870 epress magnum 20 ga

[1775usmarine]

Bought a used 870 express magnum 20 ga for my wife for christmas a few days ago. I decided to clean it for her so she wouldn't have to yet. I dissembled and cleaned as usual. Didn't break down the trigger assembly or anything else.
When I got done putting back together found no matter what I can rack back and it will not lock up. I see nothing broken and the slide release is touching the action arm. Not sure what is going on this shotgun was manufactured in 1992. Any help would be much appreciated. Plan on taking to a gunsmith on friday. Figure see what comes up here and if its a simple fix before then.
Also before cleaning if I were to point the barrel towards the floor and wiggle the forend a bit was able to rack back a few inches before it seized. Was able to return to battery, but not sure if this helps or not.

[Synchronizor]

You may have bent your action bar lock when you reinstalled the trigger plate assembly in the receiver; or you could have accidentally messed something up in the TPA while you had it out of the gun, like the action bar lock spring or the engagement between the action bar lock and the left connector. Either possibility could prevent the action from locking up, especially if - as you seem to have indicated - the gun had pre-existing issues.

When you close the action but it doesn't lock into battery, does the slide release pop out from the trigger guard, or does it stay retracted as when the action is open?

I've been trying to help another user identify the cause of a lockup issue with a 12ga 870 that sounds like the same thing you were experiencing with your 870 before you took it apart. There may well be something in that thread that would help your troubleshooting process. I'll let you read through that, but I'll copy over a set of pictures I took of the action bar lock & action bar on my 12ga 870:



I don't have a 20ga 870 to take pictures of, but the mechanism should be similar. I'm heading over to one of the local gun stores later tonight to take apart some of their 870s and get some measurements, footage, and pictures for some upcoming videos. If they have any 20ga 870s on the rack, I'll take a look at their guts and see if I can get some pictures.

[1775usmarine]

After I posted this found your reply and took another look at the shotgun. The tab does move a bit but not sure how it looks normally. I can see it engages inside but it only touches the tip of the action bar. I'm not too familiar with terms fairly new to shotguns. Would I have to replace the action spring if its bent or could I get away with trying to bend it back in place?

[Synchronizor]

There's an exploded diagram of the gun and a detailed parts list in the back of your owner's manual. If you didn't get an owner's manual with your gun, you can download a PDF version from Remington's website. You can also download a parts price list here that's useful if you end up ordering parts. At the moment, the download link on that page is for the 2012 list, not the 2013 list. None of the part numbers should have changed, but expect the actual prices to be a little higher (though the difference is probably no more than a dollar or two for small parts like the action bar lock), and it's missing a few items that were introduced this year (but that shouldn't be an issue for you.

The action bar lock is supposed to hold the very end of the action bar, see the image I posted above. I checked a 20ga 870, the mechanism is essentially the same.

If one of the parts is just bent a little, you may be able to bend it back as it should be, but I wouldn't go trying to modify anything yourself until you know exactly what the problem is. If you give me some more information and ideally some pictures, I'll do what I can to try to help you with this; but it may be less of a hassle to just take it to a gunsmith. A lot of the parts that could potentially be causing your problem are not very easy to replace, so if we do identify the cause or causes of your problem here, and those parts need to be replaced, you'll likely end up visiting a gunsmith anyway.

[1775usmarine]

After returning from the gunsmith. He said who over took the trigger assembly apart did not put back together right. Problem is now solved.

[Synchronizor]

That's good to hear. Did he mention specifically which parts were causing the problem?