DISAPPOINTING FIRST TRIP TO THE RANGE WITH MY 870 TACTICAL

[BigBird73]

Went to my local range today.. Put a couple 1 oz. slugs throug it and a reduced recoil HD round with no problems. I then proceeded to go through a box of winchester 2 3/4 7 1/2 s and after first 5 or 6 the the pump actionstarted sticking and wouldn't slide back.. I had to really jerk it to get it to work.. toward the end I almost thought it was stuck permanently.. it seemed to me it would only bind up or what ever till the last couple rounds of a full 6 shot loading. I was truly surprised the world famous 870 was doing this..?!! was told to "lube" it a little.. any advice from you guys?

[ponycarman]

Try some different ammo. There have been alot of problems reported with the cheaper winchester ammo. Sometimes the 870 needs to be kinda broke in. You can slick it up yourself but shooting it will too. Most issues will work itself out. But I'll almost bet its has some to do with the ammo.

[BigBird73]

YOU WERE RIGHT! I spoke with the guy I bought it from and his first question was if I was using the aluminum cheapo winchester or a brass headed shotshell. I am glad that was the issue. He is a cool guy. He is buying a case of some good remington with brass and is gonna swap me three boxes of the remington for three of my wichester. He says his mossberg will feed it fine. Thanks for the info and answer.

[Kentactic]

If its an HD gun make sure you grind and polish the burrs on the locking lug tab that are causing the issue. In many cases quality ammo can jam up too. On an HD gun thats not acceptable.

[Synchronizor]

YOU WERE RIGHT! I spoke with the guy I bought it from and his first question was if I was using the aluminum cheapo winchester or a brass headed shotshell. I am glad that was the issue. He is a cool guy. He is buying a case of some good remington with brass and is gonna swap me three boxes of the remington for three of my wichester. He says his mossberg will feed it fine.

The Winchester Universal shotshells are steel, not aluminum, but nearly all shotshells these days have steel bases; even the brass-colored ones are usually just steel that has been plated or washed to look like brass. Steel isn't as elastic as brass, but this isn't a big deal in shotshells, which run at far lower pressures than pistol or rifle ammunition. The problem with the cheap Winchester shells is that they try to save a few pennies by using very thin steel, which tends to over-expand and hang up in shotgun chambers, especially new ones that haven't been broken in yet.

Last year a group of friends I rented a house with back when I was an undergrad were in the area for a funeral, and we went out shooting afterward (you know you're in Idaho when...). Between us, we had 2 well-used 870s and a Mossberg 500, plus a number of handguns. One of the guys brought a bunch of those cheap Winchester shells, and every shotgun there was jamming on them.

Your gun will become more tolerant of crappy ammo as you break it in, but I would still recommend avoiding those Winchesters. You can find better-quality ammunition for cheaper. In my area, the Winchester Universals collect dust on the shelf at $25 per 100-shell bulk-pack, while people buy Federal or Estate shells with the same loads in 250-round cases for $55.

[BigBird73]

ok will do thanks again synch.. you know alot about all things 870 and shotgun.. what is your background?

[Synchronizor]

ok will do thanks again synch.. you know alot about all things 870 and shotgun.. what is your background?

Mechanical engineer & materials scientist with a good memory and a habit of spending way too much time reading anything I can get my hands on about whatever I find interesting. That's the short version, at least.

[BigBird73]

OK I get it.. my father was the same way.. if he wanted to know how to do something ect he could read about it and do it.. period.. for example he taught himself to do take offs from blue prints for his brother's fabrication company to order the steel and materials ect to do jobs.. he was a mechanic for a cheverolet house and when new rear ends or something came through and nobody knew how to work on them he was the goto guy to read how and show the other mechanics lol.. well I am glad I bumped into you and made a new freind synch.. thanks for all the info and solid advice!