Maggie's Farm

The 870 will go through anything and still work. The thing will last forever.

Buddy: Exactly what happens when you move the slide? Does the bolt move, but not lock?

Buddy: And first we need a schematic.

http://www.okiegunsmithshop.com/stevens_520_620.jpg

Man, ya got me stumped. So the bolt closes but moves back open even when the slide is all the way forward in battery? I've never owned one, so clearly I'm absolutely no help. If it were me, I would break out the screwdrivers, disassemble it slowly and look for missing pins and springs using the schematic as a guide. Numrich and the usual suspects have some parts, though I think some parts are very hard to find. If you think you've solved it, take it to a smith to double check. There may be hidden stuff wrong, too.

Another problem is that while it is a JMB design, it seems from what little I know to have been an evolutionary dead end and I have heard that the mechanism is very different than anything we see today ("today" = post 1935, say). So many modern smiths are not familiar with them.

I would ask your question on the Shotgun World "Classics" sub-forum, the various 24 Hour Campfire forums, especially the Savage sub-forum, and also on the High Road and the Firing Line. You might ask about competent smiths at each place, too.

Then if you can't figure it out after all that, take all the little pieces to the smith in a 1 gallon Zip-Loc baggie and dump the baggie on his counter. In three years you'll have your gun back. :-)

Just don't shoot the thing. Is it a trench gun?