Best / safest unloading method-870

[swinokur]

I am a new 870 owner and had a question about unloading. I keep my 870 cruiser ready at home but when i go to the range I need to unload the magazine before traveling. The Remington manual states that you should cycle the action and dump the shells through the ejection port. I have read a couple of Internet guides that state you should empty the first shell from the magazine through the ejection port and the remainder by turning the shotgun over with the action open and pressing on the tang holding each shell in the magazine and unload through the loading port.

Is one method preferred over the other? I would have the safety ON in either situation. I guess by only cycling the first shell from the magazine through the ejection port there is less chance of an AD?

Dave et al,

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Stu

 

[rcmodel]

Can't speak for your new 870, but I make it a practice to cycle rounds through any tube magazine action without ever letting the bolt completely lock. Shotguns & lever-action rifles, etc.
Kind of get them up there and shake them out the port.

If the bolt never locks shut on a round, it can't go off accidentally, through negligence.

rc

 

[jakemccoy]

Here's a method to prevent shells from entering the chamber. It's easier to do it than to read it.

From PoliceOne.com:

The safest and most controlled technique for unloading the shotgun is as follows. With the muzzle pointing in a safe direction and the safety in the “on” position, grasp the shotgun by the grip portion and hold the weapon parallel to the ground. Use your support hand to begin slowly opening the action. Your support hand thumb can be placed over the top of the barrel to assist in controlling the speed of the action.

Open the action until the nose of the shell that is being extracted from the chamber just clears the front of the ejection port and begins to be turned outward. The action should be almost all the way open with about 3/8” of the bolt showing. Do not open the action any further. Use your support hand to remove the shell and store it.

Without opening the action any further, reach underneath the receiver and into the loading port with your support hand and push the shell carrier to the uppermost position. Once the shell carrier is in the upper position, grasp the fore end with your support hand thumb and forefinger, with your palm positioned under the loading port. Move the action the rest of the way to the rear. This will cause the first shell to be released from the magazine allowing it will drop into your hand.

With the middle finger of your support hand find the left side shell latch. (It is accessible through the bottom of the loading port and is located at the front of the receiver just to the rear of the magazine tube opening.) Once located, press the shell latch onto the groove in the left side of the receiver. This will allow one shell at a time to be extracted from the magazine and into your hand.

Continue unloading the shells one at a time until the magazine is empty. Open the action the remainder of the way and visually and physically inspect the chamber and magazine well for ammunition.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=410781&highlight=870+unload

 

[mgkdrgn]

If Remington even remotely thought method #2 was less AD prone, they would have published that (as required by their lawyers) YEARS ago.

Follow the advice of the folks that made the gun ... and have for the last 50+ years. They do know a -little- about it.

Just keep the booger hook off the bang switch and you'll be fine.

I am a new 870 owner and had a question about unloading. I keep my 870 cruiser ready at home but when i go to the range I need to unload the magazine before traveling. The Remington manual states that you should cycle the action and dump the shells through the ejection port. I have read a couple of Internet guides that state you should empty the first shell from the magazine through the ejection port and the remainder by turning the shotgun over with the action open and pressing on the tang holding each shell in the magazine and unload through the loading port.

Is one method preferred over the other? I would have the safety ON in either situation. I guess by only cycling the first shell from the magazine through the ejection port there is less chance of an AD?

Dave et al,

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Stu

 

[MrCleanOK]

I pull the slide back, and flip the gun over to drop the shell that just popped out of the mag tube straight out the ejection port without chambering. Then close the action on an empty chamber and repeat. I'm a lefty with a righty 870, so turning the gun far enough to spit out the shell is pretty easy.

 

[Rshooter]

Remington cannot possibly be right. There are "experts" out there offering training in everything tactical you ever wanted to know about the shotgun, including how to "properly" unload it.

 

[Kind of Blued]

Is there really any danger in just putting the weapon on safe, keeping your finger off the trigger, and cycling the gun until its empty?

Should one be worried about a slamfire?

 

[dyno]

YouTube... A picture is worth a thousand words.

I just saw this last week. The whole series is pretty good.
"Tactical Shotgun For Self-defense Part 2/7" by ToobeYoo.
He goes into loading techniques and unloading...

The unloading is about 4m, 30sec into it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7ZCNUiz79k

 

[jakemccoy]

I just saw this last week. The whole series is pretty good.
"Tactical Shotgun For Self-defense Part 2/7" by ToobeYoo.
He goes into loading techniques and unloading...

The unloading is about 4m, 30sec into it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7ZCNUiz79k

That's a visual of the method I posted above.

Warning though, some people here may be personally offended if you use this technique.

 

[xm21]

That is the way I do it and I thunk it up all my selfThe gun I had the most experience with was my Ithaca 37 and it was easiest to unload by pressing the shell stop,also I saw my friend unload his Mossberg 500 by cycling the action and it just looked...well,.....unelegant.It also seemed like it would be hard on the shells what with extractor marks and all.So when I got my 870 I drilled a hole in the base of 4 shells dumped out the powder and sprayed CLP in to kill the primer and had me some action proving dummies to learn how my new gun worked.That method on the tape is what I come up with and that is the way I unload at the end of the day.

 

[Badger Arms]

I just cycle them through the chamber with the safety on and the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Decades of doing this, never a worry, never an AD, never a second guess. Mossberg lets you tip the shell latch in and pop them out one by one.

 

[Bix]

If you receive any sort of professional training, you will likely be taught to unload a shotgun as demonstrated by Bill Jeans in the video dyno linked.

Is that the 'Best / safest unloading method'? As you can see, opinions will differ.

Even very experienced and trained folks can have NDs while administratively handling shotguns. I was a few spaces down the line from one last month during an instructors course. Taking steps to reduce the opportunity for NDs generally seems like a good thing, IMO.

 

[EMC45]

The youtube video is how they taught us in the Navy (Seabees). Also if you notice he has a Trident pin (SEAL) on his hat. Nice!