I got a police trade-in 870P a few months ago; I thought I was being frugal and smart by buying used. Well, maybe that's not the case.
Since buying it, I've had issues ranging from "lock-ups" (where the action "locks" after firing and I have to jiggle the forearm around to get it to release) to true failures to extract (shell looks stuck in the chamber; jiggling the forearm frees it - this might be the same as the "lock-up" problem) to failures to feed (looks like the shells are getting caught on the edge of the chamber). These failures are with low brass Winchester and mystery-metal Estate birdshot rounds, and when I am running the gun fast, are on the order of one FTE per every 1-3 rounds. When going slow and taking my time, the FTE's drop quite a bit.
High brass Federal reduced recoil FliteControl buck rounds run smoother than...something...through a goose; no problems with those.
In addition, it looks to me like Remington failed to complete a machining process, leaving a corner of steel on the chamber rim near the ejector. A pic is below. I didn't see this corner in some pics of Wingmaster chambers I saw online.
The edges of the chamber also seem sharp. Looks like most of the shells that fail to feed get caught on the upper edge of the chamber, although some might be getting caught on the lower left edge, where that corner of steel is.
The chamber itself probably needs polishing; there are circular tool marks in the chamber and another outside of the chamber on the barrel extension. This may have been a Friday gun.
Apparently Winchester birdshot and mystery metal Estate loads are notorious for choking in 870's, especially Express models, but IMO that is ridiculous. A police model especially should be able to run whatever I stuff in there.
As noted, this is a police model and a fairly well-used one at that. I don't know how the officer managed with it.
I'd like to know any experts' thoughts on why this shotgun is not working well, whether I should try to fix it or cut bait, and if I should fix it, the best way to go about that. If you have any thoughts or diagnoses, please chime in before I throw my hands up in frustration and get a 590.
If I had the opportunity I would have loved to attend HiTS's shotgun class this May and, with a sad puppy face, hand this thing over to Darryl and Wayne for them to pore over, but I'm not able to make it. Hopefully I can learn something over the intertubes.
Thanks in advance!