I bought a Remington 870 at Christmas time. The first time i shot it the shells are jamming in the gun. I took it home cleaned it and oiled it real good. Went and shot it again same problem. Either...
If the 870 is a Magnum model it should accept 3" shells. After making absolutely sure you have an unloaded shotgun, both chamber and magazine are empty, empty, empty, proceed with these few checks.
Assuming it may be a 2 3/4' model, have you double checked on the left side of the barrel near the receiver? There will be gauge and shell length stampings on the barrel. If you are jamming 3" shells in to a 2 3/4" shotgun you will get jams as you describe. Look at the empty shell casings if you have any and see if the shell appears to be damaged from the chambered and firing process. This could also indicate you have a improper shell length issue.
If you are shooting reloaded ammo make sure it has been properly re-sized, crimped and reloaded.
sloppy reloading of shotgun shells can cause jams as you describe. Improperly re-loaded shells can also cause leaks of bb's, (shot) in to the receiver and bore area.
Check for a loose bb. or bb's, (shot) in the receiver and chamber area. A lodged bb. in these areas will cause problems you have described.
Run your fingers along the barrel and visually check it for any slight bulge. If you detect or suspect a bulge do not shoot or load the shotgun until a gunsmith or the factory check the barrel thoroughly. If someone had loaded a 20, 16 or similar smaller guage shell in the chamber by accident and the gun was fired it will usually cause at minimum a stressed and bulged barrel. Many times a slight bulge in the barrel may not be visually obvious.
Most of the time if a 12 gauge shell gets loaded behind that one and fired you will have catastrophic failures, i.e. the gun can blow up and cause serious harm, blindness or even death in rare cases to the shooter. Shooters call this a "20/12" catastrophic failure. This type of accident is not to be taken lightly! this is why shotgun shells of different gauges are different in color normally.
Never ever, mix shotgun gauge shells in a pouch or box.
If you pump the shotgun too easily, (i.e. wimpy) it can jam up. Always pump, "rack" a shotgun with vigor. I'm not suggesting abusive action, just don't be slow or overly gentle with the pump action that ejects a shell and reloads the next one. Something related to this is if your action/slide bar is out of alignment or has become torqued out of it's proper alignment this will cause problems as you have mentioned. The action/slide bar is a long single piece of flat metal that is in alignment with the barrel and is attached to the front forearm of the shotgun. This is the flat piece of metal that actually makes the action open and close as you pump the shotgun. There is one on the left underside of the bore and forearm of the shotgun. When you pump the action you will easily observe it moving with your pumping action.
Check how the empty action feels to you. While dry-firing, (using an unloaded shotgun), does the action feel smooth or perhaps, gritty, sluggish, overly tight? If any of the later the you need to double check for debris, shot, excessive old lubrication, gumming of the action, a bent action/slide bar, etc. A normal 870 has a very smooth action.
Also, check the bore for any obvious nicks or obstructions that don't belong there. A good quality shotgun such as your 870 should operate best with very little lubrication. Excessive lubrication over time can cause gumming up of the receiver area. Also, improper lubrication products. Improper lubrication can cause problems you have described.
I am not a gun smith. I am simply an avid gun enthusiast. If you have any doubts as to anything that you observe while performing these basic checks on your shotgun, I strongly advise you to call the factory or take it to a local gun smith. Many gun shops will give your shotgun a courtesy check over and if you don't find a solution, many times they will within a few minutes. Do not be embarrassed to take the gun in to a gunsmith! Trust me, they will most likely treat you and you gun with respect and courtesy. Otherwise they won't be in business much longer.
If the gun shop fixes your problem make sure and purchase some shells and perhaps something else from them. We must support our small business firearms dealers and gun smiths
Hope this helps you!
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