870 Express tight mag spring

[MacShooter12Ga]

There's a thread on here back from 2016 "870 difficult to load due to stiff mag spring?"
and the comments are now closed hence the reason I'm starting a new thread.. ANYWAY I stumbled upon the thread simply because I noticed my 870 Express 6+1 is stiff as hell to load and I was actually searching to see if there indeed was a spring with less tension for this gun. So I got to thinking and for sh*ts & giggles I took the spring out of my Akkar Churchill 612 and put it in the 870.. I know it's blasphemous but what a super smooth load with the spring from the 612.. it's about 6" shorter, a bit wider but it feels like I'm loading my Maverick 88. The spring fits firmly into the follower & the shells cycle beautifully. Let me know what you guys think.
-MacShooter

 

[herrwalther]

Anytime I do work on my shotguns or a customer's, I run live ammo through the action to make sure it puts shells where they need to. A shorter mag spring might not push out the last shell or two enough but that is pretty rare. I have only seen that when someone takes a lot of coils out of the spring to fit around a different follower, like a Choate hi-vis. If everything works with a few different kinds of shells, I don't see a problem with it.

 

[entropy]

Toss the spring from the 870 in the Akkar and see if it works; if so, problem solved.
Does the 870 have a factory extended magazine, or an aftermarket one? If aftermarket, have the indents for retaining the plastic spring retainer been properly removed?

 

[Kp321]

To cut down on parts inventory, Remington might be putting 1100 magazine springs in all their shotguns. To make the carrier latch operate, an 1100 needs a stronger magazine spring than a pump gun.

 

[MacShooter12Ga]

Toss the spring from the 870 in the Akkar and see if it works; if so, problem solved.
Does the 870 have a factory extended magazine, or an aftermarket one? If aftermarket, have the indents for retaining the plastic spring retainer been properly removed?

I'm not 100% sure if it's factory or aftermarket for the simple fact I bought it used.. but if I had to bet money I'd have to say it's all original and came like this by the looks of it.

 

[MacShooter12Ga]

Anytime I do work on my shotguns or a customer's, I run live ammo through the action to make sure it puts shells where they need to. A shorter mag spring might not push out the last shell or two enough but that is pretty rare. I have only seen that when someone takes a lot of coils out of the spring to fit around a different follower, like a Choate hi-vis. If everything works with a few different kinds of shells, I don't see a problem with it.

It definitely pushes them all out nicely.. I ran 6 live shells through it 4xs. The Akkar spring is kind of stiff itself when in the 612 but what a smooth loader now. So for $8 +shipping I ordered another 612 spring for the 870.

 

[entropy]

I'm not 100% sure if it's factory or aftermarket for the simple fact I bought it used.. but if I had to bet money I'd have to say it's all original and came like this by the looks of it.

Factory would mean a one-piece mag tube, by aftermarket I meant add-on, even if it were Remington brand. When an add-on extended magazine is added to a newer 870, the 'dimples' that hold the plastic mag spring retainer in need to be drilled out because shells won't go forward of them.

Glad you got it fixed cheaply and quick!

 

[MacShooter12Ga]

Theres definitely an extension here.. but I'm not really sure how these were sold. I've never went shopping for an 870 before to be honest.

 

[herrwalther]

That looks like a typical barrel clamp (slotted screw and swivel stud on the bottom) that comes with the extension from the factory on the police models. My 870 Police Tactical had the same one. The newer one piece tubes have a different clamp. Here is an article to help sort through the model changes. The dimples that entropy mentioned are on this page as well.

https://www.rem870.com/2019/08/21/remington-870-buyers-guide-to-variants-and-models/

 

[MacShooter12Ga]

Factory would mean a one-piece mag tube, by aftermarket I meant add-on, even if it were Remington brand. When an add-on extended magazine is added to a newer 870, the 'dimples' that hold the plastic mag spring retainer in need to be drilled out because shells won't go forward of them.

Glad you got it fixed cheaply and quick!

The newer 870 Express 6+1 single piece mag you mentioned above is going for well over 1k on Gunbroker.. it's a sharp looking piece of machinery & I'd love to have one but def not for that kinda money.. I paid $527 for mine used but not abused. It's not exactly the greatest time to buy guns

 

[Drail]

A 6 round magazine on a shotgun will require a heavier spring to kick out the last two rounds onto the carrier reliably. That means the last 2 or 3 round being loaded will working against an almost fully compressed spring. If you don't want to fight it just load 3 or 4 rounds at a time if you're just plinking on a range. If it's your home defense gun fill it up all the way. I ran an extended mag on an 870 for a while and then put the factory 4 rounder back on. The 6 rounder made for a longer and considerably heavier shotgun. Once arthritis took me I just couldn't deal with the strain.

 

[dfariswheel]

There's another reason why some Remington shotguns have stronger springs in both the standard magazine and extended mags.........

It's possible to "out run" the gun if shooting very fast, and have the magazine fail to feed a round into the receiver.
What happens is the shells in the magazine slide forward in the tube under recoil and before the lighter springs can push them back into the feed position, the operator has the action already closing.
Result is the gun fails to feed.

This the result of lighter springs, heavy slug or buckshot shells, and a fast operator.
To avoid this Remington began installing stronger springs.