Remington 870 action bars binding.

[paknheat]

Got a 870 in 20 gauge that came in for cleaning. It’s in fairly rough shape. Was dirty & rusty and had quite a bit of sand in the receiver, especially in the small spaces of the shell latches.

Action seemed fairly stiff, but then again I didn’t open it fully, just enough to get the barrel off & get it disassembled for cleaning.

Got it all cleaned up. Now when I put it back together the action bars will only cycle in about 1/2 way before they stop & bind up. I’m not seeing anything in the receiver to show what might be causing this problem.

Maybe the action bars are warped?

Any of y’all ever run across this kind of issue?


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[Dfariswheel]

Yes, action bars can get bent.

Use a straight edge to check for bends or kinks in the bars in the side and top views, and that both bars are aligned with each other.
(Look from the side for up or down bends or kinks, from the top for kinks or bends, and from the top and side for both bars aligned with each other.)

Next check to insure the bars are aligned with the tube both from the side and the top view. (Bars not bent up or down from the tube).

Inspect the bars and tube for burs or damage. If the retention collar that holds the wood on has been removed, look for damage to the threaded end. Metal here in the threaded area is very thin and easily damaged.
People will use needle nose pliers to unscrew the collar, and one slip can do damage.

Remove the wood and put only the tube and bar assembly on the magazine tube, slide the assembly to the rear and check for clean entry into the receiver.
Then slide fully to the rear looking for any binding until it's all the way back.

Check for loose or damaged shell releases.

[paknheat]

Originally Posted by Dfariswheel

Yes, action bars can get bent.

Use a straight edge to check for bends or kinks in the bars in the side and top views, and that both bars are aligned with each other.
(Look from the side for up or down bends or kinks, from the top for kinks or bends, and from the top and side for both bars aligned with each other.)

Next check to insure the bars are aligned with the tube both from the side and the top view. (Bars not bent up or down from the tube).

Inspect the bars and tube for burs or damage. If the retention collar that holds the wood on has been removed, look for damage to the threaded end. Metal here in the threaded area is very thin and easily damaged.
People will use needle nose pliers to unscrew the collar, and one slip can do damage.

Remove the wood and put only the tube and bar assembly on the magazine tube, slide the assembly to the rear and check for clean entry into the receiver.
Then slide fully to the rear looking for any binding until it's all the way back.

Check for loose or damaged shell releases.

Thanks for your input. Looking at the wood that the pump is made of, it has a split running the length of it. That may be what’s causing the loose fit and slop.

The right side shell latch sometimes will freeze up when trying to fit the action bar in. The left side action bar has a bit of a inboard to outboard wave to it.

I’m thinking the whole forend assembly needs to be replaced.


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[Dfariswheel]

Shell releases in the 870 are staked in place.
If they're loose or someone has removed them and not properly staked them, you can get problems.

Also, people seem to think a shotgun never needs cleaning, so it's not unusual to find an 870 with a lot of gunk impacted underneath the shell releases.
You can clean them out by liberally spraying a gun scrubber under them, drying, and re-lubricating.

Of course a cracked hand grip is not good. Before spending money on an entire metal assembly, test it as above. It may only need the wood.

Often you'll see an 870 with loose shell releases and they seem to work with just the trigger group holding them, but they need to be staked.
Brownell's sell a special staking tool to do the job right, but it's expensive.
Someone else use to sell one made like a "C" clamp that was cheaper.

[bamaranger]

Saw a lot of warped 870 action bars before my Dist. Ranger declared I could no longer work on them, sent himself off to the 870 armorer's class, and came back the officially approved shotgun guy. There's leadership for you.

Prior that, when an 870 surfaced with sticky cycling, it was usually because somewhere upstream, had dorked with the forearm, removing the factory wood to install some sort of tacticool poly unit and a matching buttstock. In the process, the bars got warped. I corresponded a lot with an 870 armorer from another agency.....he claimed Remington's advice with forearms was to chunk a warped one and start over.

When I put poly furniture on my turkey 870, I obtained an action bar set up (used) with the poly unit already on board. It was a role of the dice, but the dang thing was square and the project came out OK. That pretty Wingmaster walnut is still down in the cabinet, relatively unscathed, as well as the square, blued forearm unit.

[bamaranger]

Saw this a few times also:

A quantity of sidesaddle shell holders were purchased and installed bu users at the field level. Of course to strip an 870 one must remove the trigger group push pins. With the side saddle installation, the push pins are replaced with longer threaded bolts and a corresponding nut on the opposite side. User would remove the screws, pop the trigger group and bolt out, clean, then reassemble, but OVERTIGHTEN the side saddle screws, binding the bolt and action bars.

When this problem would come in, I would disassemble the sidesaddle, removing the backing plate, and simply screw the poly shell holder onto the butt stock, whether wood (birch) or synthetic. I would reinstall the proper push pins, keep the screws and back plate, and return the shotgun. The user would pitch a holy fit, .....they'd lost their tacticool shell holder.....but the problem was solved, never to resurface.

My Dist. Ranger didn't approve of that fix either.

[paknheat]

Thanks for all your input guys. The action bars were definitely warped, but I was able to straighten them out enough to get the shotgun back together and it’s functioning.

I don’t think I want to tackle a project like this again.


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