[greyheadedguy]

I finally got my shotgun out of lay-away. Know I needed to thoroughly go through it and clean it I researched it online. Took it apart and cleaned it and put it back together. Only problem was one of the rails came out. It looked like a replacement that had never been pinned, pinged in place. So I pinned it. I had no problems or questions with the new old gun (Made 1950).

I do have questions on my old (newer made 1955) It was filthy. Looks like it has not been taken apart and cleaned in decades. My question is with the bolt of these old 870 Wingmaster 20 gauge shotgun. When I removed the bolt and started cleaning it, it fell into two pieces. The other bolt seemed to be a single piece. Is this right or is this bolt worn out? The slide plate is badly worn compared to the other one. How worn can these get and still be used? The top edge has no corner on it anymore. When I clean this again I'll take pictures, but I need to know if this bolt and slide plate okay to use.

Thank you for the help in advance,

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[greyheadedguy]

I got back into the shot guns and the newer (1955) bolt appears to have a pin worn off. Here are both bolts.

The bolt out of my Dad's 870 (1955) in two pieces, it looks as though the pin on the side of the bolt is worn off, You can see the indentation that the pin rests in and allows the middle piece of the bolt to rock. The edge of the inside piece of the bolt is smooth on both sides.

This is the bolt out of the $150 870 (1950) I recently bought. I don't know if you can make out the pin in the indentation the prevents the center piece of the bolt from being removed without removing the fiireing pin.

I guess the question is did they change the way the bolt is made or is the pin missing off the 1955 bolt? Is this safe to shoot this way? Thanks in advance,

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[greyheadedguy]

Here are the pictures of the slides. My concern is should I be looking for a new plate for the 1955 870?

This is the slide out of the $150 1950 870 I bought. It looks good, in my mine, compared to the one in my dad's 870 (pictured below)

This is the slide out of my Dad's 870. As you can see it has some pretty deep gouges in it. Do I ned to start looking for a replacement?

Thank you in advance for your help.

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[greyheadedguy]

Looks like the reason you can't get the lock out is that they made the firing pin diameter larger, compared with the other one; as it is the same diameter of the spring seat, instead of "stepping" down in diameter.

Probably why there is the center groove in the lower piece that latches and unlatches the lock.

If it works when together it is likely not a problem, you can check the movement of the lock out of the action.

Looking at the bolts side by side the only difference I see is the older bolt has a pin that sticks out side ways the prevents it from being removed from the top.




Looking at the newer bolt (1955) it looks like the pin has been ground off. You can just barely see where it was, there is a round make where it was.



If you look at the side profile you will see that it is smooth.



As far as the size of the firing pin it looks they same to me.

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[greyheadedguy]

You can't see the "step" in the firing pin diameter behind the spring?

Were the shotguns "working" when you took them apart?

I don't have an 870 that old, or I would take it apart and see what it looks like- but by 1980, approx. date of mine, it may have changed again.

Both shot guns work and well. There is no place for the piece in the center of bolt to go when it is assembled. My concern is with that pin gone that it is rubbing and wearing on something that it shouldn't be rubbing on. There supposed to be 5 years difference in the to guns, I don't know if there was a change in the bolt in that time frame or not. But both bolts have the cut in the bolt for that pin to sit in. They both are 20 gauge too.

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[greyheadedguy]

The pin in the side of the locking block is only there to prevent loss of the block while the bolt is out of the gun. It plays no role while the gun is together. The locking block rides on the bottom slide piece which cams the block up to lock the bolt into the barrel extension.

So what happened the pin in my bolt? It looks warn off...

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[greyheadedguy]

Remington's diagrams don't even show a separate part but its price list has a "locking block retainer pin" for $4.12". An old NRA Firearms Assembly 3 book shows a "locking block stud", a pin stuck in at about the right location. Like kp321 says it doesn't seem to do much but at $4.21 unless shipping is too high you might as well replace it. If it fits. It really doesn't seem to do anything important and if the gun shoots well I'd ignore that and the slide wear.

The slide is part F401023 at $22.66. Usually the ends of the action bars wear first, making the start of a stroke looser, eventually preventing proper ejection and loading. On older guns bar replacement is supposed to include the slide replacement at the same time: F102324 V-28 870 FORE END TUBE ASSEM N/S 12 GA (FOR PRE-1984 GUNS INCLUDE SLIDE F401023) $37.08

How would you even reinstall the pin? I'd have to drill the old one out and set the new pin, which I am guessing is installed with the locking block heated to a bright red/yellow, Probably be easier to replace the bolt with a gently used one.

Thanks!

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[greyheadedguy]

DO NOT HEAT THE LOCKING BLOCK! If it cracks you'll get a face full of shotgun shell and bolt!

No worries, I would purchase one before trying anything that bold. I am good with my hands and with hand tools, but I am not brave enough to try anything like I said it would need. I Likely would not try drilling it out at this point, don't have the right clamps for my drill press. I have the cobalt bits, some of the best tool money I ever spent... I got tired of wearing out the titanium bits. (Likely coated)

Thanks for the input!

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