I just purchased my first Remington 870 4+1 model 25549. I have read a lot of reviews about ejection, feeding and finish on the new 870. I am new to the 12 gauge platform and need suggestions on this issues. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
New 870
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Chief Brody
- Senior Shotgunner
- Posts: 223
- Joined: Fri Jul 27, 2012 4:19 am
- Location: Long Island, NY
Re: New 870
Hi, welcome and congrats on the new 870.
First things first, the issues you read about may not effect your gun at all. Take it to the range and see how it runs. With high quality* ammunition, you should experience zero malfunctions. If your new to pump shotguns, an important bit of advice for running the gun reliably - never baby it. It's impossible to be too hard when you're racking the slide back and forth. If you do go too soft, however, you can jam up the gun. Learning the right rhythm and force to running the gun is not at all difficult - it's fun.
*High quality ammunition. An explanation for the asterisk: If you get the cheapest ammo you can find, often bulk-sized packages of Winchester birdshot, malfunctions may occur. This cheap crap has failed in many a shotgun, mine included. Now, regardless of price, I avoid Win shells. In my personal 870 Police Mag, Federal, Remington, Rio, and Fiocchi all run perfectly. Of course, your mileage may vary.
If you do experience malfunctions with various brands on a new 870, what you might want to try is polishing the chamber. If you're a handy guy (or girl), it's very easy. You should have a bore brush on a rod from your cleaning kit, chuck that into a power drill. Wrap a bit of steel wool around/into the brush and put some gun oil on it. With the barrel in a vice, put the brush into the chamber and power up the drill. Really go at it for a few minutes and you should see a mirror shine in the chamber. And that's it. Simple job. If you use good ammo, you may never see a need to do it. So, job No. 1 is to hit the range and shoot the snot out of the new gun. The action will become nice and slick and it'll only get better the more you shoot it. A little bit of lube on the action bars is a good idea, too.
Keep the questions coming, there's a lot of great info on this board. Have fun and shoot safely -
Steve
First things first, the issues you read about may not effect your gun at all. Take it to the range and see how it runs. With high quality* ammunition, you should experience zero malfunctions. If your new to pump shotguns, an important bit of advice for running the gun reliably - never baby it. It's impossible to be too hard when you're racking the slide back and forth. If you do go too soft, however, you can jam up the gun. Learning the right rhythm and force to running the gun is not at all difficult - it's fun.
*High quality ammunition. An explanation for the asterisk: If you get the cheapest ammo you can find, often bulk-sized packages of Winchester birdshot, malfunctions may occur. This cheap crap has failed in many a shotgun, mine included. Now, regardless of price, I avoid Win shells. In my personal 870 Police Mag, Federal, Remington, Rio, and Fiocchi all run perfectly. Of course, your mileage may vary.
If you do experience malfunctions with various brands on a new 870, what you might want to try is polishing the chamber. If you're a handy guy (or girl), it's very easy. You should have a bore brush on a rod from your cleaning kit, chuck that into a power drill. Wrap a bit of steel wool around/into the brush and put some gun oil on it. With the barrel in a vice, put the brush into the chamber and power up the drill. Really go at it for a few minutes and you should see a mirror shine in the chamber. And that's it. Simple job. If you use good ammo, you may never see a need to do it. So, job No. 1 is to hit the range and shoot the snot out of the new gun. The action will become nice and slick and it'll only get better the more you shoot it. A little bit of lube on the action bars is a good idea, too.
Keep the questions coming, there's a lot of great info on this board. Have fun and shoot safely -
Steve
Let us speak courteously, deal fairly, and keep ourselves armed and ready. - T.R.
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Synchronizor
- Elite Shotgunner
- Posts: 3022
- Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2012 8:04 am
- Location: The Inland Northwest
- Contact:
Re: New 870
I'll echo what Chief Brody said, and also add that you should clean your barrel's chamber thoroughly before you take your gun shooting for the first time. Remington coats the chambers with grease at the factory to keep them from rusting during shipping & storage. If you don't clean that stuff out, it can contribute to extraction problems. The manual instructs new owners to do this, but a lot of folks don't read the manual before trying to use their new shotgun.