Can you chamber 3" mag in a 2 3/4" only 870?

[Miata Mike]

Will a 3" magnum chamber and fire in a 2.75" Remington 870 Wingmaster? I see no markings on the 870 but fired a 3" by mistake today. Would not extract until I cut a half inch of plastic from the hull.

Was this just a dumb mistake, or could it have been worse? I was only going to shoot a couple of rounds to verify zero and was loading one at a time. Don't know how a single 3" magnum came to be in my almost full box of 15 slugs.

 

[mnrivrat]

The three inch shell is measured after firing. It will indeed chamber and fire in a 2&3/4 inch chamber but since the front 1/4 inch has no place to expand into, it expands into the forcing cone. That greatly increases the chamber pressure, and in a weaker shotgun may cause barrel rupture.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Probably nothing worse would have happened except the difficult ejection, but as was explained above, it's not something the gun was designed to do. Exceeding mechanical design parameters on a regular and continuing basis is not a healthy way to conduct one's life as a rule...

 

[303tom]

NO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jmr40]

It will chamber, and it will fire. The gun may not be in one piece afterward however. Probably OK with this a time or so, but wouldn't make a habit of it.

 

[JohnBT]

I try to stay far away from them, but there are people still shooting 3" steel and Hevi-Shot in 2.75" Rem 870s and 1100s with fixed full chokes. Ejection is iffy, but I have not seen any damage to the guns. Maybe a little ring in the muzzle end, but nothing dramatic.

I don't even want to be in the same boat or blind with them. They spend money on their boats and motors.

John