel and it does OK. It's in the spare barrel box anyway, not on a working gun.

lpl
 
My 2003 vintage 870 Police had extraction issues with certain cheap shells until I had the chamber honed, as did a friend of mine's with a consecutive serial number.
 
1967 is 20 years before the Express line was introduced. Also, when a particular brand of ammo, crappy or not, works fine in other repeating guns that are box stock, then I'm inclined to believe its more of a gun problem than an ammo problem.
 
I have bought 2 express 870's in the last couple of years. No problems. No honing either. On the other hand a friend bought one and the el cheapo winchesters would stick every time. Remington game clubs...no problem. He did hone his. There does seem to be an issue. I also bought a Beretta 390. The cheapie so called "Wal Mart" gun. I have shot every kind of cheap junk ammo there is in it and never had any type of failure.

Still love the 870 and I still recommend it. Even if you have to hone the chamber, it is pretty much indestructible and for the price it's a good value. Still, I would think Remington could add a few bucks to the price and correct the issue without hurting sales significantly.
 
Lee, the original barrel for Number Six. ca 1955,doesn't "like" Gun Clubs. Like you, I use something else in it. And like you, it's not currently on a gun. It has been polished.

It's a gun problem, Youngster. The number with issues is still a small minority, but it IS an issue Remington should have addressed.
 
I'm the guy with the problematic 870.
The Next Weekend:

Problem: Rem 870 express new won't eject spent shells.

Well, I tried polishing the barrel with steal wool per your suggestion. I've followed the manual pretty closely, like you told me. Only 12% of my 100 shots today ejected properly. I became so distracted by my gun that I stopped keeping track of my hits.

Ammo Tried: (all 2-3/4", #8)
Cheap Federal x1
Cheap Rem x2
Quality Rem STS x1

Though the STS worked best, only 20% properly ejected. Tried my first shot at skeet with the different positions. Tough but fun. It was during the skeet game that I stopped loading two rounds and proceeded with single shots at the remaining stations. With two rounds, the ejector would pull up and pluck out the #2 unspent shell leaving the 1st spent shell jammed in the chamber. This was so frustrating. I'll go back to see if I missed anything in the manual. Then I'm taking it back to Atlantic guns. I have a feeling they're going to tell me to contact Remington. Ok, I'm off to clean... Thanks for all the input. Thank you Mr. McCracken.
 
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Main thing I have against the 870 is the ergos. I prefer Mossberg ergos for a left hander and I prefer the lack of a shell elevator in the way for reloading. I can tell ya, though, the Express is a rust magnet in the salt marsh. Most folks I know that use 'em spray paint 'em and just touch it up occasionally. A camo paint dip would cure this, I think. But, they're effective cheap guns for duck hunting. I still prefer the 500, though.
 
I have bought 2 express 870's in the last couple of years. No problems. No honing either. On the other hand a friend bought one and the el cheapo winchesters would stick every time.
Click to expand...

I've had that same problem with Winchester hispeed steel 3". 2 3/4" not a problem. This is in my Mossberg. Other 3" loads like Federal not a problem. Wihcnester ammo has this rep. I do shoot the cheap Winchester dove loads in my Winchester 1400 without a problem. I don't dove hunt with the Mossberg, just my duck gun. It only sees steel shot.
 
I'm going to try boring out the barrel at the bottom near the chamber. I refuse to think that this thing won't work. I still think it just needs a little tooling.
 
Bored out by hand

I only hand-turned the steel wool. Tonight I'm hooking my power drill to a wood dowel with the steel wool attached to mill it out some more.
 
A certain range of 870s have the chamber too tight, my uncle had this problem and i got ahold of one of the high bosses and got his shotgun fixed for free remington refuses to admit it but thier machine that chambers those barrels got off by about .002 and they didnt catch it until about 100,000 shotguns were made and out.
 
There are eight 870's and two Wingmasters in my gunsafe and never had a problem with any of them and they all have been used a lot.
 
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