[Fred Fuller]

There are some things that are ... simply unnatural. Wrong. Against all proper human decorum and accepted scientific conduct. Experiments run amuck, out of control, shooting sparks and flashes of raw electricity light the most distant corners of the laboratory while nature echoes with sheets of lightning and roars of thunder, piercing the darkness...

[30-06 lover]

Okay???

[JJ Hiryuu]

Soooo....is this the thread for "What kind of shotgun for Frankenstein" ?

[kudu]

Lee, you and Steve been together again scheming things up? ;) :rolleyes: :eek:

[Legionnaire]

Thread hijack removed. :o

[Legionnaire]

Ditto.

[Fred Fuller]

No, sm had nothing to do with this- for once at least he's completely innocent. Actually it was my wife who was responsible for the abbreviated post- she needed to get to the computer before I got through composing so she could post some grades for her students- it's getting near the end of the semester and some of them are finally getting anxious about passing, as usual.

But I didn't want to lose my movie poster so I left the above as a placeholder. Didn't know it would be overnight... .

The reason for the prelude is that friend Dave often refers to one of his 870s as Frankenstein. He does so because it's cobbled together of peices from various other guns from different times and places. And now I have built a Frankenstein 870 of my own too. A few weeks ago I bought a stripped 870 Express receiver from a fellow traveller on The High Road, and yesterday I had a chance to pick it up from my FFL. I thought I'd describe the process of putting it back together, FWIW.

First of all it seems I have a more extensive parts box than many genuine Remington armorers do. I've been accumulating spare parts for the 870 for several years, as price and availability dictated. Some came from eBay, some from CDNN, and others from various individuals or dealers here and there. As with most things, 870 pieces are where you run across them, and it helps to be able to recognize good deals on barrels etc. when you stumble over them. And it is truly fortunate that the 870 design is so completely modular, it makes having some spare parts pretty much risk free as far as eventual utility is concerned. Even if you never find a use for it, chances are someone somewhere will.

Actually I have three 870 parts boxes. Two are Rubbermaid Brute storage containers, the other is a Sterilite under-bed storage container that is long narrow and shallow. The Sterilite is the barrel box, since it fits that need almost perfectly- and stashes under the bed, out of the way. Over the decades I have accumulated an interesting mix of 870 barrels from buying and trading, and I never pass up a good deal on a barrel unless I am flat broke. A couple of old towels folded between barrels provide protection to the finish from sharp edges etc., barrels that are in long term storage are lightly greased with RIG and/or PJ and wrapped in waxed paper. Building this Frankenstein used the last 20" RS barrel in the box, I'll have to keep an eye out for more. But there's still the one 18" Mossberg manufactured barrel (smoothbore, CYL choke, bead sight) that fits 870s available in case of emergency... .

One of the Rubbermaid containers has furniture- stocks and forearms- along with fore-end tube/action bar assemblies. All these came from the same places mentioned above, plus the inevitable swapping and fitting that always goes on. I was for several years a member of an active 3-gun community, and a lot of people shot 870s as their preferred shotgun. It seems a rule that whateve people have on a gun, they want something different. If they have conventional stocks, they want pistol grips. If they have wood, they want synthetic. And so on. So I obliged as much as possible, and helped with furniture swaps on guns, and sometime got given the leftovers in exchange for installing the new parts and pieces.

The other Rubbermaid container has small parts, accessories and tools. Again, these have been assembled over the years from the sources mentioned above, of course most of the tools came from Brownells. Important spares to have on hand are trigger plate assemblies, matched bolt assemblies and bolt slides, and shell stops. Spare magazine springs and good followers are important also, to fit both standard and extended magazines. It's always good to pick up extras of accessories you like, if you find them on sale or inexpensively priced- I usually have extra magazine extensions and Sidesaddles in the box. There's a small batch of magazine caps of both sorts, magazine spring retainers of both sorts and plastic followers that have accumulated from installing magazine extensions for people. I had enough old style safety buttons to get me and a lot of other people through the drought imposed by Remington when the J-lock safety came out- who knew a bunch of old style safety buttons would come in handy some day? I did a lot of safety swaps for big-head safeties for my 3-gun guys, and most of them gave me the old safety buttons. And naturally, pack rat that I am, I saved them all. I hope J-lock safeties never become a collectors item- I haven't kept a one of those that I have removed... .

If you're serious about keeping your 870 running forever, you can probably limit your spare parts kit to a spare bolt assembly and a spare trigger plate assembly, maybe an extra set of shell stops, a couple of magazine springs and a spare follower. That along with whatever spare barrels and accessories you prefer should guarantee that your 870 will go on like the Energizer bunny that it is at heart. Just be really nice to your magazine tube... IMO the only shortcoming of the design is that the magazine tube is not owner replaceable for anyone short of a gunsmith. Remember to use a clamp if you use a magazine extension, that's why so many here harp on that. Ding your magazine tube badly enough and you've taken the gun out of action except as a single shot until it can get some professional attention.

Tools are fairly simple, for 870s. The main one that has paid its way is a fore-end tool. Sometimes forearms can be a bear to get off, but a little penetrating oil and the proper tool can go a long way to making the job easier. The tool I use is one that fits over the magazine tube and allows you to install the new forearm with the action open so you can center the forearm on the receiver and thus avoid drag on the barrel by tightening it down off center. There's a staking tool for shell stops, which has come in handy a few times, and the tools to set the rivets in ejectors and to install detents in barrel rings. Everything else is ordinary standard stuff- a Pachmayr boxed screwdriver set, pin punches etc. One useful trick- the magnetic bit holder from a little set of Black and Decker screwdriver bits will fit the Pachmayr handle, and works perfectly as an extension to let you reach those pesky stock bolts. And there's room for it in the box too.

All that said, now we get to the serious stuff. Just how modular IS an 870? Well, pretty much completely. There are some model differences to be aware of- mainly the Special Field, which has a few things about it that are different. There are receiver variations in the 20 gauge guns you have to pay attention to as well, and I don't know how interchangeable parts are for the Super Magnum version as I have never dealt with any of those. But for your basic 870 Wingmaster, Special Purpose, Sportsman, Express, Home Defense, Marine Magnum or Police- well, pretty much anything goes.

Yes, you still have to match receiver length to barrel chamber- putting a barrel with a 3" chamber on a 2 3/4" receiver won't get you an easy road to magnum country. But other than that, most everything will fit most of the time, which is about as good as it's gonna get. In this case, I had a stripped Express receiver to start with. Since the serial number ends in 'M' I knew it was a Magnum receiver, and it happened I had a 20" RS ImpCyl Express barrel with a 3" chamber languishing in the barrel box, waiting for a home. It got one with Frankenstein. This barrel was for a newer Express, meaning that not only did it not have a detent for the magazine cap installed in the barrel ring, it didn't even have the hole drilled for one. Since the dimples had been removed from this receiver's magazine tube, a workaround had to be found to be sure everything stayed tight when put together. The simplest expedient would be to install one of the extra Choate 3-round magazine extensions that waited in the parts box, along with the appropriate orange follower, magazine spring and clamp. So those parts were selected and laid aside.

What furniture to install? Given that some adjustments in fit might eventually be necessary, I wanted wood for the stock. There was a nice birch or beech (maybe even maple?) stock from another Express in the stock box, complete with stock bolt and recoil pad and screws. Y'all be nice, and keep the original bolt with any stock you remove from a gun, OK? It'll make either you or someone else appreciative down the road if you keep all the parts together, it takes but a couple of minutes to put the recoil pad back on a stock you've taken off to trap the original stock bolt inside so it won't get separated and lost. Not all stock bolts are the same... .

It happened that there was an old Police type forearm in the box that matched pretty well in color, and a stray forearm tube/action bar assembly handy as well. So those parts were laid aside in the growing pile, and attention turned to finishing the receiver itself. The stock box was put away and the parts box dragged out.

I picked out a trigger plate assembly from the ones available, and added it to the parts pile. These trigger plates came from CDNN once upon a time, and were refinished by one or another of the companies that remanufacture 870s. They are all pristine looking but dry as a bone. Next came a bolt and bolt slide. Since the trigger plate assembly had a FlexTab lifter, I wanted to find a bolt that was cut to accept it. The two I found were both chrome, so- as unnatural as it seemed- this Express would start its Frankenstein life with a chrome bolt. Those bolts and slides came from CDNN also, no doubt from someplace that rebuilt a bunch of 870s with black bolts. In the Plano small parts box, I located a stock plate to fill in the space between the wooden stock and the receiver, and we were ready to go.

So here's what we had in the parts pile:

-stripped 870 Express Magnum receiver
-20" rifle sighted Express Magnum barrel, ImpCyl choke
-forearm tube/action bar assembly
-hardwood Police forearm
-hardwood Express stock, stock bolt, recoil pad/screws and stock plate
-Choate 3-round magazine extension, magazine spring, follower and clamp
-chrome bolt and matched bolt slide
-trigger plate assembly

All it took at that point was putting everything together just as after a field strip/stock-off cleaning- no big deal. Everything got slathered with lube (RIG grease or Ballistol) to ease the process and make sure all the metal that was hidden stayed rust free until the next time it saw daylight. Everything went together as if it had all been assembled at the factory. Oh, it took a couple of strokes with a Swiss file to get the barrel extension properly fitted around the ejector, and to get the trigger plate to go into the receiver easily (lots of spray'n'bake finish on the aluminum). But it all went together without a lot of muss, fuss and bother. A quick check of the headspace to make sure all was as it should be and it's off to the races we go. Range report to follow-

lpl/nc

[Dave McCracken]

Thanks for posting that,Lee. A couple things....

Few 870s get worn out, same with parts. Unlike say, GMs, if a barrel or TG shows up, it'll work.

Flextabs and matching bolts should stay together, same with non flexed parts.

My idea of a parts kit for an 870s owner would include a spare bolt and TG,a mag spring of proper length and a follower.,

Modular construction indeed. I've yet to find parts that do not swap freely.

And if a ten thumbed dolt like me can build an 870, so can anyone capable of feeding themselves and crossing the street on the green light.

I'm waiting on the range report, but the usual flagon of mead says it works.....

[sm]

:)

Lee,

I await the report.

[Fred Fuller]

At last my wife's new manuscript is off to the publisher, and I took a bit of time this afternoon to finally give Franken870 a try on the range. What was handy as far as ammo was some of Remington's Managed Recoil Buckshot, the 8-pellet 00, 1200 FPS load that I found at WallyWorld at less than $3 per box of five. This seems to be pretty decent ammo. Franken870 liked it just fine, producing patterns of about 9" at 25 yards from its undoctored 20" ImpCyl RS barrel. "Minute of paper plate" equals minute of bad guy too, so in my book this is completely acceptable performance. Recoil is not at all bad either, of course this 870 hefts a bit heavier than a plain jane gun, with its 3-round extension in place.

The gun loaded, fed, chambered, fired, extracted and ejected perfectly despite its completely amorphous mix of parts from heaven only knows how many sources. It delivered patterns nicely centered around the point of aim, not even requiring further adjustment of the sights. How much more could you ask for? I wished I had dug out some of the Brenneke K.O. slugs the gun will be zeroed with. Ah well... Next time.

lpl/nc

[sm]

:)

Ain't it great when a deal comes together?

It worked out the boxe(s), fed, extracted, everything including shooting POI/POI.

Await further load testing such as Brenneke.

Be curious about Peters 7/8oz Foster slug from that gun, if you have any...



For new folks, hold a 9" paper plate up to your COM and look in the mirror.

One can take a 6" dessert paper plate stapled inside of a 9" paper plate for testing buckshot and slugs from 'out yonder a bit".
I do this since I am too lazy to set up two targets, figure I can tell the difference in a pellet and slug hole by now...might as well stick a playing card or 3X5" index card inside these plates - as Lee , others and myself have seen cloverleafs from slugs groupings...

...and one 3x5 " index card up above the plates to represent a forehead...You know the drill...

Keep Reportin' my friend,

Steve

[Dave McCracken]

I LOVE happy endings!!

Frankenguns triumph again. 9" at 25 yards is darn good.....