SLR15 LAW ENFORCEMENT ARMORER COURSE
When: March 20-21, 2017
Where: ILEETA Conference in St. Louis Missouri
We conducted a Law Enforcement Shotgun Armorer Course at the ILEETA Conference, in St. Louis Missouri. We have taught at the ILEETA Conference 5 different times. The classroom had plenty of space, decent lighting, and people had plenty of table top space to work on their shotguns.
In this course we cover the Remington 870, Mossberg 500/590, and Benelli M1-90/M2. Shotguns represented were about half Remington 870's, and the other half a mix of Mossberg 500's and 590's. There were no Benelli's present, other than the one we brought.
We started with an introduction of all present. Everyone was supplied with a course manual, inspection forms, and supplier lists of where to obtain parts, tools and accessories. We supplied every student with their own set of basic tools that are necessary to do most of the general work on the shotguns (short of specialty tools for shell latches and restaking detents, etc). Everyone was introduced and supplied with Slip2000 "EWL" Extreme Weapons Lubricant and #725 Cleaner Degreaser.
We showed our procedure of a series of checks that we use to make sure everything is working correctly, and why we use this series of checks. Everyone was taught a hands on session of the eight basic functioning cycles of the shotguns. From there we broke the same eight functioning cycles down further in greater detail.
We went through the proper way to remove barrels from each type of shotgun. With the barrels removed, they were inspected, in this class I think every barrel was heavily fouled. The fouling inside the barrel is generally plastic from the shot wadding, mixed with powder and shot residue. Everyone was shown that they needed to clean the chamber and bore, as these are different diameters and require different brushes. They were also shown all the other hidden areas of the barrel that need to be kept clean for proper functioning of the bolt assembly and barrel to receiver fit for lock up etc. Also shown were a multitude of tools, brushes, and jags for cleaning the barrel. Everyone with fouled barrels were allowed to clean them, as a hands on session of trying the different methods and tools shows what works better. Everyone was supplied with Slip2000 #725 Cleaner/Degreaser, and Carbon Killer/Cutter, which help to cut through the fouling rather quickly. After a short session of barrel cleaning, the fouling was removed.
Barrels were inspected for damage, stress, missing parts etc. We showed the differences between old and new styles of Remington 870 retaining cap designs, and showed why these shouldn't be intermixed.
Note: One Officer had a mix-matched 870 where he had an internal locking system for the magazine retaining cap, but had added an aftermarket cap that had a sling mount. This aftermarket mount was designed for the old style 870 and the Police Magnum models, of which didn't integrate. We supplied him with a new cap that would work, and got him back in proper working order.
With the barrels off, we inspected the inside and outside. We covered proper maintenance of what to use, and how to clean the barrels. Several Officers barrels were heavily fouled, which gave them the hands on opportunity to use some of the cleaning tips & tricks that we show, of which helped immensely, and within a few minutes their barrels were clean.
We then moved into the bolt assemblies, slides, action bar assemblies, and how they integrate together. Bolts were disassembled and reassembled, and inspections were done, showing where debris and corrosion is found, and why we recommend that certain things be inspected and cleaned on a regular basis. Students were introduced to splined pins, and shown the proper way to remove and install them. The 870's were inspected for old versus new parts, the difference in era's of 870 parts, and shown a hands on difference of forged vs MIM (metal injection molded) parts and why we recommend using the forged parts on police 870's. The 500/590 bolts were disassmbled, and people were shown the changes in eras of these parts, and that there is a difference in the right & left extractor assemblies and why.
Magazine tubes and their internals were gone through. When we cleaned magazine tubes using a magazine tube brush, it was amazing to see how much crud came out, and IMHO the magazine tube should be scrubbed clean of debris once in a while. Magazine springs were covered, and there were a few students that had sporting shotgun springs. We showed our preference of using Wolff magazine tube springs, and why. Everyone inspected their magazine tube followers, most of the 870's had the orange plastic ones, and the 500/590's had the metal ones. We showed the aftermarket tactical followers with the tails, and why we recommend these as a great addition for reliability. No magazine tubes were found to be bent or damaged, but we did show how to repair and/or replace them if necessary.
We went through the action bar assemblies, which sometimes are referred to as the forend assembly. Everyone was supplied with a forend wrench, and we showed why there is a need for Armorers to have a good wrench, and not the flat piece of metal that is often supplied with aftermarket forends. The assemblies were taken apart using the proper wrenches, then the forends were inspected, action bars inspected, and things were reassembled and indexed correctly. It was shown how the action bars have a timing that controls the shell latches, and if the action bars are damaged or bent that the timing could be off.
Note: One students Mossberg 590 came cycling properly. When he reassembled things, his shotgun wouldn't feed shells out of the magazine tube. Upon close inspection, he had misaligned the forend on the action bars, of which was the cause of his malfunction. After pointing out what the cause was, he realigned things, and low and behold it worked properly (Learning Had Occurred).
Note: About half of the shotguns in this class had loose forend nuts. We recommend that these are checked on new guns when the come from the factory, and that they are also checked on a regular basis. As if these are loose, or become loose, then the forends and rotate out of alignment from the action bars, which can cause malfunctions and damage.
Butt stocks were removed and inspected. Two butt stock assemblies didn't have lock washers, which were replaced upon reassembly. Every wood stock was inspected for cracks, and all made sure they had stock bearing plates and were shown their importance. We went through stock repair on wood and synthetic stocks, to include alterations. Receivers were inspected where stocks mount to, and replacement and repair was covered.
Day-2 started with a review of everything that we covered the previous day. We then moved into trigger groups, starting with the Remington 870, then the Mossberg, and ending with the Benelli. Everyone was shown how the entire trigger groups work, what can be disassembled and what cannot due to availability of parts, inspections, maintenance, mechanical safeties, changes in designs, Police/Military models vs sporting models, and how the carrier integrates during cycling. We also showed common mistakes that people make with trigger groups, the problems in function, and how to correct any issues. After trigger groups were put back together, we showed how the carriers integrate, how the slides with action bars work, and how/why the lock forward cycle works.
Shell Latches on the Remington system was next. We covered proper staking and why, how they get damaged or misaligned, and their replacement. We demonstrated, and then allowed people to use several different staking tools that we brought. The ejection systems were gone through, showing how the Remington system gets damaged, how to replace & make repairs, and lastly tuning.
Note: Two 870's had loose ejector spring. We showed how to tighten and adjust these. The Officers used the tools we had and got them back in proper working order.
Then end of the day was a review, followed by all shotguns being reassembled, then inspected to make sure everything was in spec and ready to go back into service.
Here is a brief overview of what is covered:
Headspace and wear inspections
Action and function
Barrel inspections
Fore-end assembly & action bars
Bolt assembly (extraction & spring, firing pin, retractor spring, flexitab cuts)
Ejector inspection, repair & replacement
Slide assembly inspection
Stem adjustments
Hook Space
Magazine spring, retainer & followers
Shell latches, inspections, adjustment & replacement
Custom accessories & enhancements
Maintenance
CY6
Greg Sullivan "Sully"
SLR15 Rifles
TheDefensiveEdge.com
(763) 712-0123
When: March 20-21, 2017
Where: ILEETA Conference in St. Louis Missouri
We conducted a Law Enforcement Shotgun Armorer Course at the ILEETA Conference, in St. Louis Missouri. We have taught at the ILEETA Conference 5 different times. The classroom had plenty of space, decent lighting, and people had plenty of table top space to work on their shotguns.
In this course we cover the Remington 870, Mossberg 500/590, and Benelli M1-90/M2. Shotguns represented were about half Remington 870's, and the other half a mix of Mossberg 500's and 590's. There were no Benelli's present, other than the one we brought.
We started with an introduction of all present. Everyone was supplied with a course manual, inspection forms, and supplier lists of where to obtain parts, tools and accessories. We supplied every student with their own set of basic tools that are necessary to do most of the general work on the shotguns (short of specialty tools for shell latches and restaking detents, etc). Everyone was introduced and supplied with Slip2000 "EWL" Extreme Weapons Lubricant and #725 Cleaner Degreaser.
We showed our procedure of a series of checks that we use to make sure everything is working correctly, and why we use this series of checks. Everyone was taught a hands on session of the eight basic functioning cycles of the shotguns. From there we broke the same eight functioning cycles down further in greater detail.
We went through the proper way to remove barrels from each type of shotgun. With the barrels removed, they were inspected, in this class I think every barrel was heavily fouled. The fouling inside the barrel is generally plastic from the shot wadding, mixed with powder and shot residue. Everyone was shown that they needed to clean the chamber and bore, as these are different diameters and require different brushes. They were also shown all the other hidden areas of the barrel that need to be kept clean for proper functioning of the bolt assembly and barrel to receiver fit for lock up etc. Also shown were a multitude of tools, brushes, and jags for cleaning the barrel. Everyone with fouled barrels were allowed to clean them, as a hands on session of trying the different methods and tools shows what works better. Everyone was supplied with Slip2000 #725 Cleaner/Degreaser, and Carbon Killer/Cutter, which help to cut through the fouling rather quickly. After a short session of barrel cleaning, the fouling was removed.
Barrels were inspected for damage, stress, missing parts etc. We showed the differences between old and new styles of Remington 870 retaining cap designs, and showed why these shouldn't be intermixed.
Note: One Officer had a mix-matched 870 where he had an internal locking system for the magazine retaining cap, but had added an aftermarket cap that had a sling mount. This aftermarket mount was designed for the old style 870 and the Police Magnum models, of which didn't integrate. We supplied him with a new cap that would work, and got him back in proper working order.
With the barrels off, we inspected the inside and outside. We covered proper maintenance of what to use, and how to clean the barrels. Several Officers barrels were heavily fouled, which gave them the hands on opportunity to use some of the cleaning tips & tricks that we show, of which helped immensely, and within a few minutes their barrels were clean.
We then moved into the bolt assemblies, slides, action bar assemblies, and how they integrate together. Bolts were disassembled and reassembled, and inspections were done, showing where debris and corrosion is found, and why we recommend that certain things be inspected and cleaned on a regular basis. Students were introduced to splined pins, and shown the proper way to remove and install them. The 870's were inspected for old versus new parts, the difference in era's of 870 parts, and shown a hands on difference of forged vs MIM (metal injection molded) parts and why we recommend using the forged parts on police 870's. The 500/590 bolts were disassmbled, and people were shown the changes in eras of these parts, and that there is a difference in the right & left extractor assemblies and why.
Magazine tubes and their internals were gone through. When we cleaned magazine tubes using a magazine tube brush, it was amazing to see how much crud came out, and IMHO the magazine tube should be scrubbed clean of debris once in a while. Magazine springs were covered, and there were a few students that had sporting shotgun springs. We showed our preference of using Wolff magazine tube springs, and why. Everyone inspected their magazine tube followers, most of the 870's had the orange plastic ones, and the 500/590's had the metal ones. We showed the aftermarket tactical followers with the tails, and why we recommend these as a great addition for reliability. No magazine tubes were found to be bent or damaged, but we did show how to repair and/or replace them if necessary.
We went through the action bar assemblies, which sometimes are referred to as the forend assembly. Everyone was supplied with a forend wrench, and we showed why there is a need for Armorers to have a good wrench, and not the flat piece of metal that is often supplied with aftermarket forends. The assemblies were taken apart using the proper wrenches, then the forends were inspected, action bars inspected, and things were reassembled and indexed correctly. It was shown how the action bars have a timing that controls the shell latches, and if the action bars are damaged or bent that the timing could be off.
Note: One students Mossberg 590 came cycling properly. When he reassembled things, his shotgun wouldn't feed shells out of the magazine tube. Upon close inspection, he had misaligned the forend on the action bars, of which was the cause of his malfunction. After pointing out what the cause was, he realigned things, and low and behold it worked properly (Learning Had Occurred).
Note: About half of the shotguns in this class had loose forend nuts. We recommend that these are checked on new guns when the come from the factory, and that they are also checked on a regular basis. As if these are loose, or become loose, then the forends and rotate out of alignment from the action bars, which can cause malfunctions and damage.
Butt stocks were removed and inspected. Two butt stock assemblies didn't have lock washers, which were replaced upon reassembly. Every wood stock was inspected for cracks, and all made sure they had stock bearing plates and were shown their importance. We went through stock repair on wood and synthetic stocks, to include alterations. Receivers were inspected where stocks mount to, and replacement and repair was covered.
Day-2 started with a review of everything that we covered the previous day. We then moved into trigger groups, starting with the Remington 870, then the Mossberg, and ending with the Benelli. Everyone was shown how the entire trigger groups work, what can be disassembled and what cannot due to availability of parts, inspections, maintenance, mechanical safeties, changes in designs, Police/Military models vs sporting models, and how the carrier integrates during cycling. We also showed common mistakes that people make with trigger groups, the problems in function, and how to correct any issues. After trigger groups were put back together, we showed how the carriers integrate, how the slides with action bars work, and how/why the lock forward cycle works.
Shell Latches on the Remington system was next. We covered proper staking and why, how they get damaged or misaligned, and their replacement. We demonstrated, and then allowed people to use several different staking tools that we brought. The ejection systems were gone through, showing how the Remington system gets damaged, how to replace & make repairs, and lastly tuning.
Note: Two 870's had loose ejector spring. We showed how to tighten and adjust these. The Officers used the tools we had and got them back in proper working order.
Then end of the day was a review, followed by all shotguns being reassembled, then inspected to make sure everything was in spec and ready to go back into service.
Here is a brief overview of what is covered:
Headspace and wear inspections
Action and function
Barrel inspections
Fore-end assembly & action bars
Bolt assembly (extraction & spring, firing pin, retractor spring, flexitab cuts)
Ejector inspection, repair & replacement
Slide assembly inspection
Stem adjustments
Hook Space
Magazine spring, retainer & followers
Shell latches, inspections, adjustment & replacement
Custom accessories & enhancements
Maintenance
CY6
Greg Sullivan "Sully"
SLR15 Rifles
TheDefensiveEdge.com
(763) 712-0123