10 Tips for Remington 870 Owners
Here are ten tips for Remington 870 owners. You may know some of them, hope some of them will be helpful for you.
1. Rifle Sights
Remington 870 Front Sight Fell Off
If you have rifle sights, make sure that your front sight reliably sits in place.
There are numerous stories how front sight falls off under recoil.
It may be good idea to stake it.
2. Polish sharp edges
Enhanced Magazine Follower
Polish sharp edges of magazine window. It will make process of loading easier and you won’t scratch your hands again.
This is especially important if you dry fire and train loading a shotgun a lot.
3. Rust
Rusty Remington 870 Wingmaster
Remington 870 Express easily rusts. Be sure to protect your shotgun from rain and snow.
Wipe shotgun after contact with water. Remember that when you carry your shotgun from cold environment into a warm room, condensate will appear on metal surfaces. Make sure to wipe all water from the shotgun.
4. Ejector Spring
Broken Remington 870 Ejector
The weak point of Remington 870 is ejector spring. You may use your shotgun for years and everything will be ok or it can brake after just 200-300 rounds.
Make sure you have spare parts and tools to repair it.
Ejector spring repair is very easy with proper tools.
5. Follower
Remington 870 Factory Follower
New standard follower is made of thin plastic. Older followers were made of metal.
It is highly recommended to replace factory follower with aftermarket Remington 870 follower.
There are a lot of better followers available on the market.
6. Magazine Tube
Magazine Tube Joint
Don’t forget to clean and lube magazine tube. This will make feeding smooth.
Don’t overdo this, you want to have just thin layer of oil inside the magazine tube.
7. Pistol Grip
Command Arms CAA Pistol Grip with Buttstock
Modern tacticool pistol grip is only good if your shotgun is a “safe queen” and you do just several shots a year.
If you train regularly and regularly shoot 100-150 rounds during one training, you need classic stock.
Pistol grip stock is going to kill your wrist if you train regularly.
You don’t need to choose classic wood stock, you can get overmolded Hogue stock or Magpul SGA stock which is good too.
8. Length of Pull
Hogue Short LOP Stock
Proper Length Of Pull is one of the most important factors. I’ve seen too many shooters which can’t shoot comfortably because of too long or too short LOP.
Get short LOP or adjustable stock if your hands are shorter, or Remington Length of Pull Spacer Kit if you are tall person with longer hands.
9. Remington 870 Tactical
Important Information about Remington 870 Tactical with One Piece Magazine Tube
New Remington 870 Tactical has one-piece magazine tube. That improves reliability but also means that you cannot install barrels from other models of Remington 870s on Remington 870 Tactical.
10. Dimples
Drilled Out Dimples in Magazine Tube of Remington 870
Newer Remington 870 shotguns have two dimples inside of the magazine tube, you need to remove dimples to be able to install magazine extension.
I don’t think it’s wise to leave oil inside the magazine tube. Oil can penetrate shell primers and potentially kill them, as well as collect dust & powder residue. Lubrication shouldn’t be necessary anyway. There is not much friction between the follower and magazine tube since there’s very little force pushing the follower sideways (and the low friction coefficients of the polymers used in modern followers reduce friction even further).
Just my opinion, prefer to lube magazine tube and leave thin layer of oil, especially the day before competitions.
you don’t put primers in the magazine
you put shells
anyway don’t oil guns it’s not wise