Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns lubing an 870 shotgun

I bought a new Remington 870 and without cleaning or oiling, shot 50+ rounds through it.

After about 40 rounds the action started sticking closed on a fired shell.

With a hard tug, and a lot of wiggling of the fore end, it would eject the empty.

Cleaned the chamber and barrel, and oiled the slide bars.

Haven't test fired it yet.

Are there any other parts that need oiled?

Do I need to pull the barrel to get at the action for lubing?

As you can tell..I don't know much about shotguns!


Thanks! Virgil B.

No but it makes it easier to clean the bore and chamber. Make sure you got any residual preservative or packing grease and oil out. You could also have a build up of plastic from the shot shells in the chamber. Solvent on a tornado brush or bore brush wrapped with 0000 steel wool should take care of that.

Your owners manual should have most of the maintenance info you need. If you don't have one Remington will send you one free or you can print it off their web site.

many people solve this problem by polishing the chamber. check out youtube for how to

Overkill, 43Shooter pretty much nailed it. The residue from the shells I think is a lube they use in manufacturing so shells go easily through the machinery. I've only seen it in trapshooting situations, hot barrel and lots of rounds. More likely the factory preservative in the chamber turned gummy.

I've seen shotguns stuck so hard a strong man couldn't open the action. The trick is to run a range rod down the barrel and pop the shell while trying to open the action. Opens like magic. See, the extractor is forcing the hull against the side of the chamber for more friction. A pop on the base of the shell straightens it out.

Now polishing may be the thing where the chamber has a little rust. Usually 000 steel wool is enough.

Modern shotguns like the 870 do best with a minimum of lubrication. Modern steel requires almost none, the excess just picks up carbon and dirt. Makes a nice sludge which will bugger things up. Keep it clean and get thyself a chamber brush.

This is both sad and humorous that Remington can no longer make an 870 that works and keeps doing so with little more than a wipe down. They used to and they are out there to be easily found.

50 rounds and it is sticking and it isn't because of lubricant on the shell. Nor the barrel getting hot from 50 rounds.

Have an old Wingmaster that I can't wouldn't know how many rounds have gone down the barrel. Beat up trap gun when I bought it, used it myself for trap for a few years and also used it in the field and for sporting clays. I've got at least 10,000 rounds out of it and who knows how many from the previous owners.


The barrel hasn't had an inside wipe in years. Feed it and it works.

The only thing it doesn't like all that well is some of the new Spanish shell offerings. Especially those made with steel instead of brass in that the steel doesn't spring back enough in the chamber to allow easy ejection. Feed it Remington, Winchester or Federal cases and it just keep running smooth.

Best suggestion, trade it in on and old 870 and enjoy trouble free shooting with minimal maintenance.

battue has this right... I have a bunch of older 870's, they function fine.. Bought a new trap gun about 94.. It has only gotten smoother with use..

This Dec. we spent some time in AZ.. Shot trap a couple days.. There were a couple young guys there with an 870 express.. A new one.. They were having the same trouble you describe.. I couldn't believe it, but it was true..
Sad..

Hazen,

Damn few shotguns will take a licking and keep on giving like the older 870s. And as you know, they will do it and ask for little attention.

One of the world's finest workhorse pump shotguns turned into something that needs to be scrubbed and dotted over after a easy days use to make it work is more than humorous.

Good idea to lube your action bars yet you should check each bar for friction wear they are wearing evenly. I had to straighten more than one bar on a Rem 870 to assure the bar was straight and not binding on the back stroke. Also lube the around the barrel extension that fits into the barrel. This area is a friction point, the the top of the Rem 870 receiver is thin so lubing this area eliminates unnecessary wear.

Doc

And another:

Hey battue,

So your best advice is tough sh*t? No wonder there's not much activity in this section.

Now I haven't been fond of what Remington has put out for some years but the same basic design is there. Let's get the guy's shotgun working.

It is not tough sh*t, the point is Remington has slipped in quality... A new gun should not have difficult extracting factory ammo.. The guys I saw were shooting Wal Mart specials as was I..
The had to jerk the slide to extract the shell, every so often, they had a rod to knock the stuck shell out.. You should not have to do this with a new gun.. I have had dozens of new and used shotguns.. Nothing like this happened with any of them.. I think his only chance is to get Remington to do something..

Ok, let's get it working. Well I can tell you it isn't because of the shells being over lubricated or it getting too hot after 50 rounds. The truth is you used to be able to slap an 870 together, oil it up a little and then go shoot it. Oil it up a little every so often and do the same for years of heavy use.

When there are what???? Millions???? Examples out there that were made right, and one doesn't have to tinker with them to get or keep them running, I did the OP a favor in sending him in that direction.

The shotgun is new and doesn't work like it should. Take it back to the dealer and let them screw with something that doesn't and get yourself one that will. And the sure bet is an older used 870 that was made better from the start.

If you equate the truth to tough sh*t and the reason there is little activity here then I can't help the OP or the forum. But if it makes you feel good to diddle around and think you are helping either, have at it.

First, I didn't say it was the lube on the shell thing. Don't believe it is though I've seen something like that instructing 4-H trap with heavily used club guns.

I have seen various model pumps including 870's exhibit the symptoms the OP describes, gradually increasing difficulty opening the action after firing until the kid couldn't do it anymore and the coach had difficulty. If you consider the surface area of the hull being held in contact with a sticky chamber it doesn't take much. In all instances a THOROUGH cleaning of the chamber up to the spinning steel wool trick fixed it. Occasionally it was surface rust and a true polish fixed it. It's a place to start, quick and easy.

IMHO all new firearms should be field stripped and cleaned before use as a matter of course. You don't know what the manufacturer used as a preservative. It may not lubricate well, it may thicken in the cold, it may have oxidized sticky sitting on the dealer's shelf a long time. You just don't know.

(Yes, I'm having a particularly crabby day.)

From what I've seen:

If I was buying a new Rem870 it would be a Wingmaster. From what I've seen they are still held to a high standard. However, I wouldn't be buying new, in that I would find a nice older one for less money along with them being the best of the example. Win-win.

I don't think they sell all that many new Wingmasters.

I wouldn't touch a Rem 870 express. Quality isn't there and they have a reputation of rusting if they are in the closet two rooms apart from the bathroom shower.

Agreed. Had the rust problem with a club 1100 from handling I supposed. Best I could do was steel wool and go over it with Oxpho Blue to kill whatever bits of rust remained in that blasted finish. But eventually it would come back. Oddly the identical 1100 next to it in the safe had no problem. Not the same production run but close. Never did figure that one out, best guess was slightly different specs for that batch of steel.

As stated, I cleaned the barrel/action.

I used a 12 ga. "mop", solvent and lots of elbow grease.

The chamber looks mirror clean, and feels smooth.

Haven't had a chance to test fire it yet, but am thinking getting the factory "junk" out of the chamber should help.

Thanks for the pointers!

Virgil B.

Back in the mid 1970's, during a dove hunt, I had the ejector break on a 16 gauge Remington 58, semi automatic. The gunsmith that replaced it said it was a common problem and was caused by the plastic buildup from the barrel getting hot. Advised me to get a brush that would fit the chamber and take the barrel off and brush it out every once in a while. I did that and never had another problem, and I shot that gun a lot at dove and quail. Have 2 barrels for it, a full choke and an improved for the quail. miles

Well, I've shot and more than once between 300-500 in a day, and within a couple hours on a couple Beretta's autos and never had a problem.

Have shot a little over thousand in a day and worked at it, also with no problems. Have run the Beratta autos over 5000 with nothing more than a oil spray into the action and sometimes an oil rag wipe down on the tube.

Same thing with O/U's and the ejectors kept kicking them out with no problem. Heated the metal fore end release on a Krieghoff and Perazzi hot enough you wanted to set it down and hot enough to turn the inside edge of the forend dark.

Same with an old 870 Wingmaster, but never in that quantity. But the chamber on that shotgun hasn't been brushed or scrubbed in years other than a finger oil wipe on occasion.

Ammo a mixture of Winchester's, Remington's, Federal's, Rio's, Cleavers and a bunch of others.

Certain gunsmiths have also mentioned things I don't necessarily buy but will admit a clean chamber certainly wont hurt anything.

Could have just been the shells that I had. I know that I had a batch of Super X one time that would pull the brass but leave the plastic, in the barrel. Different gun and it only happened on the one batch, 3 or 4 boxes that I bought, and not every shell, but a lot. Of course I shied away from Super X for a while. miles

There are two other possible issues.

One is many of the new shotguns have chrome lined chambers with are much smoother and tend to prevent the issue. But, that doesn't explain that the older 870's don't have the problem. I doubt if the OP's chamber is chromed, nor that it was cut to the same quality of the old ones.

The second is the shell rim. Some of the off brands are made to work primarily in O/U and SxS and the rims are not necessary American standard dimensions. Although I haven't had a problem with Rio, Cleaver, and a few others.

I don't doubt a chamber rub will help the OP and hope it does, but it shouldn't be a 50 rounds problem. Would also be interesting to know if it happens with good Winchester, Remington, Federal shells with rims up to American specs.



Addition: As far as Smiths go, I had a Krieghoff that would get light primer hits with Winchester shells which wouldn't go off. Didn't happen with Remington. Smith was at the shoot and he told me Krieghoffs were made to shoot with Remington shells and that is all I should use. Yea right....

Must have been odd that other K-Gun users were not having problems with Winchester shells.

I am thinking the chamber reamer used was on the last leg of its life when this shotgun was chambered . I would send it off to a gunsmith to have the chamber polished and while at it polish the forcing cone.

Why should the OP have to pay to have that done on a new shotgun?

He has 3 options

a> Return it to Remington with no guarantee it will be significantly better

b. Buy a 30 year old wingmaster

c. Have a gunsmith repair what Remington should have done correctly in the first place.

D: It's new and doesn't work. Return to the place he bought it from and get something else.

Yea he can do that as well. My newest 870 is 10 years old and it is rough as a cob but have not had a sticky shell issue with it .

Any new 870 should have the stock and fore end removed. Remove the bolt from the stock. Spray it out with carb cleaner. When dry spray some Eezox inside the receiver and inside the fore end tube. Wipe it down while wet with Eezox and reassemble.

If it won't run 1000 rounds without issue after that get rid of it. I am with Battue on this one. I have dropped an 870 overboard into loon [bleep] and all it took to keep going was to jack the shells out of it and then work the action in water a few times.

I walked into an 870 marine magnum that had so much plastic in the barrel that it took a whole can of carb cleaner spray and a brush chucked up in a drill, yet it still worked just fine.

I bought my son an 870 for his first shotgun. He never used it much but he told me it was a little hard to work so we took it all apart.cleaned everything out of and off of the moving parts. oiled them and put it all back together. It was slick as could be. The thick cosmoline like grease was pretty stiff and needed to be cleaned out.

DId all that just recently on my 10 year old 870 still rough as a cob.

Just for clarity, y'all talking Wingmasters or Express Models? Technically you can call an Express an 870 but it's a far cry from the Wingmaster imho. Sorta tarnishes the good name the Wingmaster built over many years of reliable service. I sure hope Remington hasn't mucked up the QC so bad as to ruin the Wingmaster.

The quoted two sentences above apply.

Given good shells, the new autoloaders with their gas systems and bleed offs will most often shoot 1000 plus without a malfunction, and then do it again.

To think a well made pump should or would be any less reliable is unreasonable. Of course many think operating a pump takes some sort of black magic.

If this one had been made right, it wouldn't be close if you compared the two for malfunctions that were not caused by the user.

The Express are known for needing to have the chamber polished from the get go. Just check out a youtube video.

Most likely that will fix the problem.

Made a little correction there buddy.. I love my '79 left hand wingmaster...

You are making some good points. I know batue realizes that too. There are ways to make these express models really sing. I've done a few of them myself. Polishing the chamber and lengthening the forcing cone will get you a long way with how it operates. I also agree with battue, you won't have to do this with an older wingmaster, unless you are shooting trap competitively like I know he has. Like I said, mine is a '79 and it was built right from the factory. However, it's a sleeper because I made it that way . You don't get in between 2 guys sporting Perazzi's in an Annie line and expect to win money, unless you have some tricks up your sleeve. Trust me on this one....

The shotgun in mention is a brand new 870 Tactical-extended magazine 7 shot.

I was shooting W-W shells.

IF it won't function after my cleaning, I'll try the steel wool on a drill trick.

IF that doesn't work, it's off to a gunsmith.

I don't want to replace this gun.

I also had a "spacer tube" built for it, for the long magazine, so I could use a standard barrel, and bought a 28" vent rib barrel.

Haven't tried it yet with the longer barrel. That's in my next "test run"


Thanks again! Virgil B.

Since some are suggesting it could be a problem with the chamber, try swapping out the barrel and see if the problem goes away. That will at least narrow it down.

bsa,

Oh I'm not disagreeing with battue, I like the older models better too. Seems like manufacturers are chasing the price point on the lower end of their line and there goes fit and finish. Faster it goes from CNC to out the door the better. Had a chance to work on an old model 12 some time ago, something minor for someone, don't remember what. Now that was just plain fun given that it was designed for hand fitting and made with quality.

The 870 design is so simple, that if it's not ejecting, I'd look at ether a very rough chamber or (and) cheap promo shells with steel heads rather than brass.

I strip down any new or new to me gun for a clean and lube before firing a shot. It's also a good time to inspect parts.

I much prefer Wingmasters, either old or new, to the Express line. Along with a smoother action, Wingmasters don't rust at the drop of a hat. The Express "gravel blast" finish goes out of its way to rust while sitting in a row of other guns that don't.

One more thing to try, just to eliminate an unknown; try dry-firing the gun. Make sure the slide release isn't partly hanging up with factory gunk after the shot, and keeping the bolt locked. I've never experienced that, but in a system as dirt simple as an 870, there are only so many things that could go wrong.

I bought a Wingmaster back in the mid 1970's and simply could not hit crap with it. My buddy loved it, so I sold it to Him. Several years later I got an Express and it was my go-to shotgun for many years. I guess it still would be if there was anything here to shoot with a shotgun. miles

Agree, and as an example of how things have changed: Bought the well used 870TC Trap in the last 70's. Used it for awhile and then noticed a slight hair line crack at the ejection port, and had a Remington rep look at it at a trap shoot. He bolted on another new receiver and said comeback to the booth in 2 days and I'll have your new one. I said this one is ok and he replied, "No yours is a TC, this one isn't, yours will be stamped TC.

No charge.



Fast forward to 2013:

Almost brand new forend cracks on a Beretta A400. Take it to the Beretta tent at a SC shoot. Guy looks at it and says you have to send it back. "I'll take one off of the 15-20 display models you have there." "Can't do." "Ok, I'll buy one of them." "Can't do, has to go back for them to inspect and then determine if it was your fault or theirs. I can order you one, but can't say when it will shipped."

LOL, how did Beretta survive being a gun company for 500 years?

On the whole they do make quality firearms that work well. However, according to many their CS leaves something to be desired.

I have used them 2x for service Beretta Extrema and a Silver Pigeon with no issues. Ordering parts for Sako rifles on the other hand..............

An acquaintance who is a fairly large Beretta dealer who also sells P and K guns goes to Italy on vacation. While there his family and a friends plan on touring Beretta and Perazzi and have a dinner invite set up with the respective families. He asks if it is OK to include the other family he is traveling with. Perazzi says no problem. Beretta says no.

Funny everyone is ready to trash the gun but I don't see much mention of the ammo used other than w-w. If they are universals I would probably try a few different brands of ammo now that you have cleaned your gun. Esp ecially before sending the gun back or spending a bunch of $ on it. Some of the promotional shells are not the best .

I was shooting W-W game loads 2-3/4" 7-1/2 shot.

Still haven't had time to test fire more than a half dozen rounds.

These all ejected fine. My 28" barrel worked fine for just a few rounds also.

Will test fire more as time allows.

Thanks for all the feedback!

Virgil B.

Shot a few rounds through my 28" barrel.

The 870 hung up on one shell, so I hit the slide release, and the shell popped right out!

Must still have factory "gunk" in the slide release.

Will flush it out, oil it and test fire again.

I think 222REM has the answer.

The first time I was shooting, it was 28 degrees. This might have been part of the problem also.

Thanks again! Virgil B.

IMO the express models are good for one thing, Turkeys! A turkey aint gonna attack me if the dam thing hick-ups after the 1st shot, they are readily available in 3" chambers, and the mate finish takes a rattle can camo job real well. For a field/upland gun the older wingmasters are like butta.

Yep, This is what id do and it should be fine.......Good luck ....Hb

This is the answer to "rough chambers". the chit they pass for ammo these days is really bad as far as the "brass" or what ever pot metal they use for the base compared to the good the good stuff. I see cheap ammo sticking in all kinds of guns. Its not always the gun. Try some good ammo before you go crazy fixing something thats not broke

Worked the gun counter at the Fort Worth Cabela's for two years part time. Left in November. We had three Wingmasters in stock when I started and the same three in stock when I left. We moved tons of Expresses and some had rust on the barrel and receiver when taken out of the box to show to a purchaser. The display models developed rust.

I do believe Remington has upped their game and the last couple of shipments seemed to be better quality. Even with the rust issue, we never had an Express come back while I was working.

As has been mentioned I also believe out of spec shells could easily have caused the issue. I've seen Universal's cause issues with O/U's, semi's and pumps.

It's always possible to get lucky, there is a perverse majesty though in Beretta's customer service. It isn't bad, it doesn't exist.