Polishing a new 870 SPS?

[ground control]

Just bought a new 870 SPS and am wanting to polish the barrel and have a question. I've polished a few barrels and am good to go on the process but have never polished a brand new barrel. I haven't shot the gun yet and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. Should I run a few boxes of shells through it first or just polish it right out of the box? This is not my primary turkey gun and I am in no hurry to get it done. I will say I am a bit disappointed when looking down the barrel. It looks like there is a fair amount of tool chatter from cutting the bore. The overall fit and finish is a bit rough as well. First thing I plan on doing before anything is a good thorough deep cleaning. Any suggestions?

[nyhunter]

Just my opinion, I'd shoot it with turkey loads after a deep cleaning, then polish it to see how much better it shoots.     BUT with the price of ammo this might not be the way to go if your limited on money or ammo.

[ground control]

I bought a few boxes of lead just for that purpose. I just spoke with Remington concerning the tool chatter in the barrel and a few other concerns. He told just to send it back, said there shouldn't be any chatter in the barrel. Also noticed the trigger group was loose and the Allen head on the rear sight elevation screw was stripped. Remington is emailing a return postage label. Though the gun is a bit rough, I am quite pleased with their customer service at this point. We'll see what the gun looks like after I get it back. Needless to say, I ain't gonna be polishing anytime soon.

[Longshanks]

Just bought a new 870 SPS and am wanting to polish the barrel and have a question. I've polished a few barrels and am good to go on the process but have never polished a brand new barrel. I haven't shot the gun yet and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. Should I run a few boxes of shells through it first or just polish it right out of the box? This is not my primary turkey gun and I am in no hurry to get it done. I will say I am a bit disappointed when looking down the barrel. It looks like there is a fair amount of tool chatter from cutting the bore. The overall fit and finish is a bit rough as well. First thing I plan on doing before anything is a good thorough deep cleaning. Any suggestions?

I bought a brand new Rem870SM that the barrel looked much the same.  I was very disappointed.  Took it too my gunsmith and after a good polishing job, 30 dollars, it turned out to be the best lead shooting gun I have owned and one of the best HTL shooters i have.

169 in a 10 @ 40  Win XX 3/2/6's
275 in a 10@ 40  Hevi 7's 3/2/7's

*I cant promise you that you will get the same results but thats what happened with my gun.

[ground control]

Awesome! That's definitely good to hear!

[ground control]

Definitely gonna do the deep clean and shoot some different loads first. It only makes sense. Have no idea what I was thinking. I can always polish later if it seems it would benefit. The other guns I have polished showed pretty decent improvements. Kinda like cutting a board. You can always take more off but you can't add it back on.

[Longshanks]

Definitely gonna do the deep clean and shoot some different loads first. It only makes sense. Have no idea what I was thinking. I can always polish later if it seems it would benefit. The other guns I have polished showed pretty decent improvements. Kinda like cutting a board. You can always take more off but you can't add it back on.

Yup, I deep cleaned my barrel before I ever fired a shot through the gun. The barrels come filthy from the factory. My pattern pre-polish was 115 in 10 @ 40. Post-polish was 169 in a 10 @ 40. Without polishing I had a very average patterning gun. Post-polish it's one of the best patterning guns I own. I haven't seen any negative results from polishing. I'm sure there are some folks who have had bad results.. but I have never seen it. The worst I have seen is the patterns only slightly improved.

P.S. I only let gunsmiths work on my guns..ones that I trust..many years of experience. The same guy has been working on my guns since the late 80's.