hometheaterman

I know many of you have read my posts on how I have a 870 Express Super Magnum and how often it seems to jam. It seems to jam pretty often but randomly with buckshot in either 3" or 3 1/2". I've seen it do stuff like not catch onto the old shell to pull it out of the chamber so it can send the new one in so the new one gets stuck, get stuck trying to kick the old shell out, just random stuff but it doesn't do too bad. Just enough to annoy you. The biggest problem it has is with 2 3/4" shells. It wants to lock up the pump after a few shots. As in to where you have to hit the pump hard several times before it will release. I thought it just didn't like 2 3/4" shells and I didn't worry about it as I hardly ever use them. Well, recently we decided to go skeet shooting and I used it as I was visiting family and it was the only shotgun I had taken. We went to Wal-Mart and bought some Federal 2 3/4" shells in the 7 1/2 shot. I really was expecting it to lock the pump up like it always has before. To my surprise it didn't. Shot great all day. It really amazed me as this is how it should work.

I was thinking maybe my gun magically fixed itself.

I had 90 some rounds of Winchester 2 3/4" at home so the next time I went skeet shooting I took it and some Federal. Shot a box or so of Federals first and all was well. Then I put one of the Winchesters in and not 3 or 4 shots before it locked the pump up. Got it back to normal and it did it again a few shots later. We didn't run many shells through it but enough to see this 2 or 3 times. I can't remember if it was 2 or 3. I had more Federals so we tried those out again. Well, it never did it once with those. The Winchesters worked great in my buddies Remington 1100. I'm thinking it's that my gun does not like Winchester 2 3/4" shells not that it doesn't like 2 3/4" shells. It shoots just like it should with Federal shells and really impressed me. This was the only type of jamming it did that was predictable. The jamming with the buckshot in 3" and 3 1/2" is just random stuff that happens it just happens way more than I think it should I'm wondering if it's ammo related. It patterns the best with Winchester 3" 000 buckshot. That I've tried anyway. Never tried a 3 1/2" 000 buckshot only 00. I wonder if Federal 000 buckshot would work better. I've tried 3 1/2" from then in 00 and my gun didn't pattern well with it. I'm not sure if the random jamming from that is related to the ammo type or not but I'm glad to know it does shoot 2 3/4" shells just not Winchesters.

Anyone else experienced this? My Browning Rifle is also very picky about ammo but it doesn't jam. It seems to feed it all fine it just is pretty inaccurate with most ammo. As in hitting all over a 8" target versus if you shoot a ammo it likes you can get a 1-2" group or so. It likes the Federal Fusion ammo the best.

I've never like Remington ammo I've always been a Winchester man while liking Federal okay but it seems like recently I'm really starting to like Federal more and more.

SWThomas

I told you so. My 11-87 hates Winchester also.

Shootstuff4570

i had the same problem with my 870 express super mag. when i first got it, it would randomly lock the pump up with 2 3/4 shells. i had no idea wut the problem was. but i jus kept shooting, and if it jammed, i would rack the pump realy hard and it would let loose. after a while i never had the problem again(no matter wut ammo i used). seemed like i jus had to break the gun in, cuz now i never have ne problems with it.

hometheaterman

Yeah I don't know why it doesn't like them. All this time I thought it was 2 3/4" shells when in reality it's just Winchester ones it doesn't like. Now I'm not sure about the random jamming it does with 3" and 3 1/2" as the Winchesters seem to do it less than the Remington shells I used to use. I've tried Federal too but not sure if I've had them jam or not. It seems like you can expect at least one jam every 20 shots with buckshot. Might not happen but you can almost expect it and it seems to be random and something different every time.

I thought about it needing breaking in as I was the original buyer of it but honestly I've probably put 2-500 shells through it. I want to say 500 but it may not have been that many to be honest. Then again it may have been. I shot a lot of 2 3/4" shells through it when I got it. I may have thought a lot would have been 100 or so though. Then I've probably shot 100 or maybe even 200 shells of buckshot through it. I'd think it should be broken in by now.

98Redline

It is possible that the jamming, while certainly more prevalent with the Winchester loads is an issue with the chamber finish being more rough than it should be, causing particuar shells to stick from time to time.

On shotgunworld.com there has been a bunch of discussions about guys with 870 express guns needing to polish the inside of the chamber to keep the gun from jamming.

To the best of my knowledge this should solve your issue


The discussion
http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/view...polish+chamber

The fix
http://refugeforums.com/refuge/showt...hreadid=175266

Hurricanespg

98redline hit the nail on the head. Polish it to the forcing cone and your issue will go away completely.

hometheaterman

That doesn't look like something I'm comfortable doing. Any idea's on how much I should expect to pay if I had a gunsmith do it?

stalkingbear

Actually,it's something you can do yourself as it's very simple to do. The things to think about however is you would have to buy/rent a forcing cone reamer,then hone. Another thing is you have to be EXTREMELY careful so as not to get "crooked" to line of bore. I charge 40.00$ for reaming & honing forcing cones but I'm NOT looking for work.

4rum

Split a dowell (5/16 or 1/2 diameter) wrap with 0000 steel wool till just tight in the chamber. Chuck the dowel in a cordless drill, keep a little lube on it and check often till chamber is bright. I also do this to remove plastic build up in the chamber. Plastic from the hulls, will build up. It has to be removed or the same jamming will result. Patience and common sense and you can polish the chamber and get rid of your jamming problem.

Hurricanespg

If you do it just like 4rum described you should not have any problems, just make sure you keep it pretty lubed up with the oil. I honestly don't know how much a gunsmith would charge. I think it costs around $40-$80 to polish the whole barrel so I imagine it would be a bit less than that.