What to Use for Polishing Chamber

[fuelie777]

Wanted to ask the forum experts, what is the best method to "polish" the chamber of my new Remingon 870 12 Gauge Express Shotgun. I have had some issues with failure to extract. The recommendations is to polish the chamber. I have used steel wool on a dowel, but I may need to use red rouge instead.

I am just looking for suggestions. Thanks.

 

[Coyote3855]

It is common practice to polish the chambers of double guns used in Cowboy Action Shooting. This is done so the empties will fall out easily (ejectors are not allowed in CAS). I've used very fine (600 grit) emery cloth. Slotted the end of a 1/2 inch dowel and put strips of emery cloth in so that the grit side would be against the chamber when the dowel was chucked into a 1/2 drill. Finished with polishing compound on a rag, also using the dowel and drill. Don't how you would do that on a pump gun without taking the barrel off. I've done this to three shotguns. It takes a fair amount of time even with the assist from a power drill to make any real difference in the smoothness of the chambers. I wonder if the condition the chamber is really the problem? If so, it seems to me you have a warranty situation with Remington. A new 870 should shuck those empties every time.

 

[rcmodel]

Any chance your FTE's are with Wallyworld Wichester bulk-pack ammo?

If so, that right there is your problem.

Try some decent ammo before you do anything else.

rc

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

go to ACE hardware and buy the 3M abrasive loaded woven pads. get the 'fine' or 'very fine' grade'
cut it into a strip about 2" and wrap around a bore brush which fits onto a section of cleaning rod and chuck into a drill and insert into chamber and spin until bright and slick.

 

[inherentical]

Any chance your FTE's are with Wallyworld Wichester bulk-pack ammo?

I was shooting trap on Monday and had bought a pack of this to try. I had terrible extraction problems. Nearly busted my trigger finger trying to get one of them out. Is that common with these? Needless to say I won't be using them again.

 

[RetiredLawman]

0000 steel wool on a dowel driven by an electric drill.

 

[Canuck-IL]

go to ACE hardware and buy the 3M abrasive loaded woven pads

Those will scratch - use 600 grit plus soaked in oil or ultr-fine brass wool.
/Bryan

 

[Virginian]

I use a drum brake wheel cylinder hone. I wrecked the first one some 25 years or so ago, and still have the replacement I bought back then, and it still works great. A little squirt of oil, insert hone, pull trigger on drill and slowly move hone back and for, being very careful not to let the stones come more than halfway out of the chamber - or you will wreck the hone, too. I think they cost about $10. Much less messy than all the dowels and potions.

 

[MAX100]

It is common practice to polish the chambers of double guns used in Cowboy Action Shooting. This is done so the empties will fall out easily (ejectors are not allowed in CAS). I've used very fine (600 grit) emery cloth. Slotted the end of a 1/2 inch dowel and put strips of emery cloth in so that the grit side would be against the chamber when the dowel was chucked into a 1/2 drill. Finished with polishing compound on a rag, also using the dowel and drill. Don't how you would do that on a pump gun without taking the barrel off. I've done this to three shotguns. It takes a fair amount of time even with the assist from a power drill to make any real difference in the smoothness of the chambers. I wonder if the condition the chamber is really the problem? If so, it seems to me you have a warranty situation with Remington. A new 870 should shuck those empties every time.

I agree with the above quote. You can also use 400 or 600 grit sandpaper. It does usually take several times to make a difference. Remington has an excellent warranty but it takes time and you have to pay to send it to a service center. There is no guarantee they will get it right the first time. Do it yourself and make sure it's done right, it's easy. I would stay out of the forcing cone with sandpaper or any other aggressive abrasive. When you do the finish polish you can polish the forcing cone also. Keep the rig moving in and out don't stay in one place too long.

GC

 

[fuelie777]

Gentlemen thanks for the input. Yes it is Wally World type Winchester Shot Shells. And yes they are cheap, but a defense type shotgun should work with any 12 gauge shotshell, but apparently not. But, my older 870 has no problem with them. I did call Remmington. They wanted me to send it to one of their warranty service providers to "polish" the chamber.

I figure I can do it myself if that is the answer since it is correct, they may not get it right the first time.

If there are any other inputs I am interested in the options for polishing the chamber.

Thanks again.

 

[Maxw]

The flexihone system from Brownells works best. The have a specific chamber polishing flexihone.

 

[RandKL]

3m ScotchBrite pad soaked in motor oil. Same old "dowel in a drill" method I've been posting for 15 years. Never failed. The ScotchBrite loses it's grit as it gets used and becomes finer and finer. After about five to ten mins, you'll have a mirrored chamber.

Walter, how does a brass brush polish a steel chamber? Seems like the brass wouldn't be hard enough to even scratch the steel.

Those will scratch - use 600 grit plus soaked in oil or ultr-fine brass wool.

"Polishing" is a scratching process. You remove one scratch by scratching it out with progressively finer scratches. You can't polish something if you can't scratch it....and brass doesn't.

richard

 

[RandKL]

As I suspected there was likely built up residue from various things including, in my case, gunpowder

Wire brushes also work to remove the fifty years of cosmoline that craps up Mosin Nagant chambers. Good point. But this was a new 870 Express with a rough chamber.

By all means, use whatever you like on your guns. Just polishing a new chamber with something that has absolutely no chance of doing the job sounds a bit pointless.

Peace.

richard

 

[berettashotgun]

Any commercial metal polish will do the trick.
The chamber on a shotgun is pretty hard to polish away - well, the brake hone with real coarse stones would do it. Most compounds will not, without a few hours or a high speed tool helping.
Then again, I have seen knives sharpened with newspaper.
Met-ALL is a decent product, as is Flitz.
"Clover" brand lapping compound in med grit will work excellent for a fast smoothing clean-up.

I agree with Rich, but then again the old adage " measure twice and saw once", comes to mind.

 

[BCRider]

I'm running into this same issue with one of my own 870 barrels but in my case it's the Fiocchi shells that are sticking really badly on my short police length barrel. Likely it just needs cleaning but if it isn't that I'll be checking the chamber diameters between this barrel and my other one and other shotgus very carefully to see if it's a little undersize and how much it needs opening up.

Using a loaded and empty shell check to see if there's some sort of tight spot or if they are evenly tight all around. There may be a small burr or spot deformation that is sticking that can be dealt with rather than a general hogging out of the chamber. It only takes a thou or two in one little spot to mess this up. An accidental ding to the chamber lip during handling of the barrel could cause this.

The point is to move carefully. It's easy to remove metal but not so easy to put it back on. Check your options for other causes before you start opening out the chamber.

 

[lobo9er]

walsmart ammo packs always worked fine for me might need a clean'n