870 Shell Lifter is stuck when action open

[Jonathan1977]

Hi 870 experts!

I was hoping someone could lend me a hand with this problem that's been driving me nuts.

The other day after cleaning my 870 Express (it's actually an 870 Tactical but basically an Express, right?), I noticed when the action is open, when I manually push the shell lifter into the up position, it won't go back down when i try to push it back down. Or i have to really really push hard down on it for it to go back down.

Note that closing the action via the pump pushes the shell lifter into the down position with no problem.

I recall it used to go down very easily when pushing it. I then deduced this is causing a cycling problem. Sometimes when I cycle a round into the chamber, it gets jammed and it looks like because the shell lifter is not going back to the down position. I have to really ram it in order to get the action to close.

The only thing I might have done during cleaning is I accidentally bent the action bars a bit. =( But i tried to fix it and the bars slide in and out so they should be straight enough?

In terms of troubleshooting, this is what i did:

1. removed barrel, action bars, bolt assembly, bolt carrier.
2. I reinserted the action bars only. I tested the shell lifter goes up and down with no problems.
3. As soon as i place the bolt assembly onto the action bars and insert that, that's when the shell lifter wont' return to the down position.

It almost feels like something is blocking the shell lifter but i'm not sure what?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

JT

[dawico]

When the action is open, shouldn't the lifter stay up to feed the next shell? If it could be pushed down easily I would think this could cause misfeeds. I don't have an 870 to test this on, but with my autos I have to close the action a little to push the lifter down. Close it a little and see if it releases the lifter. You may have a problem with your gun, but I don't think this is it.

[Jo6pak]

I just pulled my 870 out of the safe, and the shell lifter drops back down as I close the action. With the action open it is easily drops with very little force.

I can only advise a course of action that you may have probably done. And that is to thouroughly clean and lube the FCG.

Antoher, rather odd, way to check for binding may be what we do at work to check machinery parts.

1. Remove and thoroughly clean a degrease all the parts.
2. Apply white-out to areas where binding may occur
3. Re-assemble and work the action a few times.
4.Then remove the parts and look for areas where the white-out is scuffed off.

Don't know if this will work for a gun, but it may be worth a try.

[Jonathan1977]

Oops...i made a typo. See next post for clarification of problem. Thanks!

[Jonathan1977]

Jo6pak, the trigger group is pretty clean and i did inspect it, yes.

I'll just clarified what I did.

Steps of what i did so far:

1. removed barrel, action bars, bolt assembly, bolt carrier.

2. I reinserted the action bars into the receiver and after pushing the action release, I pushed the action bars all the way back. The shell lifter works fine.

3. I then did step 2 again but this time with the bolt assembly riding on the action bars. No bolt carrier and bolt...just the bolt assembly (that little metal thing with the jig-saw grooves that fits onto the grooves of the action bars).

This time when I push the action bars all the way back (to simulate the action being open), the shell lifter exhibits the problem. It can be pushed up but becomes "stuck" and it's very hard to push it down.


Is this pointing to a problem in the way the action bars are riding into the receiver? As I had mentioned earlier, I did accidentally bend the bars a bit but I tried to fix it. Maybe the bolt assembly is now riding too high or too low and somehow that's interfering? Do I need to lube the bolt assembly, action bars...?

That is the extent of my troubleshooting so far. :-|

JT

[Jo6pak]

Seems to me that you're on the right track. Sorry, I misread your first post and agree that the issue is probably not your trigger assbly

I'll disassemble mine as soon as I get a chance and see what I can see. I'll try to post back in the next couple days. But, hopefully you'll have it mended by then.

Good Luck

[Jonathan1977]

Haha ok. so i fixed the problem.

Using a rubber mallet, i tapped the action bars and bent them a tad lower. then when i reinserted the action bars along with the bolt assembly and bolt carrier...presto! the shell lifter is moving up and down nicely.

I wonder if this is an issue on the higher end 870s like the 870 Police or Wingmasters...?
Maybe the 870 Expresses are more picky or maybe not as finely finished. inside the receiver.

So lesson learned: Don't mess with the action bars on your 870...they are more finicky than you think :-P

[Jo6pak]

That's good news

I did strip mine down last night to try and figure it out. Man, was it dirty inside. It's been years since I totally stripped it down and it was in need of a good cleaning. As soon as I'm done farting around on this forum, I need to go re-assemble it.

glad to hear you got it running again.

[bamaranger]

In my experience if you tweak the action bars on the 870, you are in a world of grief w/ any model.

I learned only recently that the 870 police guns are "special build" shotguns.

I had believed for a very long time that the "police" inscription was just a way to soak some more money out of agencies (and the taxpayer).