[Mr. Designer]

I'm going to purchase a 870 Express Synthetic 7-Round. I see they list the barrel as a 18" Fixed Cylinder Choke. I'm guessing this means there is no choke?

[Sergeant Sabre]

"Cylinder choke" or "cylinder bore" means no choke constriction at all. Just a straight pipe.

[waterhouse]

I'm guessing this means there is no choke?

There is no barrel constriction, and there are no threads for removable choke tubes. The fact that there are no threads is where they get the "Fixed," and the fact that there is no constriction is where they get the "cylinder." I have a few 18" 870s that are fixed improved cylinder, and I have heard that they make fixed modified as well, but these must be somewhat rare as I searched for one for a while to try to do some patterning and never could find one.

[Sergeant Sabre]

If you're looking for an 18" barrel with anything other than a cylinder or fixed IC choke, you're out of luck. Lee Lapin spent years looking for one of the mythical 18.5" fixed mod 870 barrels. I just got done looking for something similar for my Mossberg 500. No luck. It seems there is a demand for 18.5" barrels with fixed mod or changeable chokes, but no supplier.

See my thread on the subject here: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=356078

For the Remington, you are limited to 20" w/ changeable chokes or 18.5" fixed IC. Pick your poison:

20" w/ changeable chokes:http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=248240

20" fixed IC: http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=381172

[Mr. Designer]

Thanks for the explanation. The main use for the shotgun will be home defense so having no choke should be sufficient.

[JNewell]

I have seen Remington 870 barrels with both cylinder and improved cylinder choke. For your purposes, there's not a lot of difference, though.

[Fred Fuller]

It's pretty simple these days to adjust patterns in even CYL bore barrels. It calls for some patterning with a variety of ammunition, but it's IMHO nothing short of amazing the difference modern ammo can make in shotgun patterning.

If you want tight patterns, use any of the Federal buckshot loads with the FliteControl wad, or likewise either of the Hornady TAP buckshot loads that feature this same wad. The 18" 870P CYL bore barrel I put on the 1987 Express gun I'm playing with right now will pattern Federal LE127 00 (9 pellets, 1325FPS) into less than 4" at 25 yards.

Conversely, loads like S&B 00 or RIO Royal 00 (soft lead pellets, unplated and unbuffered) will distribute 00 pellets all over the same IPSC cardboard target at 25 yards and even miss with a pellet or three out of each load.

There is a VAST variety of buckshot loads out there and a huge range of difference in performance is possible just by changing loads. Everyone who is serious about knowing what their shotgun will actually do at various ranges simply has to pattern various loads to see how they perform. It's the only way to know.

In the case of this particular 870 Express project, it'll be getting a set of MMC ghost ring sights as soon as I can swing the $$ for them. On the next visit to our retired family gunsmith, yours truly will be getting lessons in drilling and tapping and silver soldering to install these sights. With patterns that small, sights will come in handy...

lpl/nc

[rantingredneck]

into less than 4" at 25 yards.

My cyl bore 18" does about the same with this load. Very impressed so far with it.

[md7]

you could probably have a gunsmith thread a cyl bore bbl so that it can take chokes. but for HD, i think cyl bore is suffucient. for me that is.

[jdh]

Send it to Hans Vang and let him work his magic on it. Just remember magicians are not cheap.

process: https://www.vangcomp.com/Home.html
pricing: https://www.vangcomp.com/shop_labor_pricing.html