870 wingman from the 50's

[45DAVID1]

My father gave me his 870 he purchased in the 50's. The original stock had a crack so I replaced it with another and the hunting length barrel had some rust so I replaced it with a shorter one. It seems to have some internal issues though. The pump action just is not very smooth. What could I do to the action to smooth it back out?

Sorry for the lousy group shot but it's the only photo of the shotgun I have right now.

[they]

can i haz it?

[GH41]

Try lubing everything well. If that doesn't free it up drop the trigger group and cycle the slide. If it is not binding without the trigger group in it soak the trigger group down with some PB Blaster. With a 50 year old gun it may be as simple as dissolving the dried up lube and replacing it with new. GH

[45DAVID1]

Try lubing everything well. If that doesn't free it up drop the trigger group and cycle the slide. If it is not binding without the trigger group in it soak the trigger group down with some PB Blaster. With a 50 year old gun it may be as simple as dissolving the dried up lube and replacing it with new. GH

Thanks. I will try that tonite and put up some updated pics.

[SeriousStudent]

If it's an 870, you might also check the action bars, and make sure they are undamaged. But I agree with the others, a good cleaning may be the simple and correct answer.

Skintop911 had a real good post with 870 diagnostics. You might check some of his older posts. I think he had some good troubleshooting steps for your issue.

Good luck, those old Wingmasters are great shotguns.

[mrbieler]

Hopefully a good soak will be all it needs. Foolishly sold my 1955 Wingmaster. It too was rough when I got it after having sat way too long with the previous owner. After a bit of time in the bath and a scrubbing and it was smooth as glass.

[c3006]

WD 40 turns to lacquer when air is taken away and these older shotguns have pretty tight tolerance and tend to get sticky when that stuff hardens in there.you may have to take it apart completely ans use a fine wire brush on a grinder to get it off (or some elbow grease)
Good luck

[JBecker 72]

Nice shoulder thingy that goes up.

[26 Inf]

What everybody else said PLUS - if you are wanting to use that as home defense I'd invest in a flex-tab trigger plate kit (comes with trigger group, bolt carrier and bolt).

This is a law enforcement upgrade that will allow you to cycle through double feeds below the bolt without knowing they have even occurred.