I need advice from you seasoned duck hunters.
My son has been hunting ducks a LOT lately. This is his first year of duck hunting and he's on fire for it. He's been using a fairly newish (15 years old, my newest shotgun for sure) Remington 870 with wood stock. This gun had never seen any wet weather use until now.
Today he told me the action was pretty rough after cleaning it. I checked it out and it appears the wooden forend may be binding against the barrel when fully cocked, making it difficult to push forward and close the action. The wood doesn't LOOK any different, but I suspect hunting in the rain caused the wood to swell. The action operates just fine without the barrel installed. It's just friction between the wood and barrel when fully open.
He's not hunting tomorrow so we're just letting the wood dry for now and will reassemble in the morning. I'm considering sanding the wooden channel in the forend to allow a bit more clearance, following up with something to seal the freshly sanded wood. Is this the appropriate fix? Is there any other reason you guys can think for an 870 to start binding like this?