Barrel Wobble while shooting?

[ShotgunSam870]

Morning folks,
A few weeks ago, I brought with me my new 870P to go shooting. I wanted to put the gun through its paces, so I fired a little more than I typically do, to break in that action and such. After about 50 rounds, I remember noticing that the barrel was POSSIBLY wobbling, but I COULD have been messing around with the magazine cap. Mind you, I almost positive I did tighten the magazine cap. HOWEVER, I checked the barrel last night for wobble (it was clean and such) and everything seemed fine. I'm really torn because I would imagine that if the barrel was wobbly while I was shooting, then why would it NOT wobble when I checked it last night? Has anyone had an experience like this before? I'm praying that I was just me being OCD and playing around with my gun, as I really don't want to have to go through the hassle of sending the gun to Remington and waiting months for it's return.

[John A.]

It's pretty simply to make sure your endcap is tight. That would be first and most obvious thing to check.

If not that, I would remove the barrel and peek in there to makes sure the receiver wasn't cracked or something weird going on.

If not that, then you probably really were hallucinating.

[ShotgunSam870]

It's pretty simply to make sure your endcap is tight. That would be first and most obvious thing to check.

If not that, I would remove the barrel and peek in there to makes sure the receiver wasn't cracked or something weird going on.

If not that, then you probably really were hallucinating.

Hahahah I hope I was hallucinating. I'm eager to go shoot it and see if it does it again, because if it does, I'm gonna reach out to Remington.

[870noob]

Also check that the screwy thing that holds the fore end onto the tube is tight, mine has loosened up after 50 rounds and it wobbled that I thought it was the barrel...

[Synchronizor]

870 barrels can shift minutely under recoil relative to the receiver, which is why many slug barrels will have the sights or scope mount attached directly to the barrel, and why builds that don't will often shim or pin the barrel to help maintain zero. But that doesn't mean that the barrel is loose in the receiver, or that it has a lot of play. If your magazine cap is staying tight while shooting and your ejector is intact and engaged correctly with the barrel, you should be fine. You may be feeling a loose fore-end as 870noob said, or perhaps you're feeling the bolt move around; it has some play in the receiver when it's not locked into the barrel, but that's normal.

[ShotgunSam870]

Morning folks,
A few weeks ago, I brought with me my new 870P to go shooting. I wanted to put the gun through its paces, so I fired a little more than I typically do, to break in that action and such. After about 50 rounds, I remember noticing that the barrel was POSSIBLY wobbling, but I COULD have been messing around with the magazine cap. Mind you, I almost positive I did tighten the magazine cap. HOWEVER, I checked the barrel last night for wobble (it was clean and such) and everything seemed fine. I'm really torn because I would imagine that if the barrel was wobbly while I was shooting, then why would it NOT wobble when I checked it last night? Has anyone had an experience like this before? I'm praying that I was just me being OCD and playing around with my gun, as I really don't want to have to go through the hassle of sending the gun to Remington and waiting months for it's return.


UPDATE:
Hey folks,
For those of you read my post about my concern with the barrel being slightly wobbly while shooting, I took my gun to my local gun shop, and was told that minuscule barrel wobble is normal for 870s, as well as it being to spec, and that it shouldn't be anything to worry about, even with the mag cap tightened down completely. It made sense to me, considering 870s barrel slip into the receiver, as well as with Remington producing their guns on an assembly line, some parts will fit better than others. I went shooting today, and noticed barrel wobble was minimal, and that if I was not paying attention to it, it wasn't noticeable. I was also told that if the gun was firing fine and nothing seemed wrong, then there was no reason to worry. I'm a very OCD person, so I figured it was just another one of those times again.