Lefty here.
Every one of my right hand eject 870s has a left handed safety trigger plate. They are out there, and not expensive. In fact you can often find someone looking to trade.
The only difference between a left handed trigger plate and a right handed trigger is a hole for a detent in the back for the safety. If you are handy with a drill press, you can drill another hole and just reinstall the safety in reverse direction with the ball detent, spring, and pin. Vang Comp actually offers this service. I'll post a pic later.
I endured the BS about "How's a righty gonna use your gun?", like I give one shit about how someone uses my gun. It aint their gun, it's mine!
Last edited by Brian T; 09-13-2022 at 06:57 PM.
I’m intrigued by home conversions to left hand
I have a drill press ready to go
It’s worth a shot on my old Norinco trigger pack
Left handed on the left, right handed on the right.
Notice the location of the spring and detent hole. You can drill an offset hole and fill in the old, right handed spring and detent hole.
The Remington means of drilling the new hole is to go lower and drill a longer hole, and a new pin hole. This gives the owner the ability to switch between left and right hand safety
Dang I’m pretty sure even I could do that with my ugly kitchen gunsmithing skills.
I’ve been known to live dangerously and mangle guns from time to time
A week or so ago, a friend of mine was asking questions about getting an 870 he could send off to Vang Comp and was looking for advice on what to look for. My recommendation was a used 870 Police Magnum. Because he was going to get it ported, finish didn't matter so long as there were no gouges or pitting in the metal. Furniture didn't matter as he was going to put Magpul furniture on it anyway. So I started looking on Gunbroker. Not only was that a bad idea, it was also a great one. I did not need another 870....until I saw this one.
There were several, but I liked this one the best. Finish was good and the few marks present appeared to be from the rack and would disappear with a bit of oil. I won the auction for $401. There were several with Hogue, OEM plastic, and half and half furniture. Some had slings, all had Tacstar side saddles. Some had "worse" finish, but none better and none that were unacceptable.
After picking it up at my LGS yesterday, I stripped it, re-mounted the handguard as it wasn't quite right and I could feel a slight binding in the action. Stopped by Vang on the way home and picked up a magazine follower and dome safety (it came with stock OEM). I oiled everything that needed it and I'd be willing to bet that it might have had a box of shells through it, but not much more. Oil on the parkerizing turned it almost black with every mark gone.
The sidesaddle appeared new, but it is rigid, slow to replenish and bulky even when empty.
So I had a thought. 6 screws attach the side saddle to an aluminum plate held to the receiver by bolts that replace the trigger plate pins. A minute or so and the side saddle was off the plate. I like ESSTAC shell cards and I'd picked up about 8. Every card comes with a matching sticky sided piece of velcro. Which happened to match the plate with just a little trimming.
Tacstar Sidesaddles are $35 on Amazon if you want to do it from scratch.
I'm quoting myself because I need to say something further. I like Vang Comp. I've had them work on 3 shotguns. One I gave to my son, one I have and one is still in their hands and I'll get it back later this year. The Tacstar modification makes it more useful than it was before, but it is not and should not be considered equal to the VCS side saddle. They are visually similar, but if you watch this video, you'll see the differences. I'll diverge and say I'm used to seeing Cody with a beard, so he looks too young and strange in this video.
The VCS screws are smooth in the middle with a threaded end that screws into a steel insert in the aluminum plate, have a shoulder to prevent stripping of the threads and overtightening. I still like my mod because it is now several orders of magnitude more useful for zero additional cost since I already had the Tacstar (came with the gun). But still isn't as good as the VCS and I don't want anyone to think I'm suggesting it is.
The 870 that rests on my night stand in a patrol ready condition is my “nobody is coming in here” defensive gun. 20” bbl, magpul fore end with a TLR1, youth stock to shorten enough for corners, mag extension for 7 +1 capacity, an XS big dot bead, side saddle with 6 rounds. and loaded with Federal Flight Control 00 buck. There is a spruced up AR leaning next to it which is my “have to go outside” option.
Why do you need any kind of plate interface at all? The receivers of shotguns are generally flat on the side opposite the ejection port. Why not just cut some industrial strength loop Velcro to the shape you need and stick it directly to the receiver? No need to mess around with plates, screws, etc. Just stick the card directly to the Velcro on the receiver. That’s what I did with my 1301.
My posts only represent my personal opinion and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or official policies of any employer, past or present. Obvious spelling errors are likely the result of an iPhone keyboard.