Anyone dremel a homemade FlexTab on an old carrier?

[BlastRadius]

Hi all, first post here.

Has anyone attempted to dremel out their own homemade flextab/flexitab on an older style shell carrier?
How about filing, milling, or grinding down the flextab notch on the breech bolt?
Intuitively, it seems like it should work but I just haven't found anyone who has done it and posted about it onine.

Thanks in advance,
Henry

[Synchronizor]

You could cut a U-shaped cut-out in an older carrier, and it would probably be an improvement if you got it in the correct location. However, a brand-new, complete flex-tab carrier assembly only costs about $20 - $25, so it's not like you're saving yourself much once you consider the time spent to cut up & re-finish an older carrier. Besides, the flex-tab carriers have more refinements than just the flex-tab, such as a cut-out in the side to ensure that the carrier can't drag on the hammer pin & cause feed problems.

The breech bolt would be a more attractive subject for DIY updating, since new breech bolt assemblies are pretty expensive. However, you're probably not going to get a very satisfactory result from trying to remove that much material with hand tools or a Dremel. You're really going to want to mill that area out properly with machining equipment, which the average 870 owner probably doesn't have in the garage. You may be able to get a machinist to do it for you and still spend less than what you'd spend on a new bolt assembly, but the savings probably aren't going to be much unless that machinist is a friend who owes you a favor.

A better alternative is to buy used. Complete new-style breech bolt assemblies aren't tough to find on sites like Ebay or Gunbroker, and they can be a lot less than new assemblies - especially if you aren't picky about what finish the bolt has. You can save even more money if you buy a partially- or fully-stripped bolt, and swap over any missing parts from your old breech bolt assembly. All the internal parts like the firing pin, extractor, locking block, and springs are fully-interchangeable between old and new bolts. Some of those small parts have been improved over the years as well, like the firing pin and firing pin retractor spring, but those parts are cheap if you want to upgrade them.

I got my chromed flex-tab bolt off Ebay for around $20, and all it needed was a good cleaning and the extractor parts.

[BlastRadius]

Thanks for the suggestion. I found a decent deal on a carrier and breech bolt on eBay.
I may still attempt to modify the old parts just for kicks. Maybe even document the process.