Short shuck your Rem 870?? No. Not really.

[williejc]

During a 1981 training program at the Texas prison, my 870 shotgun class was taught by armorers who trained at the Remington factory. From them I learned about a certain 870 operator error that few understand. Many call it short shucking. This term implies incomplete movement of the action to the rear and then pushing the action forward and hearing a click when pulling the trigger. Yes, the shooter had an empty chamber. But note. He can get an empty chamber when pulling with great force all the way back and then pushing or slamming with great force all the way forward. When having this malfunction, trainees are told that they short shucked. They did not. When hunters have this malfunction with 870s, they might say that they short shucked. They did not. My opinion is that 99.99% of what people call short shucking is a different error. The big clue is that in these instances the next in line shell never made its trip onto the follower. Why?

If the action moved rearward and activated the second shell latch to release the next shell, and this next shell didn't jump onto the follower, what happened? Answering this question will explain the malfunction, which has three events:

(1)In a fraction of a second at the instant of firing, recoil in some instances will propel the shooters hand on the fore end to jump back about 2 3/4 to 3 inches.

(2)As fore end moves rearward, action bars activate the 1st shell latch. It moves toward the mag tube's centerline.

(3)Recoil thrusts the gun backwards with enough force to allow the next in line shell to move forward in the tube. This shell had been held by the 2nd shell latch. But now the 1st shell latch in no. 2 above--having already been activated--catches and holds the shell. Thus, it is not now available to be placed on the follower. The shell had to move forward merely 1/8 inch from one latch to the other.

As the fore end is pumped to the rear to eject the empty and then move forward, it does so without a live shell. The next in line shell was not available, because it was "trapped" by the 1st latch. The shooter cycles the action, pulls the trigger, and click. High recoil loads like buckshot/slugs are a factor, but light weight as found in security 870s can be a another factor. In hunting versions I experienced the malfunction when using magnum loads and switching from a 30 inch heavy barrel to a 26 inch light contour barrel. I altered my grip to adapt. Several variables can interact to cause this type malfunction: improper grip technique on fore end, heavy recoil, and to a lesser extent the gun being lighter.