Replacing Shell Catch

[tihshho]

First of let me start out with this, I NEED to throw in some pics when I get home on this so everyone can understand my confusion.

If you've read my other gun smithing thread on barrels, you know that I'm in the process of building an older 870 Express receiver I picked up for a steal to be a purpose built home defense shotgun, basically an 870 Express Tactical with thought put into every part.

When I first picked up the receiver I had a few minutes to look it over where I met the buyer at the LGS parking lot and everything looked great! Both being members of a local firearm forum made the process smooth. I get home and look it over in better lighting and all check out. The only issue I noticed was all of the gunk that was in the receiver, mag tube and all over the bolt and slide that came with it. Within that mud looking gunk was metal chunks that looked like it came from the machining that was done to drill and tap the top of the receiver for a rail. I hose the receiver down with CLP in a ziplock and let it soak for a few hours. After that the scrubbing began. Sadly I don't have a before and after of the receiver but it all cleaned up phenomenally and I didn't notice any issues initially with anything. I take apart my new (bought new a few years back) 870 express and test to make sure all of my parts fit and function before ordering parts. Everything again checked out perfectly.

With anticipation of waiting on ordered parts, I've been staring at the bare guts of the receiver to see if there is anything else I should order or replace. Initially I didn't think of ordering the shell latches or the extractor spring, but after further inspection post seeing the extractor spring move (per the trigger group pin holes not lining up) I started to inspect the shell latches. The latches near where the follower/shells would meet up to the frame seem a little worn and bent up in comparison to the ones on my newer 870. I started poking around with a thick pick and tried to gently pry out the latch that shifted. It started to come up, but as I moved closer and closer to the mag tube it snapped back into place. After that I started looking around for a tutorial on replacing shell latches and couldn't find much, more so just videos/written tutorials on re staking replacement or loose latches, but not the removal of currently staked latches. Anyone have experience with this?

[Synchronizor]

Remington has tweaked the design of the 870's shell latches over the years. That's likely what's behind the differences you're noticing between those in your older and newer receivers. The tell-tale difference is the staking recesses; old-style latches only have two, while new-style latches have six. 870 shell latches are tough heat-treated steel, so they don't wear out too easily; but new-style shell latches are said to be a bit heavier-duty, so I'm guessing you'll want to go ahead and update whether or not the existing latches are working.

The technique I've heard for removing shell latches is to insert a punch into the latch's pin hole from the inside, and drive the latch backward. Be careful, and make sure you're not catching the hole in the receiver with your punch. Due to the way the shell latch slots are machined in to the receiver, the back of each slot forms a sort of a ramp that will push the rear of the latch up & out of the slot as the latch is driven backward. Since the latch is harder than the receiver steel, this process should also push aside enough of the original staking to allow the new latch to be set in place without any further work.

[tihshho]

The staking recesses you're mentioning are those that are on the latches, not the receiver correct? If so my current pair of latches both have six recesses (three on the top and three on the bottom per latch.)

I'm not sure I follow your removal process you describe exactly. I'll have to look at the receiver more while rereading your instructions.

The rest of my parts show up tomorrow and Thursday (possibly all tomorrow if UPS is nice!) and I'll steal my express 28" barrel and run some function checks on the setup once it's all together with some snap caps.

[Synchronizor]

They should make sense when looking at the receiver, but let me know if you're still fuzzy.