870 forend tube assembly questions

[sgt-spam]

I took my new 870 out a week ago or so and put 95 rounds through it - a mix of #8, 00 buck, and slugs. It shot fine, but the pump stroke was a little rough.

Shortly after I changed the furniture, and while swapping the forend, I twisted the arms on my forend tube assembly a bit. No big deal - it only took a few moments to straighten them out.

Since then I've noticed two things:

First (and this may have happened before, too, but I don't recall), if I gently / slowly pump the forend with no barrel attached most of the time it stops at what I guess is the top of the forward motion. Sometimes, however, the forend assembly just slides right out - bolt and all. I'm typically holding the eject lever to cycle the action.

Second, the action is a WHOLE LOT smoother!!! So much so that I actually bent the arms down a little to see if the action would stiffen up, and it does - a lot. I'm not moving them much... I have since adjusted them with what I would call less tension to smoothen the pump stroke.


And the questions:

Did I wack out the forend somehow that the bolt and everything slides out as described above?
Is it acceptable to gently make small adjustments to the forend assembly arms in order to adjust pump stroke resistance?

[aippi]

No, you don't adjust the action bars. Once bent they will return to that bend as you are using the weapon. You have twisted the action bars to the extent that they are not engauging the shell latch properly. The forend tube assembly should not simply slide out like that and that is an indication of damaged action bars. The is no tweaking to smooth out an 870, nothing and anyone saying there is does not know the weapon and anyone charging money claiming to do it is a thief.

The weapon is smoothing out because you are breaking it in not because of anything you did. However, you may notice it becoming stiffer now that the action bars are damaged as they may start binding inside the channels of the receiver. If this is a sporting weapon just keep shooting this weapon and you will know the extent of the damage over time if it becomes stiff. You then replace the forend tube assembly. If this is a duty weapon then replace the forend tube assembly now and continue the break in process and let the weapon smooth itself out with round count and not by messing with it like this. You can of course get the forend tube assembly from Remington as part number 102324 for $34 plus shipping.

[sgt-spam]

Thanks for your reply JD!