Shotgun Upgrades

[w provence]

I have a basic Remington 870 with an 18 inch cyl bore barrel with a bead for a sight. It’s a 12 ga. I also have the same that I carry on duty.
I know there are gauge guys here like Dagga boy and Sherman House and others who can advise me on what I need to up grade and what I don’t need too?
Thanks for y’alls help. Bill


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[Lon]

21 pages of 870 goodness:

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....tting-up-a-870

[Screwball]

My main upgrade for any newer 870 is the follower... and by newer, I mean mid-1990s.

Have two 11-87s for hunting. My slug gun is an early gun, never missed a beat (actually, the follower on that is different from standard followers). The newer gun, which is my field gun, if it gets very cold, the OEM follower will jam in the opening of the magazine tube. Did it like three different times, across two seasons. The last time it happened, I blew into the receiver, by the follower... and that little warmth freed it. Could always dump one in the chamber, but for how difficult it was, I am not ever taking a chance on it again.

All of my Remington shotguns (slug gun excluded) have stainless followers. For my home defense gun (20” 870 Police), it is coated in NP3 Plus, like the rest of the gun. My TAC-14 will follow suite, as well as another one I might be getting at one point.

Shy of that, everything else is personal preference. For stocked guns, I like the Magpul stock. Can adjust LOP, as well as cheek height for whatever you are using for sights. Love their forends, being I can easily toss a light on it. I’m also partial for TacStar side-saddles... even though they aren’t as popular anymore (cards are the rage, but the backing doesn’t stick well on NP3 Plus).

[Sherman A. House DDS]

I have a basic Remington 870 with an 18 inch cyl bore barrel with a bead for a sight. It’s a 12 ga. I also have the same that I carry on duty.
I know there are gauge guys here like Dagga boy and Sherman House and others who can advise me on what I need to up grade and what I don’t need too?
Thanks for y’alls help. Bill


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Thank you for the shout out, William! About all I do is shorten the stock, replace the follower with something hi visibility, and put a Velcro side saddle on the stock, and a two shot side saddle on the receiver. I’m a big fan of the XS DEA sights, and I’m having a set of those put into my duty shotgun, to replace the pedestal bead.


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[David S.]

Take Darryl's class.

I took it with a stock 18" 870. After the my class with him in Fall 2016 I added a big dome safety and a Magpul SGA stock. After my second class with him in Fall 2017, I added a Mesa Tactical side saddle and extended optic rail, red dot and Fab Defense forend w/ Surefire X300U.

I'm very happy with the way I progressed from a stock gun to (my version of) a highly customized gun.

After all that, I'm strongly considering jumping on the 1301 bandwagon. Give that some thought before investing a bunch in aftermarket parts for the 870.

[w provence]

Take Darryl's class.

I took it with a stock 18" 870. After the my class with him in Fall 2016 I added a big dome safety and a Magpul SGA stock. After my second class with him in Fall 2017, I added a Mesa Tactical side saddle and extended optic rail, red dot and Fab Defense forend w/ Surefire X300U.

I'm very happy with the way I progressed from a stock gun to (my version of) a highly customized gun.

After all that, I'm strongly considering jumping on the 1301 bandwagon. Give that some thought before investing a bunch in aftermarket parts for the 870.

That is something I plan on doing. I just went through the 1st responder course.
I’ve been using a shotgun since I was seven and I’m the only one on my Dept who even likes them and wants to carry one. I prefer it over a carbine even.


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[w provence]

Thank you for the shout out, William! About all I do is shorten the stock, replace the follower with something hi visibility, and put a Velcro side saddle on the stock, and a two shot side saddle on the receiver. I’m a big fan of the XS DEA sights, and I’m having a set of those put into my duty shotgun, to replace the pedestal bead.


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Thanks Sherman. I like those sights. I’m not sure I want to sink the money for a duty SG I will eventually have to turn in. My personal one will get a set.
What do you think of the Vang Comp barrel?


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[w provence]

21 pages of 870 goodness:

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....tting-up-a-870

Thank you. This might take a while. [emoji3]


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[w provence]

My main upgrade for any newer 870 is the follower... and by newer, I mean mid-1990s.

Have two 11-87s for hunting. My slug gun is an early gun, never missed a beat (actually, the follower on that is different from standard followers). The newer gun, which is my field gun, if it gets very cold, the OEM follower will jam in the opening of the magazine tube. Did it like three different times, across two seasons. The last time it happened, I blew into the receiver, by the follower... and that little warmth freed it. Could always dump one in the chamber, but for how difficult it was, I am not ever taking a chance on it again.

All of my Remington shotguns (slug gun excluded) have stainless followers. For my home defense gun (20” 870 Police), it is coated in NP3 Plus, like the rest of the gun. My TAC-14 will follow suite, as well as another one I might be getting at one point.

Shy of that, everything else is personal preference. For stocked guns, I like the Magpul stock. Can adjust LOP, as well as cheek height for whatever you are using for sights. Love their forends, being I can easily toss a light on it. I’m also partial for TacStar side-saddles... even though they aren’t as popular anymore (cards are the rage, but the backing doesn’t stick well on NP3 Plus).

Thanks. My main squeeze is an 870 I’ve had for over 20 years. It’s my turkey gun, deer gun and HD gun. I usually keep it stoked with turkey #5 through a extra tight turkey choke, in my 23” Vrib barrel. It’s taken everything from turkey, coyotes and bobcats and rabid dogs. But now I plan on getting a good barrel and sights with good buckshot for HD.


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[mtnbkr]

I started off with an 870 Express I purchased new in 2000. After using it for hunting and clay games for a number of years, I converted it to HD purposes. I started off with Magpul furniture, then replaced all of the known troublesome internals (kept the trigger assembly), and installed an 18" bead site barrel. I installed a TacStar side saddle, which is supposed to be junk, but it works for me and even holds the shells upside down without dropping a single one ever. The barrel was replaced with a rifle-sighted barrel after my first class (funny that!). I've left the factory mag tube alone, but did install a new 870 Police spring and SS follower. The only bit I didn't "upgrade" was the trigger spring. I tried the Police version, but didn't like how it felt. The factory one is stiff enough IMO.

Chris