George Stringer
Staff Alumnus
Guys and gals, over the past two months I have had half a dozen 870 Expresses come in with the same complaint. Mysteriously disappearing magazine springs. In every case, either the factory plug was installed backward at the factory or the owner (none owned up to it) took it apart to clean and put it in backwards. What happens is that under the pressure of a loaded mag the small end of the plug gets jammed into the magazine spring retainer and the recoil spring works it way over the large end, eventually being pushed completely over it. The spring gets caught between the large end of the plug and the mag spring retainer. Suddenly you have a single shot. Be sure that, if you disassemble to clean the mag tube, you replace the plug with the large end against the magazine spring retainer. George