Polishing bore of 870?

[sherman123]

I am having issues with shells sticking and the action locking up on my 870 that I bought back in '08. It is occurring with different manufacturers' shells rather than just with the Winchester Super X bulk pack rounds it's known for doing that with. Remington customer service said it's no longer covered under warranty but should only need the bore polished. Would one recommend going to a local gunsmith and paying them for the service so it's done right or would doing it myself be the best route? I'll admit I am no handyman and am more of a shooter than a gunsmith by far but if it's not too difficult I'd love to save money not going to gunsmith.
Thanks y'all
-Sherman

 

[horsemen61]

I did mind myself why because it's cheaper and it is very easy just take a dowel rod wrap it with 0000 steel wool and chuck it in a drill and let her spin

 

[Bull Nutria]

use a 10 ga bore brass brush wrap it with 0000 steel wool and chuck in drill. if there is visible rust squirit a little wd40 in chamber first only shine the chamber don't have to go farther than 3 inches. shold be as smooth as babies butt no ridges or rough spots or rusted out spots. any roughness give spent shell case head something to latch onto and be difficult to remove!!

/Bull

 

[Bull Nutria]

use a 10 ga bore brass brush wrap it with 0000 steel wool and chuck in drill. if there is visible rust squirit a little wd40 in chamber first only shine the chamber don't have to go farther than 3 inches. shold be as smooth as babies butt no ridges or rough spots or rusted out spots. any roughness give spent shell case head something to latch onto and be difficult to remove!!

/Bull

 

[jaguarxk120]

Check the barrel extension, during extraction the one extractor pushes the fired shell against the extension.

There may be machining marks that will cause the rim of the fired shell to hang up on.

 

[tactikel]

Another way to polish a 12 ga bore is to wrap a scotch brite (green scouring pad) around a 20 ga brass brush, soak it in WD 40, chuck it into a drill and work it back and forth (always moving). I went 100 passes, changing the pad every 25 passes. Use a 20ga shell pushed into. 12 ga hull and drilled thru the primer holes as a bore guide. Use care near choke tubes and finish off with your chamber.

Never polish a chrome lined bore.

 

[jaguarxk120]

I don't think the entire bore needs work, just the chamber, that's where the shells are hanging up.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Do the whole thing and you will be glad you did.

 

[jaguarxk120]

Remember that Scotch brite is just like sand paper.

The good thing is there are a lot of 870 barrels forsale!

 

[btg3]

Scotchbrite grit comparison here:
http://www.predator-racing.com/?p=485

 

[tactikel]

No worries, I polished my Moss 835 turkey gun as above, the bore shines like a mirror, and patterns improved by 9-11%.
You may try a deep cleaning first, a bronze brush dipped in Hoppes no9 chucked in a drill, run 15-20 passes. My 835 yielded 3 patches full of brown gunk (rust inhibitor?). If no improvement consider a polishing.
I also polished the shotgun barrel (for geese) and for a 90 min session on a rainy day I got 10% better patterns.

 

[jaguarxk120]

I don't get it, maybe I'm missing something here.

To fix extraction problems you polish the bore?

The fired shell is sticking in the chamber and you run sand paper up and down the barrel to fix a chamber problem?

10% better patterns, No wonder sanding a barrel out for 90 minutes --- you've back-bored the barrel!!