I have a Remington 870 express 12 GA.  

I got it because I wanted the untra reliability of a pump shotgun.

Well, reliable it aint.  I have dificulty ejecting spent shells from it sometimes.  When skeet shooting doubles, afterfiring the first shell, sometimes it takes a *hell* of a yank to get the forearm to come back.... to eject the shell.  The new one loads up no problem.

This is the only issue I have, and it does it on the average of about 1 every 10 shots.  Sometimes it pops out with a little extra pull, sometimes I have to yank the crap out of it.

I was skeet shooting the other day with a friend, and he has an identical gun.  His does the SAME THING.  

We tried Winchester and Federal ammo, 2.75" light #8 shot skeet/game loads.

Is this defective?  Is this common?  My buddy with a Mossberg 500 NEVER has this at all, his is smooth as silk.

I agree this sounds like a fluke. I' ve got four 870s and never had a problem of any kind.

Had mine since maybe '88, receiver marked "MAGNUM", cannot say that I have had any problems. I shoot skeet using the 20' rifle sight barrel (it's IC, swings fast). I kinda have a habit of unlocking action smoothly, then racking the slide to the rear in a smooth motion, with a degree of sharpness to eject empty at end of travel. Make sure the extractor is smooth in its' movement in the bolts hole, the hook has no burr for base af case to hang on.

I have owned 2 Remington 870s for over 23 years and NEVER had ANY trouble with them. You may have a problem but before I send them back you may want to try different ammo. I reload only Remington hulls . Try some of the skeet or trap loads with the good hulls and see what happens . I've never even heard of this before .Have you disassembled the weapons ? The slide sometimes is difficult to get back in correctly .Or you can do the smart thing and just call Remington tech support . Those guys are great and may be able to talk you thru the problem .

Is it new? Old and used? Have you ever done a complete cleaning, Including drop the trigger group? My brother has an 870 wing master that was purchased new by my father back in the early 80's. No problems whatso ever

If you're having trouble racking the slide you may have a bent action bar. It's common problem with single action bar guns like the Ithaca, etc... and can happen to dual action bar guns like the Rem.870. Slide the  pump handle off and check for straightness or damage.

I have an 870 express and it does it too when I'm shooting doubles in skeet. Some times it just jams on the next shell be chambered. Welcome to Remington country! One time it would not eject the spent shell so I had to remove the barrel. But at other times if you hold it tight on the forearm it will rack as soon as the trigger is pulled. But over all I shoot very well with it in skeet so I'll keep it, till I get a Franchi Alcione sport.

never had a problem w/mine, deer, squirrel, pheasant, duck, goose, and grouse. feeds perfectly for all of them. (different loads)

I have had this phenomenon happen on two different 870's I have owned. It can be caused by placing pressure on the slide WHILE pressing on the trigger. This causes the bolt to hang up, and the slide to jam.
I was shooting skeet once, and the jamming problem started to occur. I blamed my gun. I tried another guy's 870 that he had been using with NO problems. When I used it, it jammed. I was amazed. It turned out, that I had to slow down a bit, and wait for the hammer to drop before I racked the gun. The guy I was shooting with called this "short stroking".  
The 870 is an excellent shotgun for the money. I paid 100 bucks for the one I have now. It serves just fine for the occasional skeet shoot/rabbit hunt.  

This very well could be related, because I do tend to pull back on the forearm while shooting.  I also rack very fast... just habit.  Never a problem with the Mossberg.  Maybe I will get a full stock and full barrel for my "persuader" and dump the 870.

Mine did this a few times when new but it seems to just be a break in thing.  I asked my local gunsmith about it and said its more common in the 3&1/2 inch chambered super mags than the standard 3 inch chamber guns.  I suspects that the 2&3/4 inch shells have more room to expand and require more force to eject due to the expansion.  He said it almost always goes away after the gun has been put through a few shooting sessions and everything breaks in and loosens up.  It could also be short stroking or a combiation of the two. Hope this helps.  And keep that 870, break it in and you'll love it.

I have had it about 1.5 years now.... and must have put 500-600 rounds in 5 different sessions.... that ought to be fairly "broke in" by now.... it that were it, no?

I saw that problem several years ago with a bunch of 870 Marine Magnums.  It turned out that there was a small burr of metal in the chamber that would sometimes hang on to the shell when it expanded during firing.  We noticed it was worse with heavy loads than with light loads.  We polished the chambers, shot the hell out of them, and never had any more problems.  I've never seen it in any of their other models.

I've had my 870 for about 9-10 months. I haven't had any problems with it ejecting, etc.

As suggested above, maybe it is a burr or something else causing the action or shells to stick.

Maybe these "problems" demonstrate what the differences are between the 870 Express and 870 Wingmaster! I have handled many 870 shotguns and it has been my experience that the Wingmaster is the far smoother, better working gun. Many of the Express models I have handled work rather stiff and not as smoothly. Unless the thing is absolutely worn out, I would take the Wingmaster anyday of the week over the Express. Plus, with the Wingmaster you get a gun with a nice blue finish and pretty wood. As opposed to dull looking Express finishes. Why do so many modern guns look so cheap?

The 870 in my cruiser is about 1 million years old, never a problem.

Overall......best shotgun in the world....(my ARGUABLE opinion)...........

Sounds like you and your friend may be "Short Stroking" your shotguns, try slowing down a bit.

Quoted: I have a Remington 870 express 12 GA.   I got it because I wanted the untra reliability of a pump shotgun. Well, reliable it aint.  I have dificulty ejecting spent shells from it sometimes.  When skeet shooting doubles, afterfiring the first shell, sometimes it takes a *hell* of a yank to get the forearm to come back.... to eject the shell.  The new one loads up no problem. This is the only issue I have, and it does it on the average of about 1 every 10 shots.  Sometimes it pops out with a little extra pull, sometimes I have to yank the crap out of it. I was skeet shooting the other day with a friend, and he has an identical gun.  His does the SAME THING.   We tried Winchester and Federal ammo, 2.75" light #8 shot skeet/game loads. Is this defective?  Is this common?  My buddy with a Mossberg 500 NEVER has this at all, his is smooth as silk.

Have you tried shooting the first shell without pulling on the forend at all? Maybe you are pulling back on the forend too hard (before firing) and 'jamming' the mechanism?

I agree with earlier suggestions that you’re probably holding the forend to the rear when firing.

Note the little tab along the front of the triggerguard.  This is the action bar release.  When the shotgun is cocked, one end of it projects from the triggerguard while the other end (inside the receiver) blocks one of the action bars and prevents the bolt from coming rearward.

When you pull the trigger, the action bar release pivots out of the way so you can cycle the action.  Pull the trigger on an unloaded gun and you will see the tab move.

If you apply pressure against the forend when you pull the trigger, the action bar holds the action bar release in place - it cannot move and get out of the way like it supposed to.  If you release the pressure before trying to cycle, it will move out of the way.  If you don’t, it won’t!

If your shogun jams up again like this, push the forend forward, then try again to cycle the action.

If this is your problem, you might want to remove the forend, bolt, etc. and use a flashlight to check the end of the release on the inside and make sure you haven’t damaged anything when forcefully cycling the action.  (I’d avoid removing the triggerguard assembly, if possible.  While not difficult to do, reassembly can be a pain in the unlikely event that one of the shell stops jumps out.)

Incidentally, I don’t believe this is short-stroking.  Short-stroking is failing to cycle the action all the way to the rear before moving it forward again.  Generally this results in a failure to feed a new round, in more extreme cases it can also result in a failure to completely eject the spend round (usually resulting in a stove pipe situation).

I am always pulling the slide back as I pull the trigger. Let the recoil unlock the gun. My 870 Express is a 1987 vintage and my dad's is a Wingmaster from 1961. I have fired both guns extensively during many pheasant seasons and have had 0 problems with either gun.

I swear by Remington 870 shotguns.

What everybody else is saying{and you yourself} you are sliding back the slide to eject the shell then sliding forward to shoot while holding back (pressure on the slide while shooting)  The back pressure of the round is working against you at this point causing what we would call short stroking.

The mossburg is more forgiving of this,but not with-out the same problems.    A side-by-side,or a stacked will solve this problem.


As there is just an aim,shot repeat with out the left arm (work).

 Bob