Action really tight

[frankhenrylee]

Hey fellas,
I just received delivery of a used 870 that I bought at an online gun auction. I knew I was taking a risk, but I was looking for a 21" vent rib barrel and that's what I got. The only problem is the action is really tight. It seems like the action bars on the forend tube are binding slightly. I've been able to smooth it out some with a little polishing, but I'm pretty unhappy with it, feels like somethings wrong. Besides that, the gun looks like it's barely been used. I thought it would have the metal trigger assembly because it's an Express Magnum, but it's got the plastic housing. What should I do? Is this forend assembly trash? Don't know if I've got something defective or if it just needs some/alot TLC.

[AkiroHikage]

If it has the word express in the model you are pretty much guaranteed to get the plastic trigger assembly. The metal one is really limited to police models, but the plastic should suit you just fine unless you are in the habit of throwing your gun down hills and whatnot.

As for the action bars do they look like they got bent or twisted at all? Someone may have tweaked something doing a forend replacement incorrectly. Polishing is a good start, rack the action a lot and see if you feel any differences could be a minor tolerance issue.

[frankhenrylee]

Well, I've been working on this thing for awhile now. I've got the forend tube straightened out, but it's still pretty tight. It seems to be binding on the bolt. The extractor has also been digging into the inside of the receiver. I've polished the crap out of this thing, but I guess I've got to remove a little more metal on the inside of the ejection port side. I took the bolt and forend assembly out of my other 870 and it seemed to work better.

Has anyone ever had a bad bolt or a receiver that wasn't milled properly? Mine seems to be a combination of the two.

[Tankbuff]

Chech the ejector rivets for bolt clearence.
I sent a reciever to a Remington Repair Center and when it came back, I had a binding Bolt problem.
They can be flattened to correct this. JEL.