870 difficult to load due to stiff mag spring?

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Lightsped

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I have two M590A1s and two 870s. I love both brands. Both have been 110% reliable. One thing that has always puzzled me is why the mag spring in the 870s are so much stiffer than those of the 590A1? With the 590A1 the shells slip in so easy and smooth while the 870 is much more difficult to load the mag tube.
 
Are you sure there isn't a plug in the mag tube? Can you fit two in there easily, but no more?
 
All four guns (two M590A1s and two 870s) have clear mag tubes. I can fit max capacity amount of shells in all guns. It is just that the spring is much tighter in the 870s.
 
How do you measure 110% reliability?
Remington, from time to time, have really rough finish inside the mag tube. Some sandpaper on a dowell spun inside the mag tube might free it up. Drilling out the detention where the late model mag tube plug might help also.
I agree, 500s do seem to have lighter springs but I prefer the steel Remmy receivers.
 
I just tried a 20G 870 and 12G 590A1 side by side. I think part of the problem is the shell lifter on the 870 which is pushing down on the shell as you are loading. The 870 spring seems stiffer and when racked, ejects the round onto the lifter with quite some force. The 590A1 is visibly slower. Possibly the 870 is over-sprung to ensure reliability? Also the shell latch and spring on my 870 seem more stiff than the 590A1. Possibly your mag tube is roughly finished. Are you using a plastic follower? Plastic is stickier than steel and will grab more at the tube as you are loading.

I think its probably several minor things contributing to your problem.
 
Next time I am at my parent's house I am going to check my dad's 870 Wingmaster and see how that spring is. To my knowledge the inside of my mag tube is finished correctly. The follower I am using is whatever comes on the 870 Police Magnum, as that is what the gun is.
 
A strong magazine spring in a pump shotgun is a very good thing (especially if the gun will be left loaded 24/7). Positive feed reliability is considerably more important than the ease of loading the magazine. All of my 870s have Wolff extra power magazine springs installed in them (as do every handgun I own). It is a wise idea to clean the magazine tube once in a while. The very first time you experience a last round feed problem - replace the magazine spring.
 
My 590 has a notably "flimsier" spring than my 870 so for me at least, there's that. Light, flimsy or whatever, my 590 now and the ones in the Army never failed.

We had an instructor at a school that I went to in the Army that had a bunch of "mods" for our accompanying weapons. One of the courses of instruction was offensive and defensive use of shotguns and he advised modifying 870 springs for their technique of continuous feeding/firing of the shotguns. It was tougher with standard 870 springs compared to anything else there and there were nearly a half dozen different riot/trench guns at the time.

Beyond that, my 590 has a much more smooth magazine interior than my 870.

Todd.
 
The 4 shot Police magazine spring is even stiffer then the standard Express or Wingmaster mag spring.

The reason for the stronger springs is to insure correct feed under recoil.
Some people practice with the 870 to the point where they can operate it VERY fast.
What some have found is failures to feed a shell into the chamber.
They assume the gun is dirty or defective.

What's actually happening is that when the gun recoils, especially with buckshot or slugs is inertia.
The heavy load causes the gun to recoil harder.
When it recoils the shells in the magazine tube slide forward in the magazine. (Actually the gun slides back and inertia causes the shells to try to remain stationary).
A fast operator can cycle the action BEFORE the magazine spring can push the shells back into the feed position and the action fails to feed.

To prevent this, the 870, especially the Police models, have stronger springs to force the shells back in the tube faster.
 
The 4 shot Police magazine spring is even stiffer then the standard Express or Wingmaster mag spring.

The reason for the stronger springs is to insure correct feed under recoil.
Some people practice with the 870 to the point where they can operate it VERY fast.
What some have found is failures to feed a shell into the chamber.
They assume the gun is dirty or defective.

What's actually happening is that when the gun recoils, especially with buckshot or slugs is inertia.
The heavy load causes the gun to recoil harder.
When it recoils the shells in the magazine tube slide forward in the magazine. (Actually the gun slides back and inertia causes the shells to try to remain stationary).
A fast operator can cycle the action BEFORE the magazine spring can push the shells back into the feed position and the action fails to feed.

To prevent this, the 870, especially the Police models, have stronger springs to force the shells back in the tube faster.
This is interesting. So the 870 Police guns have stiffer springs than the civilian models? I did not know that. This could explain it all. My gun is the 870 Police model number 24903. 18 inch barrel, wood furniture, bead sight and 2 shot mag extention.
 
I had a stock 870P.
Didn't notice.
But then, I wasn't paying attention to possible diffs.
 
I have never noticed an 870, or an 1100/11-87 being any harder to load than any other repeater, and I have been shooting them for 53 years now. Those with an extended mag tube are harder to load up as the mag gets full. If yours loads hard something is amiss, and I would figure out what it is.
 
Only the 4+1 Police has a stronger spring. It is more of a Marketing thing then anything else as that spring cost $4.95 and the 4 shot spring that comes in the Express and Wingmasters also cost $4.95. There are no feed issues due to shell surge with any of the Wingmaster or Express Models so the heavier magazine spring thing does not matter.

The 870 Police with the Remington LE 2 or three shot extensions use the same spring that was also used in the 6+1 25077 model Express before they changed to the one piece 6 shot mag tube. So in that case the Police and Express use the same magazine spring.

If the OP is finding his 870 harder to load then other guns it may simply be he is not used to the 870 or should clean the magazine tube. I can also suggest an SBE follower as the shells sure load easier with that follower over any others I have used.
 
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