870 express extraction issue... easy fix? See Post 33

[ilikeguns]

We have all heard of the 870 express extraction issues. To be brief, the shells stick, making the shotgun difficult to pump, forcing the user to find a way to slam the pump back to eject the shell.
I have purchased a replacement barrel for my 870 made by mossberg. Will this be an easy way to fix the issue or is there something more to it?

[aippi]

Getting a new barrel is not the easy fix. The fix is to get a wooden dowl wrap it with steel wool and polish the chamber. This issue is blown out of porportion. It is caused by cheap ammo and mostly on new barrels as they are coated to protect them in storage and shipping.

This ammo is causing extraction issues on all shotguns, not just 870 Express. I build Remington shotguns for a living and sell hundreds of these barrels a year that come off the Express HD. I polish each one that leaves this shop with that simple wooden dowl and steel wool in a drill and no buyer has ever claimed any extraction issue. Hundreds of them, not one, hundreds. So polishing the chamber is the answer. Also, this same polishing rig can be used each time you clean the weapon instead of bore snakes, ninja cleaning rods and all that other mess. I also use the same rod to keep the magazine tube polished and made a second one with a little less steel wool on it to keep the bore polished. You can see this home made rig on www.aiptactical.com. Find the how to video "tube Extension kit" watch the video and you will see this rig.

Buying an after market cheap barrel for a New Shotgun is not the answer.

[BigDogatPlay]

Above is absolutely solid advice. Good to go and much less expensive than replacing the barrel, even though the Mossberg made 870 barrels are pretty reasonably priced.

And the search tool is your friend... there are probably a dozen, maybe more, threads on this exact subject in the past few months. Seems like it comes up about every other week or so.

[che.gustavo]

Great solution! No more extraction problems here!

[rudeboy3]

Do your self a favor and listen to aippi, he's a class act as well as really knows his 870 facts. BTW when regarding wooden dowels, are there ones that actually connect to a drill? The ones I have seen are just like a wooden stick.

[aippi]

I get the regular *** hard wood dowels. 7/16th. I use a full pad for the chamber tool and 3/4 pad for the bore tool. Stick them in the drill chuck like a bit. Home Depot, Lowe's or any building supply place. while there go to the paint section and pick a bag of 000 or even 00 steel wool and a roll of tape.

You will be able to see when the steel wool needs changing as it will turn very dark from all the mess it removes from the weapon over time.

[rudeboy3]

Awesome thanks jd, I got it today and polished it and the mag tube...almost done with this project hopefully I finish it soon.

[gabe123]

Can you please post pictures? it'll help a lot. Thanks.

Getting a new barrel is not the easy fix. The fix is to get a wooden dowl wrap it with steel wool and polish the chamber. This issue is blown out of porportion. It is caused by cheap ammo and mostly on new barrels as they are coated to protect them in storage and shipping.

This ammo is causing extraction issues on all shotguns, not just 870 Express. I build Remington shotguns for a living and sell hundreds of these barrels a year that come off the Express HD. I polish each one that leaves this shop with that simple wooden dowl and steel wool in a drill and no buyer has ever claimed any extraction issue. Hundreds of them, not one, hundreds. So polishing the chamber is the answer. Also, this same polishing rig can be used each time you clean the weapon instead of bore snakes, ninja cleaning rods and all that other mess. I also use the same rod to keep the magazine tube polished and made a second one with a little less steel wool on it to keep the bore polished. You can see this home made rig on www.aiptactical.com. Find the how to video "tube Extension kit" watch the video and you will see this rig.

Buying an after market cheap barrel for a New Shotgun is not the answer.

[aippi]

I don't know how to post pictures on these sites and please, don't send me instructions on how to as it is all greek to me. If you want to see the polishing rod go to www.aiptactical.com and look at the video "Tube extension kit" as I use the same one to polish the mag tube.

[hcbr]

Getting a new barrel is not the easy fix. The fix is to get a wooden dowl wrap it with steel wool and polish the chamber. This issue is blown out of porportion. It is caused by cheap ammo and mostly on new barrels as they are coated to protect them in storage and shipping.

This ammo is causing extraction issues on all shotguns, not just 870 Express. I build Remington shotguns for a living and sell hundreds of these barrels a year that come off the Express HD. I polish each one that leaves this shop with that simple wooden dowl and steel wool in a drill and no buyer has ever claimed any extraction issue. Hundreds of them, not one, hundreds. So polishing the chamber is the answer. Also, this same polishing rig can be used each time you clean the weapon instead of bore snakes, ninja cleaning rods and all that other mess. I also use the same rod to keep the magazine tube polished and made a second one with a little less steel wool on it to keep the bore polished. You can see this home made rig on www.aiptactical.com. Find the how to video "tube Extension kit" watch the video and you will see this rig.

Buying an after market cheap barrel for a New Shotgun is not the answer.

aippi is right, I had a similar issue with my 870, polished everything inside the chamber with some steel wool cloth and some good ol sand paper, and all the junk left over was gone, and I shot 500 loads without any issues! listen to aippi! If you don't want to send it to Remy, or to a gun smith, a weekend worth of time and some elbow grease will do the trick!

[rudeboy3]

Ya polishing really does work, I actually just finished doing my mossberg to see if that will help its suckiness

[shoupdawg]

Do yourself a favor and listen to AIPPI...oh wait someone said that...good luck!

[SiRay6]

I went to home depot and I picked up 00 steel wool...is it too harsh? The only other one available was 0000?

JD, can you shed some light on the different steel wools to use (and when to use each respective rating)?

Also, I'm new to guns...but is the chamber the same as the action? You guys are using steel wool in the action as well as the barrel? If chamber is the same as action...do you guys use steel wool on a drill or is wiping it by hand is sufficient?

The barrel, I'll use a drill...but what do you recommend for the chamber, hand or drill?

Thank you in advance and I apologize if my questions are hard to understand.

-Ray

[aippi]

If you mean inside the receiver as the action, then no, there is nothing to polish in there. If you want to blast gunk out of there use a can of break and parts cleaner that you get from a local parts store as this is the same as gun blast but you get a can twice the size for half the money. Blast the receiver out then let it dry. I then spray a light coat of Rem Oil in there and blow that dry with my compressor, or you could use a blow dryer on low setting. this is not necessary every time you clean your weapon and once a year would be fine, or if the weapon gets soaking wet or is droppped in the sand.

0000 is OK for the polishing tool. I use 00 or 000 because I always have it on hand in the shop as I use it in another application.

[fnslpmark112]

Take it in to a Remington authorized service center. I had the same problem. They had to recut my chamber and polish the chamber.

The best part is that the service center will bill Remington for their mistake and punish this horrible company for the garbage they put out.

Forget the dowel thing. You shouldn't have to do things like this to a properly manufactured gun.