I have an 870 and whenever I shoot low brass shells the pump sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. When I went dove hunting last season same thing, yesterday when we were shooting skeet the same problem. Randomly the pump wont slide back after I've shot, and I have to bump the butt against the ground and then it will slide back and eject the shell. Last duck season I only got to shoot one high brass shell though it and it ejected-but that doesn't say anything. If anyone else's has done this and they've fixed it I would love to know what they did or if it just needs to be shot more. I've also cleaned it thoroughly and deeply more than once. Thanks!

Sounds like there is a problem with the slides/rails! Have you taken the trigger housing apart and cleaned it? It could be the release on the slide not working

Assault wrote:Sounds like there is a problem with the slides/rails! Have you taken the trigger housing apart and cleaned it? It could be the release on the slide not working

No I have not. I've heard a lot of people say it goes away once you shoot enough rounds through it

landon__odell23 wrote:

Assault wrote:Sounds like there is a problem with the slides/rails! Have you taken the trigger housing apart and cleaned it? It could be the release on the slide not working

No I have not. I've heard a lot of people say it goes away once you shoot enough rounds through it

If I were u I'd pull the trigger housing out, scrub it down and oil it! It sounds as if the release is gummed up

This doesn't have anything to do with the trigger plate assembly. A lot of people have issues with shells sticking in the chamber after firing, and it's almost always caused by poorly-made bulk-pack shotshells with short steel bases. Winchester Universal target loads from Wal-Mart are especially notorious for jamming all kinds of shotguns. Chambers that are very dirty, or not yet broken in are more likely to have these crappy shells hang up in them.

Thoroughly cleaning and polishing your chamber will help, and the hang-ups should go away as the gun gets broken in and any rough spots are smoothed out. Still, if you keep getting stuck shells and you can't find any obvious defects in the chamber or barrel extension, you should probably switch ammo brands. There are plenty of inexpensive target loads on the market that are just as cheap as the bad stuff (sometimes cheaper), but aren't so badly made that they'll choke your gun. Keep in mind that any ammunition manufactured to such a low price point will have the occasional bad shell, but there are some pretty good options out there. I go through cases and cases of cheap, basic Federal target loads, and I could probably count the number of bad shells on one hand.

As stated above it is not a trigger housing or rail issue, it is a shell stuck in chamber issue!

Take a piece of steel wool and wrap it around a cleaning brush mounted in a cordless drill....run this inside the chamber of the barrel (you will need to remove the barrel for this operation) moving it in and out ever so slightly until the barrel is to hot to hold onto. This may need to be repeated a few times to get the desired results and shells will no longer stick causing the problem!

I have shot nothing but winchester through it. Thanks and will definitely do that! Really appreciate it!

Pulled this in from another thread.

BigJohn wrote:I had that problem on a new 870 Express. Most people solve the problem by polishing the chamber, but I found this tube where a man just polished away a grove behind the chamber, across from the extractor. It was simple and it worked for me.

http://youtu.be/mlGoxNsaieE

Thanks BigJohn, your above advice is spot on.

I know this is an old post, but I had the same FTE issue with my new 870 Express Super Mag.

I performed the same fix as well using a dremel; gave a light sand and polish of the breach end of the chamber right at the edge. Basically where the barrel seats into the receiver. This FACTORY BLEMISH issue is exacerbated by using low brass shells. Be sure to keep the newly polished area of the chamber well oiled after in order to prevent rust and corrosion.

It seems that a large number of newer 870 Express models are affected. There is a small amount of extra material left behind during machining that causes the shell to jam in the chamber. Due to the single extractor system of the 870, when the extractor attempts to remove the spent shell it grabs on one side of the shell only and pulls it back against this small amount of material causing a jam.

I have shot nearly a 1000 rounds through my 870 since the fix...not even one little hiccup.

TEX and ajs828, I hope you were able to remedy your issues.