# 870 Jamming?



## ruttecht

My son and I bought a Benelli Nova and a 870 Remington super Mag. Today when we were out shooting clays, his 870 kept jamming at the breech bolt and would not eject the old shell when cycling the action. I took it apart on the tailgate of my truck but could find nothing wrong with it. I put it back together and when you use the action bar lock, it cycles just fine, but if you try to run shells through it, it jams for some reason and does not want to cycle. It has never jammed before and has been a great gun, we have always cleaned them when we use them. we were using 2-3/4 inch Winchester Target 7 Game loads this time. Could it be the ammunition or should I just see what they will do under warranty. Has anyone else had this kind of problem? We are just getting into hunting and clays so we are far from being an expert at this so I thought I would ask someone smarter than me.
Thanks for any help.
Roger


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## Bob Aronsohn

Hello Rutt,

That is where I would start, the ammo? Shoot some differen't ammo through it first before trying to have it fixed. When you mentioned that the shell would not eject do you mean the shell won't extract from the chamber after firing the hull? If so, it's a dead give away that those are steel heads on those hulls and that is why they are sticking in the chamber after firing them! They are pure junk shells, the Benelli will extract them with there rotating bolt.

Try some better ammo and I bet it will work just fine.

Bob A.


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## ruttecht

Thanks Bob, I will try some different ammo and see how it goes!


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## southdakbearfan

where is it jamming, if its when the shell is coming out of the magazine, there is a small tab on the left side of the action that gets bent out and catches the back of the shells as they go by.


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## taddy1340

My 870 jams too, but when I eject. I've tried various brands, but still jams. I should break it down and give it a good once over.


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## southdakbearfan

as said before, there is a small tab, just above the carrier on the reciever when u take it apart. As wear and tear goes on the gun, it seems to bend in a bit. If you slightly bend it out, the shells will stop catching as they come out of the magazine, if that is the problem you have.


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## brownitsdown

I have both a 12 and a 20ga and its never jamed before. i usually just shoot the low brass remington 6 or 7 1/2 shot and never had a problem.


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## ruttecht

It is jamming after it is shot when you try to pull the fore end back to cycle the action and load another shell. The fore end does not want to come back and eject the shell and I could not push the action bar lock up to release it either. It cycles through fine when I use the action bar lock release when it is empty. I looked in the ejection port and the only tab on the left side of the receiver looks to be in great shape. It does not look worn or bent at all. Keep in mind that this gun has only 100 to 125 rounds run through it and is basically new. The shells we were using had steel heads, where as before we had used shot shells with a brass head. I don't know if that makes a difference but I am going to try to go back to those and see how it shoots. My Benelli operates fine on either so I am hoping that it is only the ammunition. I know my son was dissapointed that his 870 failed to operate correctly even though he did not say so. Thanks for all of the input and ideas on this, it is really appreciated.
Roger


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## southdakbearfan

Is the shell sticking after it comes out of the magazine? Failing to come up in line with the barrel, making it impossible to close the action? If it is, that is exactly where it is catching. Have fixed several friends 870's as said above with the same problem. Shell is just catching.


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## remi870jm

Hi,
I am having a little issue with my remi 870 express. Ever so often when I am trying to make a quick second shot I get jammed. upon inspection I see the spent shell lodged in the barrel and the new shell in the waiting to be chambered. I have to unscrew the barrell, use my cleaning rod to "push" the spent shell from the barrell, screw back up and chamber the new round. 
When I move real slow, no problem but once i try to load the second shot quickly, it jams. Any idea?


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## Bob Aronsohn

Ruttchet,

I'm pretty sure it's the seel heads on the shotgun ammo that are giving you a problem with your 870. If it's hard to extract the spent hull from the chamber after you fire the firearm I'd bet it's the ammo not the gun.

Bob A.


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## Bob Aronsohn

Remi 870,

If you have a shell stuck in your chamber is there another unfired hull stuck right behind it? If this is the case your cartridge stop is out of time and releasing the shell out of the magazine tube before you can get the breach bolt closed on your 870.

If this is not the case it sounds like you are short stroking the forearm or short shucking it, this means the same thing in pump gun circles. You are not pulling the forearm back far enough so as to extract the spent shell in your chamber. This is very easy to do when you get in a hurry with a pump gun.

Bob A.


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## questor

Shooting # 7 & 8's I would have issues from time to time ejecting a spent round. Came across a web site and located a solution that certainly works for me.

http://www.aiptactical.com/Page_2.html

Scroll down to New Barrels and there is the solution that resolved my issues. The bore brush wasn't hitting the chamber to remove the built up of the low brass. Therefore I only used his recommendation on my chamber and since that time, zero issue with ejection of spent rounds.

I cut and pasted from the above URL:

New Barrels:
Issues with extraction problems with the 870 HD barrels are all over the internet. If you purchased one from me you should not have this issue as I polish the chamber, however, if you are using cheap ammo, you may. The issue can be resolved very simply and since you need these two tools to clean your weapon you should build them anyway.

To resolve this issue you want to make two polish rods. One for the chamber and one for the bore. See the below picture to see what they will look like. Go to a building supply place and buy two 7/16th hard wood dowels and a pack of 00 or 000 steel wool. Take a full pad of steel wool and stretch over one of the wooden dowels and tape the bottom of it off. This is you chamber rod. Put the rod in your drill and polish the chamber of the barrel. Hold the barrel and keep spinning the rod till you feel the barrel getting slightly warm. Take the second dowel and either stretch 3/4 of a pad of steel wool over it or stretch a full pad out longer. This is your bore rod. Put this in your drill and simply run it through the barrel a couple times. Both procedures are done "DRY". You do not need solvents for these barrels. These are smooth bore barrels and bore cleaner is not needed. If the weapon is going to be put up for any length of time you can spray some oil, or put a few drops in the bore then put a wad of AI&P Tactical Cleaning patches (paper towels) and push that through the barrel with your "AI&P Tactical Cleaning Rod" ( the wooden dowel). This will leave some oil in the pores of the barrel for storage.


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## Jig Master

Back in the late 60s I bought a new 2&3/4" chambered 12 ga. Rem 870, and had problems with it not feeding shells from the magazine, and some times not extracting shells from the chamber. I took it back to the gun shop from where it was purchased, to have it repaired, but it never worked right for me, so I just traded it for another gun. In the mid 80s I decided to give Rem. another chance and purchased a 3" chambered 20 ga. 870 Special Field, and have not had the same problems with it as the older 12 ga., and still own this gun today.


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