New to shotguns

[Tayta_Mayne]

Ok, so i am completely new to shotguns. I bought myself a reminghton 870 for my birthday and i love it. But about halfway through my box of shells i had a problem with the mag loading. I now have 3 shells stuck in the magazine. when i open the action it looks like there is a bar holding the shells in on one side. If anyone can help me out i would really appriciate it. And also my 870 came with the vent-rib barrel, i was told by the salesmen not to shoot slugs through it. One of my buddy's told me that all i need is an improved cylinder. Is this true, and if so are there any downsides to using this type of barrel for slugs, such a dicreasing the life span of my barrel? thank you in advance.

[exar]

It will decrease the life of your barrel or damage it if you fire slugs through it. Buy a new barrel that can fire slugs. Have you tried disassembling your shotgun? I cant say i've ever had a shell stuck in my magazine (at least nothing that a little prodding around won't fix).

[Ruger4570]

The little bar you are seeing is the shell stop/mag release. try pushing it towards the receiver and see if it will let you function. As far as shooting slugs through your barrel with a cylinder choke. No problem whatever, it will do absolutly NO harm to your gun. If you intend to shoot a lot of slugs or hunt with the gun I would tend to agree that another barrel with rifle sights or a scope mount would be prefered. It is hard to be accurate shooting slugs with just a bead on the gun, but at close range it will work.

[OneInTheChamber]

Just push it up. You'll be fine.

[riverdog]

IME shooting slugs is only limited by the choke. What is the current choke in the barrel? Is it a fixed choke or does it have removable choke tubes? If this is a newer 870, odds are it has a RemChoke barrel and you can replace the choke tube currently installed and replace it with an Improved Cylinder (IC) choke which should be fine. HTH

[Tayta_Mayne]

Ok, i had my buddy get the shells out. at first we thought something was wrong with the gun but now everything seems to be in order. and i have a modified choke in right now, thinking about getting the full choke and improved choke package.