The 870 jam of all jams

[45R]

Well this one is user induced... I'm a little red about this but I thought about sharing this experience with you guys anyways since we will all learn from this.

A few days ago while at the range I was testing my new "LEO Trade in" 870 barrel to make sure that it would function properly. During the 120 round test session it ran like a champ. I had pulled a bunch of shells out and wasnt paying attention to which way they were facing. During a loading drill I slide in one of my rounds backwards into the mag tube. As my thumb pushed I could feel the crimp of the shotshell vs. its rear end.

I then muttered a few choice words.......

So now I have a live round in the chamber and the first round coming out of the mag tube is in backwards. I pushed on the round in the bute and and it came out but the tab that holds the round in locked it in place. I pointed the shotty downrange and tried to pump the shotgun. It would not budge. I had two choices, take part the mag tube with the live round in the chamber or point down range and depress the tab. The first one was a pretty darn bad idea.......so I pulled the screwdriver out and push on the little tab that was holding the rear of the shotshell. It came out and I was back in business.

So now I'm over being a little red and decided that I needed to know how to clear such a jam and properly index my rounds before feeding the 870. I know this has happened to more than a few people on this forum. So speak up and share how to clear this jam.

Would the 870 Flex-Tab anti jam system solve this?

 

[Andrew Wyatt]

let me take this moment to say that that jam would be much easier to clear on a mossberg, due to the follower design.

 

[TrapperReady]

Transition to pistol.

In all seriousness, you were able to clear it safely and effectively, so IMO you did fine.

Now, when you tried to pump the shotgun, had you pushed on the slide-release button first? I know that it's second nature to due so, but I've found that sometimes when I'm focusing on one specific problem, my brain doesn't seem to perform simple tasks as well as usual.

 

[45R]

TrapperReady- I could not agree more with transition to pistol The pistol was pretty much ready to go on the bench.

I did push the slide/bolt release to try and eject the live round. It was a no-go situation as the steel follower was jammed upwards due to the second round pushing it upwards. I even tried to tug the round out but the retainer did its job and held it in place.

 

[sm]

You guys covered the real world answer - Transition to pistol .

In working with Armored car folks I had this happen to a Mossy and a 870. On the same day by the same fellow. Armored car folks use PG only. MY concern was range safety. This one fella was reminded "very loud and in no uncertain terms" where that Mossy's muzzle was to be pointed.

When he "managed" to acccomplish this feat again with the 870 , he was a frozen statue , muzzle downrange . I must have presented the safety rules in a language he understood.

Hey - I cheated. I used the brass punch in my back pocket and punched out the TG pins. TG removed, jam cleared and live round cleared,then cleared mag tube. He really had a jam on the mossy....follower had to be replaced - bent big time.

 

[Incropera-Dewitt]

I think the way you did it is just fine. When I load I always index the shell between my little finger and index finger to feel if the crimp is pointing the right way. This is the way I was taught how to do it.

The full drill was

Grab Shell from pocket

Index between pinky and index finger

guide shell (holding with index and pinky) along the trigger gaurd until you reach the carrier and then shove the shell in with your thumb.

 

[TrapperReady]

Now, in a "real life test of the emergency broadcasting system", assuming you couldn't transition to pistol, then would the following be of use...

1) If the bolt is in battery, fire off what is potentially your last shot.
2) Try to rack the slide.
3) If the slide still won't move, then slam it down onto the ground with great vigor and try to move the slide back at impact (making darned sure to keep the part that stuff comes out of pointed roughly toward the enemy).
4) If that still doesn't work, pretend it's a Louisville Slugger.

 

[simmonsguns]

jam

in a situation where your life would depend on making your shotgun work the flex tab conversion would work.at the range it would also work,however it being a non-life threatening situation it was better to clear the jam the way you did,it also saved you the cost of the new carrier.putting the shell in backwards happens,putting the follower in backwards happens also,more to the FBI than anyone else,enough that remington makes a double headed follower labeled "FBI FOLLOWER''.it happened,this should be something that happens to everyone,you learn from your mistakes,better on the range than in a gun fight.now if you do it again you will know what to do.how is the project 870 going.

 

[Dave McCracken]

The floater about Clearance Drills has the methods, but I'll reiterate....

In non emergency situations, make the weapon safe and dissassemble the mag assembly, taking everything out the front. Reassemble after removing the offending round.

In a crisis,safe the weapon. Keep the trigger guard clear of your fingers and the slide release depressed. Swing the thing butt first hard into a non yielding surface. This usually clears the jam, remove the backwards shell and continue. This is hard on the weapon. I've busted off pieces of stock.

The Flextab renders these techniques moot. SO does practice and more care in loading...

HTH...

 

[444]

This is hard on the weapon. I've busted off pieces of stock.

Ditto

 

[45R]

The thought did cross my mind to try that method but since it was a range situation the screwdriver that I had in the range bag came in very handy.

If someone could post a picture of the Flex tab du-hicky I'd really appreciate it. Also is the Flex-Tab made of metal or plastic?

 

[Dave McCracken]

The flextab is three cuts in the shell carrier,imagine a horseshoe with square corners. The switchup involves a new bolt, milled to different specs.