Took my brand new Remington 870 out to shoot it for the first time and shot out the improved cylinder rem choke that I'd installed. Not sure why. Details:

Choke: Rem choke improved cylinder. Extended choke. Approved for lead and steel shot. Felt like I tightened it down really hard before I started shooting. Applied a few drops of oil to the threads beforehand.

Ammo: I shot about 25-30 shells through it before I noticed the choke was gone. Started w/#8, then #7.5, then #4 steel birdshot, then some 2 3/4 #00 buck followed by 3'' #00 buck. A few random rounds after that. My buddy said he could see fire coming out of the barrel with the 3'' #00 buck. Was that the choke?

Also, did I almost just kill myself?

Barrel seems fine, factory choke reinstalled without a problem. Was firing off the rounds fairly quickly, didn't check the tightness of the choke between rounds, probably should have.

Clearly I'm new to this. What should I do to prevent losing my chokes and/or having a barrel explode in my face in the future?

Welcome to SGW.

As for your choke issue, the first thing I’d say would be to not use oil on the threads. Oil is to help things move against each other and may have helped your choke move against the barrel. Get some anti-seize at the auto parts store and put a little bit on the threads. It doesn’t take much as it gets spread all over as you screw it in. Oh, and clean the oil out of the barrel first.

As for tightening while you’re shooting, screw them in finger tight and then maybe give them a check every few shots. With flush chokes, I take a look to see if they’re really flush or just close and then give them a visual check periodically. If they’ve moved, I snug them up. Emphasis on “snug”, as in don’t over tighten them.

You didnt almost kill yourself. I dont have an answer for why your choke blew out. However oiling it is not standard practice.

Buy some choke tube grease. Gun will not blow up with or without the chokes in.

Steve

Grease is better for choke tubes, but oil is OK. I know people who have been oiling their threads for years with no problems. As far as why your IC tube blew out, who knows? It probably loosened during all the shooting you were doing and/or might have been undersized. I'm a little surprised that your barrel and/or threads weren't damaged. Consider yourself lucky, get some grease and check the tube for tightness while you're shooting.

Like Jake said, you didn't almost kill yourself. The danger was downrange where you were pointing the gun.

I think it was most likely operator error, you let it happen.

How so?

tp (honestly curious)

I can tell you that my 1100 in 28 gauge had very shallow threads and it came loose every 4-5 shots, so much so, I had to use white teflon tape to keep it installed; no grease or other material would work. Is it possible they didn't tap the barrel correctly? It is possible. Is it more probable it came loose while you were shooting and a wad caught it and forced it out? More likely.

I use oil on my choke tube threads. However, I also tighten them in place with a choke tube wrench. If I put them in just "finger snug", they will vibrate loose in a few shots.

If your choke tubes aren't notched for wrench use, then wrap the threads with teflon tape. You may still need to check the choke tube from time to time, but it will stay snug longer with the tape on the threads.

Oh, when you're through shooting for the day, LOOSEN the choke tube with your wrench before putting the gun away unless you want the choke to become a permanent fixture in the end of the barrel.