Help with starting my 870

[Kentactic]

I just bought a new 870 ... what are the reliability issues to look out for and the mod's to remedy them?

If the gun will have HD use then it needs a 20" or less barrel. Unless your doing some (im not familiar) certain bird hunting where you need 3.5'' shells theres no need to go with the supermag. It just means a longer stroke for the same power. And if youve shot a lot of 3'' guns then your probably going to be short stroking that gun a lot.

Id recommend the wingmasters for sure. The Express 870's they turn out these days are not fit for HD without some modification. Mainly reffering to reliability issues.

Some times they dont eject shells reliably. For me a non-MIM Extractor fixed that issue. Then theres the tooling marks on the locking lug tab that is at the rear of the chamber. These grooves can snag a fired shells rim making extracting very difficult. Grinding and polishing this area will solve that issue. Next which rarely is an issue but is worth mentioning. The spring that powers the lift gate is a lighter spring then in the higher end shotguns. Potentially this spring can lack power and not be able to lift a heavy shell up as fast as you can pump the gun meaning the shell jams into the bottom of the chamber rather then feed into the chamber. then magazine spring follower is worth upgrading. the one that comes with the gun is about as cheap as you can get. A 2 liter bottle cap is an upgrade in quality compared to that thing. And finally the action itself is rougher. Only way to smooth that out is with lots of use. there may be more i just cant think of it right now.

[gd2a]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate all the feedback!

Matt