Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns I Messed Up...Badly

I bought some new remchokes for my 11-87. Put in the modified. Went duck hunting. Shot twice as a group of ducks overhead. On the second shot the buttstock blew off the end of my shotgun. Shotgun laying in two pieces on the ground. I’m not bleeding from anywhere, so I guess that’s good. Get the gun home. Pull out the choke, full. Like a fuggin idiot I shot a full load of hevi metal BBB thru a full choke. Thankful to not be injured, feeling like a complete fool for not paying enough attention to what I was doing. And in all likelihood ruining my shotgun.

Thank God you aren't picking splinters out of your face!
My 870 is fixed so I hide the large shot in the attic.
What did the barrel look like?

I highly doubt the choke tube had anything to do with this. That you were able to remove the choke and read the words on it is my first indication this is not a cause of the breakage. That no mention of a bulge or other distortion of the barrel s another. Lastly, if pressure were able to cause this type of damage to the stock, there would be broken pieces of the action laying around.

This sounds much more like a stock problem where a stress or damage occurred due to something like the gun being dropped or otherwise stressed, the grain of the wood (if a wood stock) was poorly oriented to take the stress of recoil and finally gave out, or the stock bolt was loose and recoil eventually caused the stock to break. None of these would have anything to do with excessive pressures as they typically take time and use to manifest themselves. Inspection of the stock would probably show one of these to be the culprit.

It’s a composite stock. I’ve used the gun all season right up until the day before I put the new choke in. The new choke was the only thing that changed. No bulge in the barrel or broken metal parts. Just a separated but stock.

Woodmaster is correct. Your choke had nothing to do with the situation.

^^^This^^^

The stock either had a flaw in it during manufacture or it was damaged someplace between it being taken out of the mould and you firing it for the last time. Damage could have occurred at any time and it would not have to have been catastrophic at the instant it happened. A shock to the stock such as when dropped or tipped over is a possibility as would bending as if something fell on it while the gun was leaning on a boat seat or put in a trunk or other place and something fell, slid, or was tossed on it.

This latter is pretty common and the damage is usually minor but worsens with use as the material weakens through fatigue. Eventually, it breaks and there is nothing the choke has to do with it though recoil from heavy, hard recoiling loads can hasten the process. This will also be similar in appearance to a loose stock bolt as similar type of forces will act upon the stock causing it to flex more than it should or where it shouldn't thereby causing fatigue in the material.

It's unfortunate this happened to you but rest assured it had nothing to do with the choke. As further assurance, how many firearms with burst barrels from full muzzle obstructions have you seen with a broken stock? Myself, I can't think of one though I have seen maybe 100 examples in person. The pressure build up just does not generate recoil to any appreciable degree and in a normal situation it is immaterial.

Double-this...

Thanks everyone for the input on this. It seems a strange coincidence that I would change the choke, fire two shots and have the gun come apart. I guess I’ll box it up and send it back to Remington.

If Remington tries blaming your choke and she'll choice, hit back by asking them to explain the points pointed out regarding how this would not be a factor. Ask them how many stocks, and stocks only, have they received that were damaged by a bore obstruction of any degree. Question how you could have removed the choke and read the lettering on the choke if pressures would have been high enough to break the stock. Further ask why the operating rods and/or internal parts were not broken or damaged by these high pressures.

Proof loads are at least 50% higher than maximum loads and stocks do not fail in that testing though mechanical parts occasionally do.

If they come back initially with fatigue due to damage by you, then you are on your own. I have no way of determining if it was a flaw in the molding or later damage. If this was a response after first trying the above I would use their inability to determine cause as a means of working out a deal such as splitting the cost of a new stock. That is probably the best one is going to get from them if it gets to that.

I would just buy another stock. Plastic is easy to find. Even if the bolt is bent, that can be replaced too.

Why complicate things?

www.midwestgunworks.com/page/mgwi/prod/18608

An update on this. I figured out that the action spring tube is silver soldered into the receiver. I don’t know if it was a poor solder job or what. But that has given up, resulting in the action spring to separate from the receiver. Bringing the buttstock with it. Some new solder on the spring tube has me back in business.

Are you talking about an 870 or an 1100. Action tube or magazine tube. Front or back of receiver? I'm confused.oops. my bad. I was reading an 870 post earlier and like a politician, conflated my comment.

I’d bet that your solder job was just getting weakened over time, and the new loads were taxing the system or bottoming it out hard. Nothing to do with choke. I’ve seen this before on rems and some others, but 11-87s are fairly delicate sometimes.

Wow, the bolt came back pretty hard. Did you feel it?