I rebuilt my 870 Wingmaster last year and posted it here. Since I want it to be my HD shotgun, I have been taking it out for reliability testing but its been jamming on me. I would chamber a round and shoot but I could not pull the slide back any farther than 1/4".

I'd have to slam the buttstock on the bench hard to eject the stuck shell. At first, I thought the slide release was getting stuck and not allowing me to pump the shotgun. I took it out today and paid more attention. It appears that the slide was released but the shell was stuck in the chamber. These were lo-wall 2-3/4" shells (Winchester gray box bird shot) with a silver colored shell head. I don't know if its aluminum or some kind of zinc alloy or what.

I visually verified that the slide was actually sliding back, indicating that it was released and that it was the shell that was stuck. I tried 10 rounds of Remington 3" brass high wall 00-buck and they all extracted fine.

Does my chamber need polishing? I installed an 18" blued Police magnum barrel. It was new in the box.

Does it just need to be broken in more or is this some sort of problem when running 2-3/4" shells through a magnum chamber?

Tony.

I'd try a different brand of low base shell in it. Use of 2.75" shells in a 3" chamber has never been a problem in any of my shotguns.

I say try other ammo as well. Have seen issues with Winchester shells doing the same or sticking in the chamber of shotguns.

Have seen the crap Winchester loads do that alot with our trap and 5 stand guys.with Winchester. I have found the Winchester shells will frequently split after one firing.

I would polish the chamber and switch to Federal loads.

We have seen the same problem with low priced Winchester ammunition and some 870s. Generally Federal works fine. It has been suggested that polishing the chamber might help, but it’s not something I’ve tried.

Sounds like more an ammo problem. One would think most any ammo would work, sometimes not.

I would just try a few types then avoid the stuff that doesn’t extract.

Winchester promo shells are well known for being jam-o-matic ammo. In skeet, trap, and sporting clays I've seen cheap Winchester bring the most reliable guns to their knees. Try different ammo.

Take an extremely sensitive instrument (your finger) and rub the inside of the chamber to see if you feel any roughness or machine marks. If none exist change ammo.

quote:

Originally posted by Fusternc:
I have found the Winchester shells will frequently split after one firing.

when I read the thread title that was my first thought.. "I wonder if he's using cheap Winchester ammo?" I've seen it far too many times and almost always in newer Remingtons.

I have my grandfathers old Ithica 37, that was built in the early 40's. It won't extract any of the cheaper shells with aluminum rims, it has to be a brass rim. You may be having the same problem.

Hope this helps

That’s relieving to know! I’ll switch to better ammo. I checked the chamber and it’s nice and smooth.

I’ve been wanting to check out the light recoil buckshot anyways, so I’ll pick up some of that.

Thanks for all the responses.

Tony.

The cheap winchester low base 2-3/4" shells have been problematic for more than 12 years and perhaps much longer. About the only shotguns they seem to work in most of the time in have hard chrome chambers and bore.

quote:

Originally posted by smithbc:
I have my grandfathers old Ithica 37, that was built in the early 40's. It won't extract any of the cheaper shells with aluminum rims, it has to be a brass rim. You may be having the same problem.

Hope this helps

Actually almost all shotgun shell bases are made of steel today. On the higher end shells they are plated with a thin coat of brass. Take a fridge magnet to the bottom of those “brass” shells and you will find it sticks.

I polish every 870 chamber I get my hands on. Cleaning rod in a drill with some steel wool.

quote:

Originally posted by captain127:
Actually almost all shotgun shell bases are made of steel today.

Yes, easily demonstrated with a magnet and even on Federal “Premium tactical law enforcement” shells.

I went out yesterday for some recoil therapy and tried Federal target, Remington nitro and Herters buckshot shotgun shells. All of them cycled without a hitch and I ran it hard. I ran about 60 rounds and my shoulder reminds me that I did it.

I've been trying to build my pump shotgun cycling instincts so I've been practicing cycling the action as fast as I can after lighting off a round. I got to the point that I can shoot three shells in a second.

I can only do this if there's two in the tube and one in the chamber. Any more in the tube and and the magazine spring (new factory Remington) can't keep up. I think I'll order a Wolff extra power magazine spring and see if that changes anything.

Again, I'm not doing this to show I'm a badass, I'm just doing it to develop pump cycling instincts/muscle memory. I'd like to be able to shoot and not even realize that I've pumped and chambered a new shell.

So at this point, I'll conclude that it's reliable enough to designate as a true HD shotgun. I'll just stay away from Winchester.

Now I just have to pick a nice light recoil buckshot load and load up.

Thanks for the help guys!

Tony.

I know I’m late to the party, but my buddy had a similar problem with his 870 Super Mag when shooting 3 1/2 shells. He took it to the gun store and they claimed they fixed it, but he kept having the issue.

I told him to let me have a look and see if anything jumped out as wrong. I’ve shot thousands of rounds through my 870 and cleaned it tons so what could it hurt?

Only thing I saw was the foregrip nut was really loose so I tightened it down really well. He never had the issue again. My best guess is since the foregrip was so loose it was allowing him to somehow torque the action arms enough that it didn't want cycle. I’m no gunsmith so take it with a grain of salt.