My buddy has what I think is an 870 ...yes forgive my ignorance.
He wanted to load shells in the magazine and cannot. There seems to be a piece that blocks the entrance of the tubular magazine and there is no way a shell will go in there.
I looked at an online manual and it describes racking the fore-end back, opening the action, combat loading it, then loading the tubular magazine.
Am I to understand that one cannot load an 870 magazine on a dropped hammer?
Thanks!
A couple of variations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kurasn6tp6k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwXpYpWOyfo
Is the part that appears to be in the way the shell elevator?
You can load an 870 magazine tube with the action closed and the hammer down.
Did he buy this new or used?
Sometimes shotguns have a magazine plug installed to reduce the magazine capacity to comply with hunting regulations. If the follower won’t move there could be a plug installed, or the follower could be stuck.
One of the shell latches bent and blocking the magazine tube?
Last edited by peterb; 03-06-2022 at 05:26 PM.
It is not the shell elevator, it is a flat metal piece that protrudes (I think it was downward, from the top) into the magazine opening, before the magazine follower and narrows the magazine opening. Therefore one cannot push the shell into the magazine as the shell hits that flat metal piece. Sticking a pinkie in there, the magazine follower moves freely into the tube.Originally Posted by peterb
In the first video (thanks for posting) one can see an orange magazine follower clearly, with no obstructions in front of it. On my friend's shotgun the follower is metallic black, and like I said that flat metal piece protrudes in front of it blocking/narrowing the hole and not allowing shells to fit in there (2 3/4" 12 gauge shells).
I should also add that this shotgun has a long (I'm guessing 20" barrel) with a ventilated rib. He inherited the gun from his wife's dad. I dissembled it yesterday and the bolt and the metal piece that the bolt resides on (the manual ID's it as a slide block) look like what I see in the 870 manual and online pictures/videos..but I'm wondering if the gun is another model at this point, since you are telling me that one can load the magazine with the hammer down on an 870.
I also dropped a shell down the far end (distal end) of the magazine tube and the shell slid all the way down to the insertion point, and was stopped from falling out by the flat metal piece I've described. There was no wooden plug in there.
I'll tell my buddy to send me a picture of the opening of the magazine tube.
I did find this video of a Rem 1100 and starting at the 3:35 mark he shows how the mag loads fine when the gun cocked, but the shell won't go into the mag when the hammer is down. This is how my buddies shotgun behaved basically, although his is a pump gun. Also, I didn't know to try and load the mag when the gun was cocked, so in fact I don't know if this will remedy the situation. He still has it disassembled and I told him to reassemble and then see if the blockage will resolve if the gun is cocked.
Thanks!
My old 870. It has the black steel follower.
Action closed, holding elevator down to view tube.
Action closed, shell in position.
Action open, elevator fully raised.
I couldn’t tell a difference cocked or hammer down.
One of the shotgun experts here may have more ideas. I’m not one of them. :-)
The biggest problem I see with novice 870 shooters is trying to load with the action not completely forward.
Formerly known as xpd54.
The opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect the opinions or policies of my employer.
www.gunsnobbery.wordpress.com
Thanks for the pics..I think I see the flat tab, when the action is closed, in the superior portion above and in front of the mag follower, that is the thing that was preventing the shells from going into the mag. It seems like it recedes out of the way when the action is open.My old 870. It has the black steel follower.
Action closed, holding elevator down to view tube.
Action closed, shell in position.
Action open, elevator fully raised.
I couldn’t tell a difference cocked or hammer down.
One of the shotgun experts here may have more ideas. I’m not one of them. :-)
Just to clarify, when the action is closed, can you still feed the shell into the mag?
Thanks calling that out, I'll relay that over.
The easiest way to load the 870 is with the action closed and locked. If you know you’re going to load it all the way up:
1. Turn safety on
2. Use action release to open action all the way.
3. Drop shell into open action.
4. Close action all the way.
5. Load shells into magazine tube.
Formerly known as xpd54.
The opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect the opinions or policies of my employer.
www.gunsnobbery.wordpress.com
Yes. It looks like the magazine tube might be blocked, but the second photo shows that there is room to slide a shell into the tube.
Lon - I don't mean to cause any trouble, but for a novice user(s) I think it is important to caution the OP that a shotgun safety generally only blocks the trigger from being moved to the rear. Although it happens very rarely, a sharp impact - say from the shotgun being dropped - can cause the hammer to come forward and strike the firing pin, firing a shell that is loaded into the chamber.
Therefore, OP, in most circumstances it is best to store the shotgun with the chamber empty. OP, this simply means omitting step #3 - drop shell into open action and close the action on an empty chamber.
Adding nothing to the conversation since 2015....
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