870 Safety Problem.

[Canuck]

Recently I swapped out the stock safety for a new oversize one. I watched the video on how to do it at least a dozen times. I swear I did it right. Problem is now the safety just slides back and forth and will not fire now. When the shotgun is empty and I slide the action back and forth, I can pull the trigger every time. When it is loaded , it will not fire. I then changed out the safeties and put the original one back in and it does the same thing. Have I done something wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I just sat in the field today and watched my buds shoot all the geese.

Canuck.

[Synchronizor]

Are you sure all the little bitty parts were in the back of the trigger guard when you put the thing back together? The safety detent ball can sometimes pop out the bottom of the channel there and roll off unnoticed, and if that's not in place, it could cause the issue you're describing.

Other thoughts; did your trigger plate assembly come with a normal safety, or was it one of the ones that had the locking safety button? In the latter case, certain parts need to be changed to use aftermarket safety switches. And make sure the pin holding the detent spring is correctly positioned over the top of the spring's end. If it's poking through the coils, you probably won't get enough force on the detent ball. Finally, can you link to the specific video you used as a guide? Perhaps it left something out.

[Canuck]

It is an Express that I bought in 1985 so it should be the original safety. As for the video, I either watched it on here or YouTube. I can`t remember which.

Canuck

[Synchronizor]

This one?

[Canuck]

Yes Sir.

[Synchronizor]

Hmm, not sure what to say. That video shows pretty much everything you need to see to replace a standard (non-locking) safety. The only other thing I can think of is that some aftermarket safety buttons are not axially symmetric like the factory part, but have dedicated notches for the trigger & detent ball instead:

This type of safety has to be installed in a certain orientation to work properly. If it isn't, that could cause it to slide back and forth freely and prevent trigger pulls like you describe (though the original safety should still work fine if reinstalled properly).

[Canuck]

I`m a little embarrassed. I took it apart one more time and found the small ball bearing had fallen out. I took a pellet from a #3 shotshell, put that in and it worked like a hot damn. I really appreciate your input. Thank you.

Canuck

[Vitaly]

Good to know that problem was fixed. That ball is very easy to lost... as well as the small spring

Have you used steel pellet?

[Canuck]

Good to know that problem was fixed. That ball is very easy to lost... as well as the small spring

Have you used steel pellet?

Sure did. Going to give it a real test on a three day duck hunt this weekend.

Canuck