Remington 870 Maintenance Checks

The Remington since its original release. With large military/ law enforcement contracts and a heavy civilian market these shotguns have proven that they can be durable and trusted guns. With that though, there are some differences between both Law Enforcement 870s such as the Police, compared to the Express that is heavy in the civilian consumer market. With these differences also comes some maintenance practices that need to be done and some issues to watch out for.

There are quite a few differences between the Remington 870 Police and Express models. The main difference is the location being made. Let’s start with information straight from the Remington Arms Law Enforcement Division. 870 Police shotguns go through a special 23 station check-list—ranging from visual inspection, functional testing, test firing, and final inspection. All Police shotguns are assembled in a "special build area" at the plant in Ilion, New York.

This section is secured and serves only to build LE and Military shotguns, with the same factory personnel working at that assignment each shift. All parts that enter this special build area are visually inspected by hand to ensure top quality and functionality. There are quite a few specific parts differences. Due to heavy recoil in buck and slug loads, all 870 Police guns have a longer magazine spring which ensures positive feed and function.

A heavier sear spring is used to generate a reliable, positive trigger pull between five and eight pounds. A heavier carrier dog spring is used to ensure when the carrier elevates the shell, it will be held there until the bolt can push it into the chamber. This ensures positive feeding when using heavier payload rounds. Police shotguns do not have an ISS (Integrated Safety System) which is a locking mechanism on Right, a bar stock 870 extractor made for the Police Model.

The extractors are only pressed into the bolt so be sure to check for missing or broken extractors, especially if it is a MIM extractor. These can easily be changed out for a bar stock model if it can be found to purchase. com. the safety of commercial shotguns. This type of locking mechanism can cause delay to an officer who needs the weapon but does not have the appropriate key. Law Enforcement shotguns have the standard, proven, cross bolt safety.

The forend on the Express model is longer and not compatible with many police shotgun vehicle racks. The Police shotguns utilize the heavy duty SPEEDFEED Stocks and forends. The Express model will not allow for the addition of an extension tube without physical modification to the tube and barrel, which can nullify the warranty. The Express model has a bead blast blue finish while the Police models utilize either high luster bluing or Parkerization.

The Express model utilizes a synthetic trigger housing while the Police models use a compressed metal housing. The Police shotgun barrel is locked down with a ball detent system in conjunction with the magazine cap compared to a lesser grade synthetic magazine spring retainer lock down as used on the Express system. The receivers used in Police guns are "vibra honed" to smooth out rough finishes and remove burrs before parkerizing or bluing.

Police shotguns use machined ejectors and extractors, as opposed to powdered metal cast which are utilized on the Express models. Due to this long list of differences between models, some maintenance issues will pop up more in one model versus the other.

Loose Magazine Tube One main maintenance issue that has been seen in the Express models has been the loosening of the magazine tube cap. The Express tubes do not have a detent that keeps the cap from twisting like the police guns do. Instead, it has just the spring, magazine spring retainer, and cap. Remington calls this the "internal ratchet system".

Due to less tension, the cap will loosen pretty easily during firing, gun dependent obviously due to An easy way to add extra tension to the Remington 870 ratcheting system magazine tube retainers. It is recommended to buy two just in case one doesn’t give enough tension on the cap. Right a more common and thinner extractor. These will break at the very top end and will often break around the rivet. less Quality Inspections (QI) on the Express models.

While this isn’t detrimental due to being able to just simply put your hand to the cap to check for tightness in between firings, it can cause point of impact changes during firing if not checked. The magazine cap tension is what’s pushing that barrel to fully seat inside the receiver. If the cap is loose, the barrel is too. This looseness issue can be mitigated with a three dollar solution: the Wilson Combat Wave Washer, formally listed as "Washer, Wave, Extension Tube, 870".

This washer is simply meant to fill the gap between the spring and the cap to create tension. It is recommended to buy two just in case one won’t do the job. Set the washer inside the mag tube under the cap and tighten with some soft jaws. Don’t go wild and damage the threads but make sure the cap is on tight. Then take a paint pen and mark it with a witness mark. This will aid in quickly identifying if it has become loose.

For Police guns, the main thing that will happen on the magazine tube is that the detent will fall out or seize. When verifying the detent and spring for functionality, listen for the clicks as you’re tightening the cap on. No clicks? There may be an issue; take a peek at the detent. The detent is installed just by a quick punch. If that stake isn’t deep enough the detent could easily fall out. When you are inspecting, go ahead and throw a drop of oil on there too to ensure it doesn’t seize.

Bent Action Bars Police guns are often employed by some pretty rough handling individuals. While rough handling is sometimes warranted during training and missions, disassembling and assembling the gun is not one of those times. Parts on the police guns get damaged very often when this happens, such as the bending of the action bars.

When installing the forend it should be as easy as sliding the forend over the barrel slowly, then pressing the right shell latch and easing the action bars in, then the same with the left. What some operators do instead is to force the forend into the receiver, causing the action bars to hang up and bend. If those bend there can be issues with the action bar lock and an issue with the forend being bent, putting pressure on the barrel.

Broken Ejectors Ejectors can also be broken when it comes to assembling the Remington 870 too fast. Instead of gently sliding the barrel inside the receiver to rest around the ejector some operators will install it aggressively, causing the barrel to impact the ejector and crack or break it. This can happen on both These witness marks show that the cap did still have to be tightened again after a 500 round day.

the Police and Express guns. Also, depending on how old that police gun is and how that agency is ordering their parts you may have a stronger or weaker ejector. The new ejectors that have been coming out of Remington have a thinner wall that directly impacts the case. It used to be a much thicker hunk of On right, a seventeen-inch magazine spring that is meant for four-round tubes, not six. This can lead to "shell surge". stamped steel and now it is about half that size.

The replacement of the ejector takes two special staking tools and a Dremel along with two new rivets, ejector spring, and ejector. Which right now there is no telling if those parts will be easy to acquire or not. Loose Shell Latches Loose shell latches have been seen to be a problem on both the Police and Express guns. Shell latches are staked in. You can do one or two stakes on each side, just ensure that it is staked down tight. If not, the latches have been shown to become loose and even fall out.

Every now and again, field strip the gun and verify that there is no movement on the latches. Feeding Issues Finally, one of the more exciting issues found on the Remington 870 platform was found during a defensive shotgun class. A student was having failures to feed out of the magazine tube. He would run the pump gun pretty quickly so we handed it off to another shooter to try who also experienced the same issue.

The operator would shoot, fully cycle the action and eject the spent round, then the following live round would stay in the mag tube. He tried multiple barrels to ensure it wasn’t getting caught These can wear out, both the plastic and fabric type. Also ensure that if you have anything mounted on the forend such as a light or foregrip that it is still tight as well. there, multiple different types of ammo, but nothing worked. Finally, he decided to try a different mag spring.

As he was disassembling the tube to install an extra power mag spring he found the issue. Remington installed a 17-inch spring which should be in a fourround tube, not a six rounder. After knowing this, it was pretty clear that the shooter was experiencing is commonly called "shell surge". Taught in the Remington Armorer’s Course, this can happen when you are running a short magazine tube spring but also when running the action very fast.

In simple terms, you aren’t giving enough tension and time to let the next round feed out of the tube. Feeding issues can also be caused by chambers being rough. This is more prevalent on the Express models due to quicker machining and assembling. If you are starting to see some feeding issues, take some steel wool or super fine crocus cloth and clean it up. Don’t forget to oil. Aftermarket Parts As far as aftermarket parts and some failures, just ensure that things stay tight.

Shotguns have a lot of recoil and it isn’t unusual for things to start coming loose, just like the magazine tube cap. The Magpul SGA Stock has been seen to come loose after about 300 rounds of firing and needed to be tightened with the hex wrench to ensure there was no play. This can probably be mitigated with some Loctite if you choose but should still be checked. The Remington 870 Police or Express is meant to be handled, well, like a shotgun. That is, as a heavy recoiling and actioned gun.

These issues that come up are the reason that organizations have annual inspections. These inspections don’t take along time and will help you ensure your shotgun is always ready. AG