II am a bit ashamed to share this but in a sick way a little proud too. I have several friends that shoot fancy and pricey automatic shotguns for waterfowl. I have always stuck with a black synthetic stocked 870 saying it was a tool not a collectors item. I have even gone as far as dunking the gun into the goo and muck in the bottom of a goose blind and coming up and killing a goose as the mud goes flying everytwhere on recoil.

Yesterday as my friend hunted with his new Baikal 3 1/2" auto I used my old super mag 870 and we had a fair day in the duck blind. When the temperature started dropping and the drizzle became rain and then a downpour we packed it in without reaching our limit. When we reached the truck I put down the decoy bag and leaned the shotgun against the truck to dig the keys out of my pockets inside the waders. The wind was howling on the passenger side of the truck so I threw the decoys in the back and moved around to the drivers side to have a bit of a wind block while I stripped off the soaked parka shell and waders. ( you can see it coming now can't you) When I got back into street clothes my buddy waved from his truck and pulled away and I followed him out. I had a hankering for a Hardee's Frisco melt and drove about 10 miles to get one. When I pulled into the parking lot I looked back seat and did not see my shotgun case. My heart sunk because I knew where it was... I went back to the lake and sure enough.. it had slid down the side of the truck... and I ran over it with my K2500 HD Duramax



I threw it in the bed of the truck to rinse off in the rain on the hour drive home. I took the picture before taking the hose to it.

After cleaning all of the embedded mud and dirt out of the receiver I noticed that the barrel had rotated about 1/4 inch to port but did not appear to be bent nor did the magazine tube. I removed the barrel and discovered that the end of the ejector that indexes the barrel had broken allowing the rotation. Thank goodness it was in very soft mud. The only damage I have identifed is the ejector. I will get a new one staked in and it will be good as new. I will give a follow up report when I get that repaired and shoot it again.

There's a lesson to be learned here guys...one that was jammed down my throat from Day One in the Army:

Never....NEVER...lean your rifle up against the side of a vehicle...it is the quickest way to get a rifle run over, bent and broken. You will end up with a rifle that will shoot around corners...at least for the first shot, if it doesn't blow up in your face.

In fact, we were taught to never lean our rifle against anything, but to always lay it down in a safe place where it was withing arm's reach.

You are very lucky DD that there wasn't anymore damage done mate...as you say...soft mud saved the day for you.

Cheers, Vince

So you just did a Glock test on a Remington. One pretty tough shotgun!!

great story looking forward to the update

Dawgdad,

Long ago here in Oz we are allowed to own those fine shotguns.
I sort of remember that mine was made of aluminum alloy, thus may crack rather than stretches.

Just to be on the safe side, you may want to paint some fluorescent dye on the breech block
(maybe use a fluorescent hilight marker pen from stationery shop)
and shine UV light on it to ensure that there is no minute cracks that may cause possible grief.
The dye will seep in minute cracks and shows up as hair lines under UV lights.

I got it back from the Remington Repair shop with a new ejector. Good as new for $65! I only have two little bluing spots on the receiver where they put the new stakes in to remind me of my stupidity...

Dawgdad wrote:

I got it back from the Remington Repair shop with a new ejector. Good as new for $65! I only have two little bluing spots on the receiver where they put the new stakes in to remind me of my stupidity...

Don't be so hard on yourself Dad. It probably was not stupidity but rather "old folks syndrome".

Happy the gun is okay. I would leave the marks in the bluing just to remember a good story.

CRS disease or oldtimers syndrome for sure...

glad to hear your old reliable came out fine.