Remington 870 extractor identification: MIM v. bar stock

Remington 870 extractor identification: MIM v. bar stock

The Remington 870 is available in a wide variety of models.  The higher end guns, like the Police Magnum, have a milled, bar stock extractor.  The majority of current and recent production guns such as the Express, Tactical and TAC14 have Metal Injection Molded (MIM) extractors.  While MIM allows the production of complex parts for a relatively low price, some shooters are skeptical of the long term reliability of these parts and elect to change then for machined, non-MIM, bar stock parts.

For reference purposes a schematic of a Remington 870 Express can be found here.

Figuring out which part you have is fairly straight forward since they look different.  In the images below, then MIM extractor is on the left, the  bar stock extractor is on the right.

You’ll note the MIM extractor has casting marks and a raised notch.  The bar stock extractor has tooling marks.

If you are interested in replacing your MIM extractor, it is a simple task.  The bolt is removed from the gun, the extractor detent is pushed back with a small screw driver and then you lift the extractor out with a small pair of pliers.  Installing the new one is the reverse procedure.

For 12-gauge shotguns, the non-MIM bar stock extractor can be found at Brownells, part number 767-161-760.