Floppy lift gate on old Remington 870 Wingmaster?

[Mark-Smith]

I have a Remington 870 Wingmaster, made around 1968 if the barrel on it is the original. It shoots well, but some times it jams up when chambering a new shell and I've noticed the lift gate is floppy.

Remington has a parts guide for the 870 on their website, I was just going to change out the springs in the receiver, but I wasn't sure if the parts for the current 870 are exactly the same as they were 40 odd years ago.

Any advice? (other than 'don't change anything, all the parts have aged together and new springs would be terrible')

 

[mnrivrat]

No significant changes made and new parts such as springs should fit with no trouble.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Sounds as if you need a new carrier dog spring. Replacing that one by itself shouldn't discombobulate anything else...

 

[Dave McCracken]

Might need new parts, but first....

Remove the trigger group, flush it out well with some aerosol scrubber, blow dry and relube.

A bad spring would be all the time. Intermittent sounds like crud interfering with the movement. If that doesn't fix, then do like Fred said....