I bought my son a youth Remington 870 20ga last year. He shot it 2-3 times then put it away. This dove season we got it out and he ran through about 2 boxes of shells opening weekend. We are having a problem where the bolt won't open after 1/6th of the shots. After the shot, the bolt release button depresses, but you can't pull the forearm back. He hands it to me and I push it up and down and after 3-5 push/pulls it breaks free and ejects the spent shell. I haven't noticed which of the three shells in the shotgun do it, it may be random.

I called remington and they said it was the cheap shells I am using. They said the shells were over expanding when heated and they were getting jammed. They said it takes 5 seconds or so for them to cool off enough to allow me to open the chamber.

Does this sound reasonable?

ya i guess that could happen, but you would think if the chamber is the correct size and is polished right you wouldn't have any problems.

what ammo is it your having problems with?

Is there any rust or pitting in the chamber?

Sadly this is a COMMON problem with newer 870s. The guns are cheaply made now. Remington will tell you that its the ammo, but this isn't always the case. The gun will still hang up with magnum loads as well.

There is no rust or pitting seen. The gun is basically brand new.

The shells are the cheap winchesters form Academy.

I had a similiar problem with a New Remington 11-87 two years ago. I bought a case of the cheap shells at Academy. $39.00 a case or 10 boxes. My gun would not eject the hulls. Then I bought a case of Remington Sure Shot and it functioned properly. Now I can even shoot the cheap stuff.

I'm not so sure of this. I have a Wingmaster from the '80s that will occasionally do this(maybe 1 in 75). My 870 Express does do this quite a bit more often but I assume that is because it's newer and hasn't had the round count of my Wingmaster yet. I'm going to start dove hunting with my Express and the next time it jams up like this, will stop and try to figure out what exactly is going on. Since I've been using it as my 3-gun shotgun, I don't have the time to stop in the middle of a match and figure out why it won't cycle/eject properly. I slam it back and keep throwing lead downrange!

I had a similar issue with Winchester shells from walmart that made me take apart the 870 after each shot

I have a full size I'd trade in 20 that runs cheapies alright. If your just needs better ammo

2 completely different guns believe it or not. Wingmasters are solid guns. New 870s aren't.

Believe it or not, that was my exact point. A Wingmaster IS NOT a new 870 Express and the quality is very different, yet my Wingmaster will occasionally do the same thing.