I just got the youngster an 870 12 ga, opening day dove hunt was a success! is there anything I can do to slick-up the action besides working it back & forth?

thanks

An 870 has a lot of contact points that can make it seem rough. Use BreakFree CLP at just about any place you see metal against metal. Down side is that it dose attract dust and debris ,so you need to be diligent about paying attention if it needs to be cleaned.

I recently picked up a Remington TAC-14 870 and it was pretty stiff. I broke it down to the point of removing the bolt and coated the bolt and inside well with Breakfree, inside the slide tube, etc. Put it together and worked the action ALOT and it has really slicked it up. I wouldn’t leave a lot of Breakfree on it for firing, just wipe it down and put a thin coat before taking it out.

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Get off my lawn!

Shoot it!!!!!!!!!!!

I've had two 12 ga. 870's in my career, a 70"s vintage 3 in., old fashioned blued steel and walnut, and a new police special with plastic furniture and some kind of black polymer paint over bead blasted metal. The new 870 is noticeably scratchy compared to the vintage 870 that was as slick right out of the box as it is 40 years and countless cycles later. I have no doubt that repeated cycles will knock some of the sharp edges off the bead blasted and coated surfaces of the new 870, just as it will yours. Having said that, where would one get a slicker pump gun. 870's just about open themselves on recoil. I never even thought about it in hunting reloads. It just seemed to cycle without me. The only slicker pump gun I own is a Remington Model 31. There are some truly awful cycling pumps out there. A Winchester model 97 is my nomination for the worst, closely followed by Winchester's model 12, both great guns, but with quirky action cycles that take learning.

Is the OP's gun an Express model? Those have some cheaper parts and are rougher finished. Still, oil like Break-Free and use will smooth it up some.

If it's a Peerless grade, it should be smoother...

Just shoot it... a lot.

The last two 870 tacticals that I have bought personally have been very rough. I put them on the line with the basic academy recruits when they were doing shotgun training and qualifying. 50 students firing 65 rounds of birdshot, buckshot and slugs in an afternoon through a couple of 870's. When I got them back off the line I stripped them and cleaned them.... slick as a ribbon now.

Choot 'eem, Liz!

Seriously, shooting it and running the bolt are the ideal way. I have a newish 870 Police and it's a great shotgun. Contrary to popular belief, Remington can still make shotguns. This one is slick and smooth and has digested several thousand shells. I trust it with my life:

I have an 870 police magnum 2017 model,shells get stuck in the barrel & fail to eject about half of the time. I polished it with steel wool and that didn't help. I could have shipped it back to davidsons & had it fixed for free but had a local guy fix it for $50.I seems to work now but it's a range toy due to past reliability issues

What type of shells?

Some people will freak at this. Disassemble and reassemble putting as small dap of fine valve grinding compound on every wear point. Cycle the action like 50 times. Strip and clean with solvent, reassemble.

Try out a Browning BPS sometime, it will make a well broken in 870 seem like a weight training device in need of new bearings. Another plus for the Browning is that, if you want to, you can turn around, aim the ejection port at that trash can 20 feet behind the firing line and launch the fired hull into that trash can with one quick pump.

BTW, I have both a Browning and an 870 and have to admit the 870 does fit me a touch better and doesn't ever slap me in the cheek. I will also admit that I will typically shoot the 870 a tiny bit better at trap. However that Browning is just more enjoyable to shoot, now than I have a gel cheek pad on the stock, and it is a LOT smoother shooting than the Remington. That does make a difference if you are shooting something like 5 stand or Sporting Clays.

Find an old 870 Wingmaster. They are usually pretty smooth in my experience.

The 870 Express will be rougher at first because the parts don't get the polishing the more expensive models get. And some parts are cheaper. But you can upgrade those parts for the same ones in the Police model for about $35. The finish will last forever if you treat it right. Bead blasting requires a LOT of oil in the finish to keep it working right. It won't rust or scratch easily if you have the finish saturated in oil. For a year I oiled my Express every time I shot it. I took it apart and cleaned it and oiled it a little too. It wasn't long before racking the slide knocked down any rough spots in the action. Now it is as smooth as a Wingmaster. But I shot it a lot for a year. I also do not have to keep oiling it like I did. It doesn't have a speck of rust on it after 10 years. A lot of people swore they would rust terribly back in the time I bought it. They were wrong. They won't rust if you treat them right.

The only real problem I ever had was using Federal shells. They would stick for a while. I polished the chamber and the feed ramp and it hasn't had a shell stick in probably 8 years. I've only had it 10 years. It was more of a problem with the ammo IMO because everything else fed through it just fine.

Jerk it apart and stone the edges of all the stamped parts. That
will take care of 50% of it. Some of the cheaper models you can
cut you fingers on burr edges of action bars.

Yes, sell the 870, and buy a Remington model 31

As Bakebfr480 stated above the best way (and most fun) is to shoot it, shoot it, shoot it!! This way all the parts wear into each other naturally and perfectly. A small amount of your favorite lube will help too, but there is really no better way than to shoot away!!