Heads up for Remington owners...

[ImBillT]

This is what it looked like before I dug the shell out of the barrel. My best guess is there was way too much pressure, both pieces of the bolt were wedged in place by the brass. Nothing appears to be wrong with the barrel and I don't think there was any obstructions, I had fired the gun several times before this happened. The shells are a couple years old, I usually use federal black cloud but I've had a terrible time finding any nontoxic shot so I dug these Remington's out of my stash.

Could be a crazy bad load from the factory. Most likely though it was a barrel obstruction. Mud, rain, snow. I have had two or three shells make an weird noise, and thought to check the barrel and found that although the shot came out the barrel, the wad did not. Might have blown something up if I’d shot before clearing it.

Glad you’re okay!

 

[Bam Bam]

Ya know, if I like'd the 870, I'd go for it. Might not ba as pretty as older one's but I would doubt they would intentionally put out a firearm that would simply blow up, their lawyer's would go crazy! If the new one's look like maple stocks, well the 788's also had maple stocks and they were quite a gun. Painted on finish? Lot of newer guns look like that's what they have on them, maybe they do, doesn't make them unsafe, it's paint. My suggestion to anyone looking to buy a gun is get one you like to look at and that feels good to you! You will probably find a shotgun you like as well and problrm fixed, doesn't make the 870 a dud! I got going with pump action shotguns and never really cared for the 870's; that was a long time ago. Didn't mean they were a bad gun, I simply didn't like the way they looked and felt! My choice then was Mossberg 500's. Shoot, I didn't even care for the Win mod 12 that much, looks and feel.

To bad what happened to the OP's gun but 44hunter45 has the right answer, find out what caused it first. Not trying to champion any gun here but I think the guns being made today are probably the best we have ever had with few exceptions. bad mouthing the gun when no ones even sure what happened was, just don't work for me!

You are correct of course, but I think I'll still hold off on buying one-the 870s were never the prettiest or most lightweight shotguns, but they were the most reliable, and had good customer service backing them up. If those two things are gone as Dentrimental is reporting, I am not interested. I'll find some other place to spend my $$$.

 

[Don Fischer]

You are correct of course, but I think I'll still hold off on buying one-the 870s were never the prettiest or most lightweight shotguns, but they were the most reliable, and had good customer service backing them up. If those two things are gone as Dentrimental is reporting, I am not interested. I'll find some other place to spend my $$$.

I would not go out and buy one either but, i did get an 870 Special field they came out. Was a lot different than the reg 870. Wasn't trying to talk you into it just saying the odds of some bad thing happening are fairly rare and If I was an 870 fan I'd give it a chance and then would know for myself.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I just discovered one of my already replaced once Limbsaver recoil pads is melting again. I should have gone with the Supercel when they replaced it the first time. They are unobtainium now.

Switch to Pachmeyer Decelerator. Damn Limbsavers are too soft. Their slipons are a big waste of money. So squirelly they won't stay put on the gun. Shift off to the side and you're mounting the gun lopsided.

 

[BucksnDucks]

Could be a crazy bad load from the factory. Most likely though it was a barrel obstruction. Mud, rain, snow. I have had two or three shells make an weird noise, and thought to check the barrel and found that although the shot came out the barrel, the wad did not. Might have blown something up if I’d shot before clearing it.

Glad you’re okay!

This is what I was thinking, wad stuck in barrel. Hearing description and seeing pic makes me think obstructed barrel. Regardless, great you were not injured.
A young fellow out here lost his eye turkey hunting this spring due to obstructed barrel blowing up on him.

 

[OntarioHunter]

This is what I was thinking, wad stuck in barrel. Hearing description and seeing pic makes me think obstructed barrel. Regardless, great you were not injured.
A young fellow out here lost his eye turkey hunting this spring due to obstructed barrel blowing up on him.

If this was a case of wad stuck in the barrel of an auto, it would almost certainly be the operator's fault. I have encountered duds that barely detonate when shooting trap/skeet (usually reloads) and very rarely do they leave a wad in the barrel. However, they ALWAYS fail to cycle. Anyone who has to manually extract a spent shell from an auto and fails to check the bore before firing the next round should not be surprised if his gun blows up in his face.

 

[BucksnDucks]

If this was a case of wad stuck in the barrel of an auto, it would almost certainly be the operator's fault. I have encountered duds that barely detonate when shooting trap/skeet (usually reloads) and very rarely do they leave a wad in the barrel. However, they ALWAYS fail to cycle. Anyone who has to manually extract a spent shell from an auto and fails to check the bore before firing the next round should not be surprised if his gun blows up in his face.

Just speculating on OPs situation, not here to place fault. Seems obvious there was extreme pressure from something, not my area of expertise. The case involving the turkey hunter was caused by his failure to clear obstruction of debris or mud from a fall with his shotgun

 

[OntarioHunter]

Just speculating on OPs situation, not here to place fault. Seems obvious there was extreme pressure from something, not my area of expertise. The case involving the turkey hunter was caused by his failure to clear obstruction of debris or mud from a fall with his shotgun

Yes, no blame game needed. Wad obstruction explosions are more common with pump action shotguns. The inexperienced shooter fires a poof dud and instinctively cycles in the next round for follow up shot at the fleeing bird. Kaboom! With autos the same dud fails to cycle and shooter is not getting a follow up shot.

I really doubt this accident was due to a defective factory shell. A 3.5" shotgun, especially an auto, should be able to handle all the powder that could possibly be shoved into a hull. I have fired 3" goose loads out of my 12 ga 2.75" A5 Light Twelve. It can handle it but I have to remove the barrel to remove the empty hull. In fact, Browning used the same bolt for 2.75" and 3" guns.

 

[TheJason]

Looking at it, I wonder if the bolt lugs weren’t fully engaged when the gun went off

 

[BucksnDucks]

Looking at it, I wonder if the bolt lugs weren’t fully engaged when the gun went off

I was thinking about that as well, but would the firing pin be able to detonate primer with the bolt in that position? I'm not familiar with Versa Max, I wonder if the bolt head rotates to fully engage. It's an interesting mystery

 

[TheJason]

I was thinking about that as well, but would the firing pin be able to detonate primer with the bolt in that position? I'm not familiar with Versa Max, I wonder if the bolt head rotates to fully engage. It's an interesting mystery

I’m not positive. I’ve seen AR15 rifles fire without the bolt fully engaged. We’re taking about 10 degrees of rotation, which isn’t much.

If the lugs were only partially engaged, it’s going to put more stress on the engaged portion, which would possibly explain why it looks like they were peeled away from the bolt.

Could be from a little ice or debris on shells or in the chamber.

 

[Don Fischer]

I just discovered one of my already replaced once Limbsaver recoil pads is melting again. I should have gone with the Supercel when they replaced it the first time. They are unobtainium now.

Boy is there an easy fix for that. Get a 28ga!

 

[F250]

Remington as we know them, liquidated just about all of their parts and firearms prior to the bankruptcy auction. The new ownersship, operating as RemArms, did not buy the Remington company. The Remington company was split into many pieces by a court. RemArms essentially bought some old buildings and old equipment. They did not even get the trademark Remington. Hence the name RemArms. They have to pay a royalty for every gun they put the name Remington on. They attempted to hire back as many employees as possible, and made press releases MANY MONTHS AGO that they would be begin operations by manufacturing an extremely limited lineup.(700s and 870s only I believe) As far as I know, they have only had complete rifles coming out the door for a few weeks. What’s the point? RemArms does not have a warehouse full of parts for your shotgun(those parts were sold before RemArms was allowed to purchase the warehouse). The new management may not even know where the equipment used to make your parts is, or how to operate it. They may not have schematics on any of the firearms. Those may have gone with the company that bought the intellectual property. RemArms is an entirely new company that just happens to be manufacturing a few firearms that a company who no longer exists used to manufacture(kinda like Christensen and Bergara already make 700 clones). The idea that it is bad customer service for Company A not to have a part in stock for a product manufactured by Company B is absurd. Judge RemArms customer service based on how they service and product they actually produced. They didn’t make your shotgun. They didn’t even buy the company that made your shotgun.

Remington no longer exists! It is not possible for them to give you good or bad customer service. They cannot give you customer service at all!

When RemArms gets into full production they may well offer service to most or all of Remington’s models as a courtesy to new customers, but if they don’t, it’s not poor customer service. Being upset that RemArms doesn’t have the parts for your shotgun is almost as bad as being upset that the Toyota dealership wouldn’t warranty your Ford.

Because the court split the intellectual property into a separate item at auction, RemArms may well be unable to produce the VersaMax. Being released on 2010, many parts of it are likely still under patent(utility patents last 20 years). RemArms does not own any of the intellectual property of Remington.

Very well explained. Thank you.