I use to have a mossberg and just bought this remington to try out.
When I pull the trigger and the shell goes off, sometimes the action becomes locked shut and I have to use a ton of force to get it back open. its very often and happens about every 3-5 shots. I'm using the 100 pack bulk federal 2 3/4 #7.5 shot.
has anyone else had this issue with the remington 870 or the federal ammo? I'm trying to decide weather to try a different brand of shells because maybe federal loaded them too hot, or if this is a problem with my shotgun.
as of now my shotgun is basically useless for self defense because it locks up so often.
I've only shot 25 rounds through it so far.

Is it new to you, or actually new?

Do the fired cases show pressure signs?

Does the chamber look or feel rough or dirty?

Empty, action closed, does it rattle when shaken (thinking shell stops not staked) hard?

Action open, does it rattle when shaken?

If the rifle is new...I'd bet a $1 that it is the ammo.

Many of these guns have rough chambers. Check into polishing it and you will more than likely solve the problem.

"Locking up" hard with a shotgun shooting low power ammo is a sign of a truly bad chamber... Not thinking a simple polish would fix it...

My thoughts exactly.

If this is a "new to you" type of deal it could be fouling in the chamber even though you can't see any. I've seen this on guns used for trap and the chamber not cleaned properly after a number of sessions. Best guess is a buildup of mold release/lube used in the shell manufacturing process.

If so, a good scrubbing with a chamber brush and a plastic wad solvent should fix it. Double ought or finer steel wool on a bore brush or such can substitute for a chamber brush, and carb cleaner for the solvent (but can eat stock finish!).

Popping the empty with a range rod (wood dowel) through the barrel while pulling back on the fore end will usually open the action easily. Dealt with some stuck so badly that the extractor would've pulled through the rim otherwise.

If it's new as in "brand spankin' new" I'd call Remington. From what I've seen they have been very accommodating the last few years.

Not wanting to be a Remington basher, but I have picked up on a few forums that Remington has been having some quality control problems, including some people buying guns with parts missing. If it is new I would take it back. Good Luck.

It is a brand new Remington 870. It functions fine when the rounds aren't fired and only cycled. I did take a brass brush with a drill, then a cotton brush with some JB bore paste. I went in the garage and shot 1 round of 3" mag buckshot and it cycled smooth as could be. I'll have to get a chance and see if the original federal ammo I tryed still stick.

Would it matter that the buckshot had brass farther up the shell than the 2-3/4 shells?

Gohip - I sometimes have this same problem. I use my 870 for dove hunting and shooting trap. Someone here once suggested that the rails inside the weapon may have been lose...

The funny thing is, it NEVER binds up when cycling snap caps.

I've seen it on other new shotguns. The Federal cheap stuff has the smooth plastic shell, and for some reason it seems to be stickier than the ribbed plastic shells.

What I have seen is that if you go blaze away with 100 rounds of hotter ribbed plastic ammo, then clean chamber well, the problem is gone from that point forward.

Just my limited experience.

I just bought a new 870 Home Defense. I had the same thing happen once. The round fired but the slide was locked shut. The slide release button was pushed all the way in also. After some jostling and working it final opened up. I only have about 25 rounds through it, and to be honest, I never cleaned it. I just loaded it up and put some rounds through it. As this is to be my primary home defense gun, I would like to be confident in its reliability.

I was thinking most likely the locking lug stuck did slide back into the bolt carrier and was stuck. That or there was a burr on the slide release. I cleaned up the gun and it wasn�t that dirty or greasy. I never thought of a rough chamber. Darn

Try this... instead of gorilla gripping the forearm rearward, slightly PUSH the forearm forward and jiggle/twist just a little then ease the slide back and see if it unlocks. If it does so, this isn�t a shell problem, nor is it a dirty chamber problem. Remington seems to have had some trouble recently with the 870�s, usually the Express Model, in this regard. I forgot exactly what the problem was but it is something to do with bolt lock-up/release. A friend bought a new Express HD shotgun that did this and some research seemed to indicate that was a pretty common problem and required it be sent back to Remington for repair. He opted to return the gun and upgraded to an 870P (Police Model) which didn�t have the problem. A locked up self defense gun isn�t too comforting and he had no confidence in the gun after fiddling with it and wanted something dead nuts reliable.

I appreciate your feedback.

I tried pushing and pulling fore end before the gun freed up. The gun was frozen up in a way that there was no room for movement forward. It was like trying to shuck a shell on an unfired chamber. A little more research indicates that this seems to be common issue with new 870�s, and everyone wants to polish theirs with a drill and steel wool. This isn�t acceptable to me for a brand new home defense gun. I have to say, I was not impressed with what I saw upon disassembling the gun.

I am fairly knowledgeable about guns in generally; but not so much with shotguns, as they have always been rather �boring� to me. I have built a few rifles and tinkered with many projects. I chose the 870 on reputation over the much maligned Mossberg. I could have purchased a nice of Ithaca 37 and cut the barrel down myself for less. Probably should have done so, but it is a shame to hack up a fine old gun. My 16 ga featherweight is a true machine.

I think I�ll take it back to the gun shop this week and see if they will swap it out for me. If not, I�ll get to test Remington customer service.

I've found roughly machined chambers in many of today's shotguns; Remington, Mossberg and others in the lower priceline.

A drill with steel wool will not do the job of removing tool marks in a rough chamber.. It will require a somewhat tightly wrapped dowel with 400 grit paper, a copious amount of cutting oil and a high-speed drill - all used with care to ensure one doesn't go too far... When finished, the chamber should look like a mirror..

As a follow-up, I took the gun back to the store and they said they could not replace it but would send it to Remington for service. As I left the store I called Remington customer service as an additional precaution and let them know to expect my gun. The gentleman I spoke to was very friendly and helpful. He admitted that at the end of 2008 they had several barrels that were finished with a dull reamer. He said this only small percentage of barrels were affected so they didn�t have a �recall� and were just addressing the problems as they arose.

I was told to go back to the shop and pick up my gun and they would mail me a new barrel. He said this would be much quicker than sending in my gun to their shop. I�m anxious to see how the new barrel performs.

Redneck, I have a question for you. The shotgun shell must headspace on the rim. How much trouble is caused by an oversized chamber in a shotgun if someone goes a little crazy with the �polishing�?

You'd have to get mighty 'crazy' to have an ill effect..

I kind of thought as much.....Thank you

Problem revisited for those interested. Remington sent me a new barrel to try out and I had the same problem. The extraction of a fired shell was very sticky and occasionally the gun would lock up. I sat the and really looked at thing and the locking lug was releasing correctly, but the shell was just seized up in the chamber. I grabbed another 12 gauge (Savage model 30) and tried inserting the fired shell into the chamber to test the resistance. Then I compared the feel to the new Remington barrels. Basically I was using the shell like a field gauge. What I found was that the Remington barrels were much tighter than the other gun. This is somewhat expect due to use, but I mean the Remington barrels were TIGHT!

I was able to replicate the locking up of the 870 action with a few of the fired shells. HMMMM. I will say the federal target shells I bought on the cheap were much worse than others (they also measured .05 to .07 wider at the base before and after firing). I tried some cheap Winchester brand and some high Brass Fed turkey load shells also. The actual brass shells were not nearly as tight as the cheap target loads with the aluminum head/rims.

As a home defense gun I want this thing to digest everything with no bobbles at all. I thought about Redneck�s polishing recommendation, but didn�t want to mess with the chamber dimensions or have it uneven. To keep this fairly short, I took a fired high brass shell and drove the primer out with a punch. Then I inserted a long bolt through the inside of the primer pocket and secured it tightly with a nut on the base. A � bolt was snug enough that I had to �thread� it through the primer pocket. I chucked this in a hand drill. This gave me a mandrel with which to apply some JB Bore paste and I slowly lapped the chamber. I kept doing this until a spent round chambered in the barrel with the same resistance as the other 12 gauge. Once I reached this point I finished the polishing with some Simichrome metal polish (probably could use tooth paste).

Functioning of the shotgun was perfect after this treatment. Initially even when the shells would extract, it took quite a bit of force to rack the slide. Now things are nice and smooth. Maybe this will help someone else who is having the same issues.

So basically, you just used a different setup to achieve the same result.. That's fine..

Yup. I wonder if Remington knows they have "issues".

I hate to bring up an old post, but I am having the same issues with my new 870 Super Mag. Could you go into a little greater detail on how to make the "buffer" out of the spent casing? And, are you just taking the barrel off the gun and securing it in a vise the working the open end?