top-quark.blog

Interstate 982 / Remington 870 Shell Latch Staking

So I actually sent the Mossberg 930 back to the factory yesterday, so hopefully it'll arrive back in 2-4 weeks, ready to shoot cheap ammo. Meanwhile, perhaps from the Mossberg's influence, my pump shotgun has decided to rebel against me.

Quick bit about the pump gun - it's an Interstate 982, Interstate being either an importer, or some sort of Norinco shell-company. "Hawk" is also an associated name or model. The gun itself is a pretty close clone of a Remington 870, with nearly full parts interchange, save for the barrels (870 barrels can be made to fit). It comes with a really decent set of ghost ring sights out of the box, which makes the package a steal for about $200.

I've put a couple thousand rounds through the gun without any issues. Recently, though, I've started running into problems with shells not wanting to feed into the gun, binding on the left shell latch. The shell latches on the gun are leafspring-like parts that coordinate with the action bars to properly time and release shells into the receiver of the gun. Normally, they're staked into the receiver. Mine have been loose since day one, but the gun has always functioned. While I thought I might have to bend the shell latches because of excessive protrusion on the left latch, I decided to stake them properly, as a first step. I also decided to post pictures, since I didn't see any on the internet.

It's a fairly common issue on Remington 870s with higher roundcounts, so hopefully someone finds this helpful.

As you can see, the factory didn't really put much effort into properly staking the latches. Two shallow, misplaced stakes. No wonder they came out.

Enter the "Baker Shell Latch Staking Tool", purchased for about $30 from Midway USA. Made in the USA, but smells just like Pakistan.

Using the tool is actually kind of awkward and disappointing. There's interference between the two bolts when you go to do the lower staking on the latches, which means you kind of have to freehand it. It does mostly work, though.

The results are decent, and the latches aren't coming loose anytime soon. You can probably tell that I don't really care about the gun's finish.

The stake job worked in fixing my feed issues, which means that I don't have to do the delicate surgery involved with bending the latches.

Quick comment, because I know someone's going to bring it up: There's some consternation about the net about buying a commie clone of an American classic. Stop to consider that Remington is indirectly involved in the import these very guns. Freedom Group (spawn of Cerberus) owns both Remington and H&R 1871, and H&R imports the "Pardner" pump, which is exactly the same gun, except with a humped receiver, and a bead front sight.