If any gun can be called the workhorse of shotgunning, it's the pump gun. Hunters have used them on everything from squirrels to deer, and probably have thrown more lead and steel into the sky during duck season with them than with any other type of shotgun.
Despite all this history, or perhaps because of it, pump shotguns are fairly simple devices to clean and maintain. According to John Underwood, owner of and resident gunsmith at John's Guns & Fly Fishing in Tallahassee, Florida, gun owners can undertake complete cleaning of their pump shotguns without specialized tools or equipment.
The most common pump shotgun around, Underwood says, probably is the Remington 870. Because it's an easy shotgun to work with, it serves as a good example for disassembly and cleaning instructions. Even though the takedown on each shotgun is a little different, the principles are the same for pumpguns of all makes and gauges.
The first step in cleaning an 870, as with any gun, is to make sure it's unloaded and the magazine is empty. Then spread a clean towel or cloth on whatever surface you'll be working on; you're going to have a lot of little pieces laid out before this is over.
Remove the two pins holding the trigger group in place (on Browning, Mossberg, and new Winchester shotguns, one pin; old Winchester Model 12s have a screw on the underside of the receiver). These pins are visible on both sides of the receiver. Push them out of position with an Allen wrench or a small wooden dowel. Once you can grip them with your fingers pull them from the receiver.
Lay the gun upside down on your working surface and remove the trigger group. Underwood says to lift up gently on the trigger guard and rock the whole assembly back and forth a little to loosen it. Lay it aside with the two pins.
"The trigger group isn't taken apart under normal cleaning conditions," Underwood says. "When you do, you're getting into gunsmithing. It's relatively simple as those things go, but I don't recommend that people take it apart on their own."
Now look down inside the receiver. You'll see one strip of metal on each side. These are the shell stops. In the 870 they're staked in; don't remove them. If you do, you'll need some gunsmith help to get them back in. On Brownings and some other shotguns, they're made to fall out at this stage.
Unscrew the endcap. Now the barrel lifts off the receiver. Next, Underwood says, move the forearm completely forward with one hand and reach into the receiver with the index finger of your other hand. Push down on the front end of the left-hand shell stop. This will allow you to pull the bolt and bolt carrier out of the receiver.
The last step is to remove the magazine spring retainer from the end of the magazine tube. Underwood says this doesn't need to be done every time you clean, but should be done once a year. Insert a screwdriver blade into the retainer and gently twist the retainer up and out of the end of the tube. Be prepared; the plug and spring will shoot across the room unless you're ready to catch them. Invert the magazine tube to remove the follower.
Now it's cleaning time. Put the trigger group into some solvent--Underwood prefers Hoppe's #9--to soak while you clean the bolt. With an old toothbrush and solvent, clean the bolt and bolt carrier. Look especially for unburned powder residues and remove them. Inside the bolt, examine the firing pin for breaks or cracks.
Remove the trigger group from the solvent and go over it with the toothbrush. Remove all foreign matter. Once it's clean, wipe it gently and remove any remaining solvent with compressed air or with Birchwood Casey's Gunscrubber.
"You'll see seeds, pieces of straw, anything that was out in the field," Underwood says.
While you're working with the trigger group, check the two hollow cylindrical pins (on Brownings, one) to be sure the wire retaining clips are in place on each side. Lubricate everything you've just cleaned with a light coating of gun oil.
"Never, ever use WD-40 or anything but barn door hinges," Underwood says.
Next, carefully clean the inside of the receiver with a solvent-dampened cloth and a toothbrush. Carefully, because two rails in there are sharp enough to give you a nasty cut.
"If you get in there with a rag and go 'shhhht'," Underwood says, "you'll come out and say, 'Does this need stitches or not?"
Once you've removed all residues from inside the receiver, run a solvent-dampened barrel mop through the barrel and the magazine tube. Then go back over everything with light gun oil. Treat the slide on the forearm and the spring and follower the same way, but be careful not to stretch the spring.
With a choke tube wrench, unscrew the choke tube from the end of the barrel. Clean and oil both it and the threads inside the end of the bore. Then lightly coat the threads on the tube with choke tube grease or other copper-based lubricant, and reinsert it into the barrel, finger-tight.
Now it's time to reassemble the gun. If you paid attention to how the firearm came apart, you'll shouldn't have any serious problems.
First, drop the follower back into the magazine tube and insert the end of the spring. Place the other end of the spring onto the plug, and compress the spring onto the plug until both can easily be fitted into the magazine tube. If there's no plug, Underwood says, gather the spring onto a screwdriver blade and use that to work the spring into the tube.
"Don't try to poke the spring in a little at a time," Underwood says. "If you do, it will shoot across the room again."
Once the spring is in place, snap the retainer into the end of the tube. You may have to tap it into place with a brass or plastic hammer--never use a construction hammer.
Now place the bolt on the bolt carrier, and set both into the notches cut into the forearm slides. Fit the slides into the groves in the front of the receiver. With one hand under the receiver, depress the end of the same shell stop that you did when you took the forearm off. This will allow you to slide the forearm back into its normal position.
Turn the gun upside down and drop the trigger group back into the underside of the receiver. You may have to wiggle the trigger group back and forth a little until everything fits together just right.
"If it doesn't go in easily, don't force it," Underwood says. "Take it out and start again." Now reinsert the two pins into their respective holes, tapping with a plastic hammer as necessary.
Insert the barrel back into the receiver, and fit the barrel ring around the end of the magazine tube. Screw the endcap back onto the magazine tube, and you've got it.
According to Underwood, despite a few differences in the way bolts come out of receivers and trigger groups are held in place, these instructions generally will work with most pump shotguns.
Copyright (c) 1996 Carolee Boyles-Sprenkel. All rights reserved.
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