[O_E_J]

Anyone know why my 870 would not eject low brass 2.75" shells? I have only run about 200 rounds through it, everything on the scale you could think of but the 2.75 low brass is a no go. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[MallardKiller]

Hey is your 870 a 12 gauge or a 20 cause i have a 20 gauge 870 express mag and it kicks out any shell i put in it i just picked a 12 gauge 870 express super magnum and it kicks out the shells fine so far um maybe one reason is that when you shoot it the tip of your shells are expanding and getting stuck or else the low brass gets caught in the little hammer thing other than that i couldnt tell ya hope you can figure it out

Daniel

 

[Greg Wile]

Check your chamber it may have a rough area right at the edge area of the brass causing the low brass shells to stick. Is it just the 2.75 low brass or do all low brass shells stick?

Keep the sport alive, take a kid hunting / fishing.

 

[had]

i had that problem with the low low brass dove loads. i thought it was the shells expanding and sticking. mabey from being the cheaper shells the tolerances are not all to spec? i never figured it out cause i didn't really care when i was dove hunting, duck loads would eject like butter so i was cool.

 

[O_E_J]

Only happening on 2.75 as far as I can tell, 3" were a bit pricey to "test" on but I will try them. 2.75 highbrass duck load and 3, and 3.5 work fine, no problems at all. I will call remington tomorrow and see what they say, I just found it odd that the low brass would give me so much problems, and I mean every darn one of them stuck.

 

[duckdog]

This sound's really odd for a 870, I own three of them and have never had a problem with them. My only idea would be to clean your gun extremly well, there is a spot on the reciever where a little arm grab's the brass and eject's it out of the gun, perhap's this is dirty. Take some gun scrubber and jet this out well, and oil it, hopefully this will solve your problem. If that don't work I would contact Remington and complain, this is a rarity for these gun's not to eject.

 

[had]

just for the record it was like one shell in 75 that i would have trouble ejecting, not every one. you prob. have a problem.

 

[cmsu870]

try cleaning your gun with a thiner gun oil. I've have been told this to do on automatics, so, maybe it will work on your 870. Also, i would try taking it all the way apart and cleaning it very good. I know that i haven't had any troubles with my 870 super mag, so, hopefully that works.

 

[Swamp Puppy]

are they sticking in the chamber or not ejecting when you pump the slide? and you say that you have tried to run 3" and 3.5" shells through it? in one post you alluded that they were too expensive to "test" which led me to believe that you hadn't tried them.

 

[O_E_J]

My appolagies swamp puppy, I have duck loads that I tested. I did not buy any high brass lead shot. The shells are sticking in the chamber making it so the slide will not "shuck" them as in; bang, locked up slide, have to beat against my leg to pop them out. With high brass steel in 2.75, 3 and 3.5 work just fine, cycle like a dream. I have cleaned it and use the recomended remoil to clean and oil so based on responses and using manufacture recomended cleaning and solvents I will call them.

 

[Swamp Puppy]

That is a strage dilemma you're got for yourself OEJ. it can't be a problem with the shells being too "hot"...the duck loads are probably burning more powder and at higher pressures than the filed loads you are shooting.

sounds like a problem for Remington or a qualified gunsmith. The Rem 870 is a commonly used and proven field gun. something like this has either got to be a problem with the gun itself or maybe a bad batch of ammo. if you have tried different brands of field shotshells and they all do it...send that gun back and get another one. or at least get that one fixed. Remington should do either of those things for you at no cost other than shipping.

 

[Pete-pec]

You said these were new steel shot shells? The reason I ask, is that I shoot trap and have seen guys struggle ejecting low brass shells with their pump guns, and autos when the re-loads they were shooting weren't sized. Guys who shoot trap with their nice singles and over-unders have their chambers over-bored so they can shoot re-loads without sizing their shells every time. If your not familiar with re-loading, sizing means to compress the brass to it's original dimension as if it was factory new. I can speak from experience on this, every time you shoot a shot shell, the brass expands a little every time, and maybe that's what is happening to your shells new or used. I believe I read that you were shooting remington brand shells, and I shoot that perticular brand in that perticular size flawlessly out of my auto, so it leads me to believe that you may have some sort of gun problem. As stated previously, a minor imperfection could cause havoc. A burr in your chamber smaller than a grain of salt could be enough to cause your problem.

 

[thaner]

If they are reloads sizing may be the issue. You can have that problem if the reload was shot in a gun with a larger chamber dimension. This can happen with the high production guns. This is not usually a problem if the hull was fired from the same gun or a gun with a tighter chamber. I do not size brass from my target guns when shooting the same hull through the same gun. I do have to size the hulls if I shot them through my 870 as the chamber is bigger and they won't fit back into my target guns. This is only an issue in closing the gun because the brass is too big to fit back in the tighter chamber. If the hull is going in fine then it should expand on the shot, but then shrink back down a little after and come out OK. The hull should only stick in the barrel after the shot due to size issue if you have to force it in.

I would suspect a problem with the shells from the factory. If you can shot high brass with no problem you should be able to shoot low brass unless your have an issue with the hull as high brass expands more than low on the newer hull designs if the hull has a low base wad and the high brass has more surface to stick in the chamber.

Are the hulls loose enough you can blow them out or easily bump them out with a rod or are they really stuck in there? It could be the hulls are defective and the extractor is slipping off the rim or unable to extract. Check the rim width with a hunting load and see if they are similar. Also try a different brand of low brass hull to see if the issue is the same or it only happens with one box that may be defective.

Are there any marks on the hull when it comes out? Are there scratches on the brass or plastic? Dented or crushed edge on the front of the brass or nicks on the rim of the brass?.

 

[quackkiller]

Mine did it with the cheap $4.00 dove loads in both my 12 and 20. It didn't do it with every one. It would happen on about 3 or 4 shells out of each box.

 

[O_E_J]

The shells I use are not reloads, they are all new. I do know about the expanding metals and resizing the hulls. I did look at the brass and can see that there are scratched (not deep but more like sandpaper scratches) and on the low brass I did notice a little of an expansion bubble, I have shot almost 5 boxes through it and so far I have only had a series of 3 shells go smoothly. Yes these have been the cheap 4.00 a box lead loads, but I am only shooting at clays right now. I am going to give it another thourough cleaning and try a more expensive load of lead shot, both high brass and low brass to see if any results are different.

 

[870]

Do you know somebody that has an 870, if so run a few shells through his gun? If the shells check out ok with no prob, then switch barrels to see if your prob is in the barrel. Have him run some off; if his gun rejects them with your barrel, it's not your barrel. Then run some off with your gun, this will tell you if it's your action. If I was betting man I'd put my money it's your shells.

 

[had]

thats a great idea. if it jams on his gun with your barrel and not on yours with his barrel that would say alot.

 

[thaner]

Everything so far sounds like a bad run of ammo given it shoots OK with high brass. I have heard of rifle brass sticking if the charge is excessive, but I have never heard or it on shotgun shells.

Were all the shells from the same mfr. and lot? Have you tried another mfr's low brass load? Did anyone else try the loads you were shooting in their gun? Do they go in hard in the first place? Definitely sounds like they are sticking because of the marks on the brass, but it is unusual for a good hull to stick just due to expansion of the brass unless it was a very tight fit in the first place. Are the scratchs noticeable or very light? You usually get some fine marks just from loading and shooting but if they are noticabe it would be from the chamber fit.

If it is a gun problem then there should be signs. The barrel swap thing is a good idea. Feel inside your barrel. Is there a sharp edge or rim near the back of the chamber? Do you see anywhere in the chamber or in the action where there is brass rubbed off on the gun's metal?

It could be that there is a slight ridge in the back of the chamber allowing the brass to expand near the front and then the front of the brass catches as it moves back into the tighter area of the barrel chamber. This would be very unusual but theoretically it would explain the problem. It could be that the high brass shells have a high base wad and do not expand enough to cause the problem, but it doesn't seam likely.

I would have to go back and read everything again to check but have you shot any high brass since the problem started? It could just be that the gun has a problem that started about the time you started with the low brass and not a low brass issue at all. You may have said I just don't remember.

I find it very strange that high brass shoots Ok but low does not. It is usually the other way around as the high brass has more surface area to expand and drag.

I have seen a problem with oddball hulls that were wider at the rim and cause a problem with the ejector pushing out too far and causing a jamb, but if the hull has scratches on it then I would guess it was the hulls or the chamber.

 

[porkyk91]

I had the same problem with cheap low brass shells in my new 870 super mag. I contacted Reminton and they are sending me a new barrel under warrenty. They also told me how to fix it using a dremal tool. You need to look at another 870 barrel to compare and see how to grind your barrel. It will look like you are making it easy to feed when you grind a bevel in the breech of the barrel. looks like a ramp feed. Be very careful how you grind the breach. I also took a 12 ga wire cleaning brush and put it on a drill and polished the breach. Mine now works 100%. The best way is to take it to a gun smith.