Follower

[BEN]

Was checking out this forum to read about loading/feeding problems on new 870. Didn't find much so I am going to tell you my story and see what other members may think. After about a week I began having occasional feeding problems with my new 870 Express Tactical. That is the model that comes with a rail on top, breaching choke, extended magazine and ghost ring rear sight (without protective wings). Anyway, with the extended tube it holds 6 shells under the barrel. The first time this happended I thought I must have miscounted and picked up 7 shells as I could not get the last one to go in. So, I ejected all of them and there were only 5 rounds loaded. Tried again and all 6 went in so I thought this must have been a fluke and disregarded. Same thing happend a few days later so I knew something was wrong but was not sure what. Then finally I had 6 rounds in the tube, loaded one to chamber, pointed the muzzle down and heard the remaining 5 rounds sliding around in the tube. I disassembled the weapon, cleaned both magazine tubes and put a light coating of Rem oil inside thinking that might fix the problem - but it did not. So, I started reading on the web about how the factory followers sometimes hang up where the extended magazine joins the main tube. And about various aftermarket parts available. It was at that point I took a close look at the factory follower and realized what a $0.10 piece of crap it really is. How could Remington have put that in something they market as a tactical weapon? I'd sure hate to be the cop who pulled one of these guns on a bad guy only to find that the follower was stuck somewhere in the tube! Bottomline is I purchased a Nordic follower and installed it today. I can't say it is a 100% fix because all I have done is load and eject full tubes a couple dozen times with no problems. Why Nordic over the others? Because it was the first one I found that did not cause the loss of one round in carrying capacity. So, I can still carry 6 in the tube. If this does fix the problem all I can say is SHAME ON REMINGTON and you owe me the $25 I gave Midway.

[Vitaly]

Was checking out this forum to read about loading/feeding problems on new 870. Didn't find much so I am going to tell you my story and see what other members may think. After about a week I began having occasional feeding problems with my new 870 Express Tactical. That is the model that comes with a rail on top, breaching choke, extended magazine and ghost ring rear sight (without protective wings). Anyway, with the extended tube it holds 6 shells under the barrel. The first time this happended I thought I must have miscounted and picked up 7 shells as I could not get the last one to go in. So, I ejected all of them and there were only 5 rounds loaded. Tried again and all 6 went in so I thought this must have been a fluke and disregarded. Same thing happend a few days later so I knew something was wrong but was not sure what. Then finally I had 6 rounds in the tube, loaded one to chamber, pointed the muzzle down and heard the remaining 5 rounds sliding around in the tube. I disassembled the weapon, cleaned both magazine tubes and put a light coating of Rem oil inside thinking that might fix the problem - but it did not. So, I started reading on the web about how the factory followers sometimes hang up where the extended magazine joins the main tube. And about various aftermarket parts available. It was at that point I took a close look at the factory follower and realized what a $0.10 piece of crap it really is. How could Remington have put that in something they market as a tactical weapon? I'd sure hate to be the cop who pulled one of these guns on a bad guy only to find that the follower was stuck somewhere in the tube! Bottomline is I purchased a Nordic follower and installed it today. I can't say it is a 100% fix because all I have done is load and eject full tubes a couple dozen times with no problems. Why Nordic over the others? Because it was the first one I found that did not cause the loss of one round in carrying capacity. So, I can still carry 6 in the tube. If this does fix the problem all I can say is SHAME ON REMINGTON and you owe me the $25 I gave Midway.

Ben, it is common problem and I don't know why Remington continues to use that cheap plastic follower. I've heard that they had metal follower in old Remington 870 shotguns.

Then finally I had 6 rounds in the tube, loaded one to chamber, pointed the muzzle down and heard the remaining 5 rounds sliding around in the tube.

That is exactly what happens when follower stuck in magazine extension joint. Remington tried to fix that in their new Remington 870 Tactical:


That model doesn't have a weak point where follower/magazine spring may stuck.

But, of course, buying aftermarket follower is a solution for this problem.

[RichNZ]

Yup... Ive got an original metal follower in mine. Very slidey. Dunno why they changed it just to save a couple of bucks on a new shotty! (ditto on the old trigger guards too...)

[BEN]

Thanks to those who read and took the time to repply to the 870 follower issue I raised. FYI the Nordic follower is working out well and seems to be a good fix that does not reduce magazine capacity. Maybe someone from Remington will read this thread one day and correct this blatantly negligent defect. Until that happens I will always feel like one of those suckers who will buy anything that has the word "tactical" on it.