Remington 870 express

[Rover]

The extractor is not the issue. It is the base of the shell swelling and sticking. A solid steel extractor and the MIM is the exact same part but manufactured differently so they work exactly the same. In fact, the MIM process was so perfect that Remington found a way to make the solid steel one to very close MIM Extractor Specification and these have been being shipped for about 6 months. Of course if just want to spend the $16.95 on a new part to replace a perfectly good part there is nothing wrong with that.

If you look at the below picture you will see the 3rd from the right is the old solid steel. The 2nd from the right is the MIM and the 1st in line is the new solid steel that after years of trying Remington has finally made it very close specifications of the MIM. And for anyone curious the last in line is for the 11-87.

Also, since this comes up every time MIM parts are mentioned. There are other MIM parts in every 870 including your Wingmaster and Police and they can not be changed out, why? Because they only make those parts in MIM

It is possible that the guy that bought a new extractor for an old gun simply had an issue with it, however, I would have to see his old one as I have never seen a MIM extractor fail or even become dull. But there are first for everything.
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Great explanation, and it's worth adding that when the action is locked up like the OP's, the extractor does exactly nothing. It wouldn't matter if you removed the extractor all together, the gun would function (or fail to function in this case) the same. If you can freely move the action, but it won't pull the spent shell out of the chamber, that's an extractor issue.

I'll echo what everybody else said, clean it, wipe the end of the chamber lightly with oil, and if you can, get away from the crap-tacular shells. I find that the Federal Top Guns run better in all my guns, but even my Citoris and Berretta semi-autos hate the Winchester junk. The Federal Top Guns are cheaper too.

Going forward, it's going to happen again, no matter what unless you clean a lot and shoot a little, a light bump on the ground or a table while holding the gun by the fore-end will clear it in an instant.

[LMan57]

Well I changed mine and works for me I will have to see if I still have it around if so I will post a picture. As far as cleaning I always clean my guns and have been known to clean my shotgun between rounds of trap.

[aippi]

Well I changed mine and works for me I will have to see if I still have it around if so I will post a picture. As far as cleaning I always clean my guns and have been known to clean my shotgun between rounds of trap.

Yours could have been chipped on the end or damaged in some way. If you looked at the base of the spent shell and saw a deep indent where the extractor was engaging it then that extractor was working as designed and the issue was the shell swell was tight in the chamber. If your extractor was broken it would have been slipping off the base of the shell and your action would have come back and left the spent shell in the chamber.

Often the issue comes when using this cheap steel based target stuff and the shooter is racking back immediately after the shell fires. The steel base is hot and has expanded and is making it difficult to extract If the shooter waits a few seconds the shell base cools off some and can be extracted. This indicates the ammo and a dirty chamber as the issue.

[003]

While it may be a simple fix that you can handle at home, you may want to consider sending to AIPPI and let him work his magic. I recently send him a very old beat to crap 870 receiver, and asked him to build it into a 100% reliable first class home defense/LE duty weapon.

I had to check and recheck the serial number to make sure it was in fact the same gun when I got it back. Looks new, operates smooth as silk and is as solid as a tank. Never hurts to let a pro take a look. Chances are you will never need it for the intended purpose, but if you do knowing it was “blue printed” by a pro is more than worth the cost.

Don't let the idea of shipping a gun discourage you. A very simple straight forward process.

[LMan57]

Yours could have been chipped on the end or damaged in some way. If you looked at the base of the spent shell and saw a deep indent where the extractor was engaging it then that extractor was working as designed and the issue was the shell swell was tight in the chamber. If your extractor was broken it would have been slipping off the base of the shell and your action would have come back and left the spent shell in the chamber.

Often the issue comes when using this cheap steel based target stuff and the shooter is racking back immediately after the shell fires. The steel base is hot and has expanded and is making it difficult to extract If the shooter waits a few seconds the shell base cools off some and can be extracted. This indicates the ammo and a dirty chamber as the issue.

On my 870 Express it would slip off not all the time but becoming more frequent. I had case swell happen but that was shooting it as fast as I could pump it and it got hot. I have not found my old extractor yet but I remember it did look the little claw or what ever you call it had a chip missing.

[Nathanc]

Strange all the "don't use Winchester " replies as that was pretty much all I put through it, without fail I may add. I suppose after 10 years and countless trap and skeet rounds something finally wore our. On another note I saw something about the stock extractor being a softer metal and could identify it by the lines. Is there any truth to this theory?

[aippi]

The difference in hardness of the MIM part and the forged steel one is not relevant to the performance. The extractor pulls against soft thin steel bases or brass basses. As you can see from my other post the MIM has a ridge across it. This is so they can identified from the forged one.

As for the replies. They are talking about a specific type of Winchester, the "Winchester Universal" target loads. That is one that causes issues.

[The Last American Hero]

My SuperMag was constipated on the cheapest low brass bird shot, but worked fine on Rem brand cheap low brass for a $1 more per 100 shots.

But I still think its shameful that Remington hasn't seen fit to fully correct their long standing 'weak extractor' on the otherwise wonderful 870. How much would it cost at the factory to tweak the design?

IIRC this isn't a problem on the super cheap Chinese clones.

Good luck America.

[aippi]

My SuperMag was constipated on the cheapest low brass bird shot, but worked fine on Rem brand cheap low brass for a $1 more per 100 shots.

But I still think its shameful that Remington hasn't seen fit to fully correct their long standing 'weak extractor' on the otherwise wonderful 870. How much would it cost at the factory to tweak the design?

IIRC this isn't a problem on the super cheap Chinese clones.

Good luck America.

Not according to other post. This mess ammo has issues in all models and in all types of actions. It is the ammo not the gun. Many forums have multiple post that confirm this and many have search functions should you want to research it further.

[LMan57]

I will be taking my 870 out tomorrow to shot some trap, Life is Good..

[duckman1]

My sons Wingmaster was doing the same thing with steel in the duck blind a through cleaning fixed it right up.

[The Last American Hero]

Not according to other post. This mess ammo has issues in all models and in all types of actions. It is the ammo not the gun. Many forums have multiple post that confirm this and many have search functions should you want to research it further.

THX, I'll defer to your expertise.

But I still hear in Moss VS Rem comparisons that Moss's twin extractors are considered better than the Rem system.

Any reason the Rem single extractor is better than Moss, besides saving cost of a 2nd claw?

Seems like a "working man's shotgun" should be able to run crappy, possibly semi-damaged ammo without issues, with the finest points of shotgun niceness being secondary.


PS-IIRC it was Walmart's Fed ammo, not Win, but you also had explained I cooked the packing grease by not cleaning chamber before first shots.

[aippi]

No, the dual Extractors are superior for issues like cheap ammo and dirty chamber. Keep in mind that the Mossberg 500 was simply a Remington 31. In 1950 Remington came up with a superior design and named it the 870. The name came from the fact that the raw materials to build the gun at that time was $8.70. So Remington abandoned the model 31. In 1960 Mossberg picked it up and made some changes to it and thus the Mossberg 500. It is a good shotgun that performs well. The dual Extractors and the location of the safety make it preferred by some but are not enough to make me a Mossberg user over the 870. Also, I simply don't have extraction issues nor do many.

The entire issue has been the result of cheap ammo and other factors. Another contributor to this was that guys would buy a new 870 and shoot it right out the box. The guns are manufactured and then go to Distributors. Gun Shops purchase from Distributors and those guns may have been in their warehouse for up to a year. The guns then sit in the gun rooms of the Gun Shop for up to months. So, Remington coats these guns with a protective coating. You can see it on a white rag if you wipe down a new in the box 870. Since the chamber and bore are bare metal they are coated also. So some newby buys his 870 and right out of the box he starts shooting this cheap ammo. The protective coating in the barrel gums up and makes the extraction issue worse. If he would have cleaned the chamber and bore he may have still had the issue with cheap low base steel target mess but it would not have been as bad. Anyone who pulls a new gun out of the box and starts banging away deserves what they get. I assure you most every member here cleans a new gun before hitting the range.

So the Newby is having extraction issues. He comes to a forum and post this and all the haters jump in on it as a Remington issue, which it is not. I is more because of the internet and the fact that the Remington sells more 870's then any other brand of pump shotgun, it begins to seem that there is some kind of issue. There is not.

The OP had an older 870 so is issue has nothing to do with anything but the ammo and dirty chamber.

[DArBad]

Good post^^^^^^ " Aippi. But what about the advise given that owners should "polish " the chambers of the new Remington 870s?

[aippi]

I clean every new gun before I shoot it What I am referring to is to clean the chamber and barrel with one of the cleaning/polishing rods I use. This gets all that mess out of the chamber so it does not gunk up in there from the heat. The steel wool simply heats up the chamber and pulls any mess out of the pores of the steel. You don't oil the chamber and bore of a shotgun unless it is going into long term storage. All these guns are subject to sitting in distributors warehouse and gun shops before they get to you. Get that mess out of them before you shoot a new one.

It makes sense to clean and inspect any new gun before you fire it. I bet a Post of what guys have found in and on a new gun right out of the box would be a good one. I could start it with I found a small piece of what appeared to be a Band-aid in the action of a new 870 and another time I found what appeared to be a broken piece of a small spring in an AR receiver but it was not any part of that rifle. Never know what is in there. So if someone wants to start a fun post there is one for them to start and be sure to add what you found missing that should have been there.