A new member recently posted on the Rem870.com forums, looking for assistance with a problem
I hadn’t seen before. Apparently he had had a bit of a fall while
hunting, and in the process, slammed his 870 against a rock.
The next time he tried to cycle the gun, which has this type of long fore-end, the rear of
the fore-end slipped under the tip of the shell carrier, bending the carrier and preventing
the slide from being operated. Now, a bent shell carrier is not particularly
difficult or expensive to replace, but this got me thinking; unlikely as it may be, what
if a shell carrier breaks and locks up the gun in a survival situation or during a hunt,
where you can’t just hop on the internet and wait for replacement parts to be delivered?
Is there an easy way one could keep an 870 at least somewhat operational in that scenario?
Well, it occurred to me that an 870 should be able to function just fine as a single-shot
without its carrier. See, in an 870, the shell carrier is an entirely
independent system; and if you remove it, the gun will still cycle, lock, fire, and
eject normally. And with typical sporting or survival 870s,
taking out the carrier assembly is a pretty simple procedure that requires no tools apart
from something to push out the trigger plate pins.
With the trigger plate assembly out of the gun (see my take-down video if you need details
on that), push down on the carrier dog to relieve spring pressure, slide the carrier
pivot tube out, and gently let up on the carrier dog. Then, simply lift off the carrier assembly,
and remove the carrier dog follower and follower spring.
Put those parts where they won’t get lost, then replace the carrier pivot tube, make
sure it still has a detent spring in one end, and reinstall the trigger plate assembly.
Now normally, when you use an 870 as a single-shot, you just drop the shells through the ejection
port onto the carrier and close the action. But without a carrier to lift and align the
shell, things obviously have to be done a little differently.
One way to affect proper feeding is to manually place the shell in the chamber before closing
the action. This works fine, but it’s not terribly fast or stress-proof, especially
with heavy gloves or cold fingers. Another option is to simply drop the shell
into the ejection port while tilting the gun over so that the shell sits against the top
of the receiver where the bolt can chamber it. This method requires some practice to
get the movements down, but doesn’t depend as much on fine motor control, and can actually
allow for a pretty decent rate of fire. A nice thing about both of these techniques
is that you can practice them without actually pulling the carrier assembly out of your gun.
So if you want to be prepared, you can just work these moves into your normal practice
sessions. Now, you might be thinking “if we can align
the shell by tilting the gun, why not just let the shell feed from the magazine normally
and fall into place? Couldn’t this allow the gun to keep functioning as a repeater?”
Well, there are some problems with this idea in practice.
Without the carrier in place to accept it, shells will tend to snag on the tip of the
action bar lock, or wedge against it further back when they’re released from the magazine.
And if that doesn’t happen, the shell can bounce around and fail to align itself before
you close the bolt. Or if you’re in a rush and get your gun-twisting wrong, the shell
can simply fall out of the gun. I’d also be concerned that repeated impacts
from shells could damage something in the trigger plate assembly that’s normally shielded
by the carrier. Nothing here seems particularly sensitive, but it’s hard to say for sure
based on the little testing I’ve performed thus far.
On top of all that, this probably won’t speed things up much since you still have
to turn the gun over and wait for gravity between shots.
As a short-term trick to let you finish a trap session or keep a survival weapon shoot-able,
single-shot operation will probably get the job done while being more reliable, so I’d
stick with that. Another thing I’ll mention is that removing
the carrier opens up a gap through which foreign material can make its way into the trigger’s
workings. If you’re using this trick out in the field, you should be careful around
dirt or mud. If you have some handy, you can help protect
your trigger mechanism by placing a piece of duct tape over the now-unused loading port.
But unless you’re in some kind of post-apocalyptic scenario where spare parts just aren’t available,
your best bet is to simply replace the carrier as soon as possible. See this video for information
on parts resources. Once you have a new carrier assembly ready
to install, take out your trigger plate assembly, pull out the carrier pivot tube, and replace
your carrier dog follower spring and follower. Set the carrier assembly in place with the
carrier dog over the carrier dog follower, apply a little pressure to line the carrier
and carrier washer up with the hole in the trigger plate, and re-insert the carrier pivot
tube. Check to make sure the carrier system functions
properly, then reinstall the trigger plate assembly in the receiver, and you’re done.
Gun back to one hundred percent. As usual, I’ll be happy to answer questions,
and hear comments or topic suggestions for future videos. Until next time, I wish you
all safe shooting and happy holidays.