Hello, I am new to this forum and hope that some knowledgable 870 veterans can offer some advice. I own two 870 shotguns. Both are 12 gauge. One is a Wingmaster that has performed flawlessly for over 40 years. Nowadays I use this only for small game hunting. The other is a "Special Purpose" 870 that I bought about 12 years ago that is used for turkey and deer hunting (with a rifled barrel). This firearm has two problems, that I assume are separate. The most serious is that on two occasions it failed to fire. Both times the primer was barely dimpled. Both times was during deer season when the temperature was below freezing. What could cause this? This firearm is clean and not over oiled. The second problem is more common I think. Somehow my ejector spring got bent. I noticed this when I tried to figure out why the gun was sometimes not ejecting empty hulls. I tried to straighten the spring back into the ejector channel but I should probably have it replaced. My question is how the heck did the spring get bent in the first place? This firearm has less than a thousand rounds through it, but these have been heavy turkey and deer loads. If anyone has any ideas on these two problems I would appreciate it.

Welcome to the forums from MI!!

I think the firing pin issue is a result of grease in the bolt that is gelling up when it gets cold. I had a similar issue with another gun. I had to soak the bolt it in solvent to get all of the grease out. How does the oil you are using react in the cold? That would be the first thing I would check.

Not sure on the bent extractor. I guess keep an eye on it and see if it happens again. Check it each time you shoot (not each shot but each trip, unless you have a lot of spare time. ) and hope you can isolate what's causing it.

Welcome to the Remington Owners Forum JPerch !!

Thank you for the welcomes. Mike, I use G96 to clean and lubricate shotguns. It's popular in this area, it is a combination solvent/lubricant. I have used it in both of my 870 shotguns for 40 years. It seems like cleaning the bolt assembly in solvent is a good idea. I will try that, thanks. I was wondering if something in the bolt/firing pin assembly might "tighten up" in the cold? I have played with the bolt/firing pin and noticed that the firing pin can not travel completely forward unless the locking mechanism (for the receiver) is pushed fully up. This must be a redundant safety feature to make sure that the gun does not fire unless the action is fully locked up? I am just guessing. Sorry I don't know all the proper names of all the parts. The action parts on my Special Purpose are rough as compared to the polished action parts on my Wingmaster. It is unsettling to be aiming at a deer and hear "click" with no boom!

There are many things that could cause this but as soon as you said it got worse in the cold I jumped on the lube issue.

There could be burs, bad springs, pad pin, etc but when those issues occur they usually appear irregardless of the temp. I will surprised if soaking it to remove any grease doesn't work. But if it still persists we can go from there.

MikeD wrote:There are many things that could cause this but as soon as you said it got worse in the cold I jumped on the lube issue.
There could be burs, bad springs, pad pin, etc but when those issues occur they usually appear irregardless of the temp. I will surprised if soaking it to remove any grease doesn't work. But if it still persists we can go from there.

I agree. BTW, the ejector spring is bent when they build it; do you mean you bent it more? It is supposed to be compressed by the bolt as it moves.

Virginian, yes I mean it is bent much more. I own a Wingmaster and maintain an 870 Express for the GF. In both of those guns the back of the ejector spring is relatively flush with the receiver. That is, the back of the ejector spring lies in the channel of the ejector. The spring in my Special Purpose some how got bowed way out. I pushed it down as best I could but the rear of the spring is not flush with the receiver and does not lie within the channel of the ejector; it is above it, but in line with the ejector. Sometimes empty hulls do not eject, they get hung up in the receiver. Now I have only used this firearm for hunting turkeys and deer, and some patterning of course. Some of the turkey loads in particular were heavy factory loads. Sometimes the empty shell would be ejected from the recoil with no effort on my part! I have never seen this happen with my Wingmaster. So, could these heavy loads somehow have damaged the ejector spring? Could this gun have an issue with not locking completely, which might be related to the fail to fire issue? I may be over thinking this, next step will be to soak the bolt in solvent. Thanks again.

If I shoot my Wingmaster one handed it will eject anything. It's normal. The recoil throws the fore end back and you stop the gun. Bolt and barrel do not unlock until after the fore end moves back and unlocks them.
I don't know how the spring got bent, but I doubt the rounds did it. You can replace the spring without replacing the rivets and refinishing the receiver, but it does require a bit of work. You can pop the spring off the rivet with a little care and a small flat bladed screwdriver, then grind the end of the rivet just enough to get a new spring over it, then re-rivet it in place. I usually used a couple of sheets of typing paper over a good smooth steel bar for backing so I didn't muss the finish when re-riveting. Or, you can drill and tap the end of the rivet for a small flat headed machine screw and secure the spring with that. If you do, don't forget the Loctite.
If you work the action vigorously you don't even need the spring. The step in the ejector will eject the hulls.

Thanks again Virginian. Now that I think more about it, the bending of the spring could only happen with forward motion of the bolt, since the rivet that attaches the spring to the carrier is in the front. I guess!

I thought I would update the situation with my 870 in case anyone else has a similar issue. I did thoroughly clean the firing pin block and had another fail to fire during deer season. I sent the gun out to a gunsmith that family members think highly of. He found that the fore end nut (not the fore end cap) was very loose, resulting in the action barely locking up. There is a very noticeable difference in the amount of movement or play in the fore end when the action is closed now. I had him replace the firing pin and firing pin spring, extractor, magazine spring and upgrade the fiber optic rear sight on my turkey barrel. Just a little tune up while in the shop. I am pretty sure the problem has been corrected, thanks again for the assistance!