Remington 870 'Police Magnum'

[KeeFus]

I received a 'new to me' 870 @ work last week (this one has rifled night sights :cool:). When I first received it I gave it a thorough cleaning which included a very fouled forcing cone area of the barrel. A cleaning rod and brush as well as a bore snake did not remove the fouling so I attached the rod along with a bore sponge and chore boy brass wool to my cordless drill (soaked in Hoppe's). This got most of the junk out.

Last week I sighted it in to my liking and when I went to clean it (after 10 shots of Federal Tactical Slugs) the forcing cone was again nasty; like it had never been cleaned! I have never had one foul this bad after just 10 shots!

Any suggestions on how to cheaply rectify this problem, preferebly w/o sending it to Vang Comp for a forcing cone job???

[firecop019]

Depends how much you want to spend on it. New barrels are pretty easy to come by.

Our duty shotguns foul up really quick too we found that saturating the inside of the barrel with Gunzilla (http://www.gunzilla.us/products.htm) for a bit and then break out the drill and a good brush did a pretty good job of cleaning them up.

[peterb]

Over at Shotgun World, the prevailing wisdom seems to be that polishing the chamber/forcing cone often helps. Preferred method seems to be 4-0 steel wool wrapped around a bore or chamber brush, oil, and a cordless drill.

There have been many posts there about 870 Expresses with rough chambers, but the Police versions are supposed to be finished to a higher standard.

[Buckshot]

Short of going the Vang-Comp route, see if you can find a reputable local gunsmith who could polish the bore with a ball hone. That should clean up your forcing cone. Most guys who do much shotgun work should have one & it'll be a lot less $ than a VC job.

[SmokeJumper]

I was surprised how dirty the forcing cone got on my work shotty as well. I just did a comparison between it (870 Police Mag) and my gun ( 870 Police Magnum with a Vang Comp barrel), the Vang gun seems to stay cleaner in the forcing cone, but it's a pricey upgrade.

[KevH]

Remington has gotten lazy in recent years (since about 1995 or so) about properly polishing the forcing cones of their shotguns.

Any decent shotgun gunsmith worth his sand will be able to polish the forcing cone for you. I've used Johnny's Choke Tubes for years to polish the forcing cones of all my shotguns.

Besides making the barrel easier to clean you will also find that your gun groups tighter with 00 Buck.

[Rex G]

I like the tight patterns of my VC'ed barrels! Recoil is notably gentler, too, a benefit as I get older and skinnier. I reckon, however, that a dedicated home defense shotgun has little need for extra-tight patterns, so just a polishing of the forcing cone and such is probably best for most folks.

[peterb]

The Federal Flitecontrol buckshot loads usually produce very tight patterns from standard barrels. Try the LE133 or 132 for pumps. You may need the LE127 for semis.
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot45.htm

[Al T.]

Old brass brush wrapped in 4/0 steel wool, oiled lightly (engine oil works) and chucked into a drill will slowly polish it out. Wrap enough steel wool on to the point that it's tight. Run the drill as fast as you feel comfortable and keep moving it in and out so you polish both the chamber and the forcing cone.

This is how I usually clean my shotgun bores (sans drill) and it works fine.