[45Badger]

Went to Timonium, MD gunshow today and picked up a police turn in 870 magnum for $170 out the door. I'll scrub it clean tomorrow, but it seems in mechanically perfect condition. It has wood stocks that I'll probably clean up.

Here's a list of things I think I want to do or add-

Add sling/swivels (brand?)
Add mag tube extension
Add some front and rear sights (ghost ring?)

Maybe repark when all done. Shoot the heck out of it!

Anything else I should do or add? Any suggestions on where to buy parts and what brands? Suggestions on Maryland or southern PA smiths to do the work? Thanks!

[HSMITH]

1, Uncle Mikes, get them at just about any gunshop. Install yourself.

2, Why? It should hold 6 now right?

3, Why? Shoot it until it is part of you and sights are only going to slow you down. Slugs won't reach the point where you need sights to hit reliably until you go to a fully rifled barrel and sabot slugs.

You won't need any parts. Paint is a lot cheaper than Park, just as durable and corrosion resistant, and touches up for life easily and cheaply.

Buy ammo in massive quantities and shoot. Do that over and over and over.

[Sven]

Buy shells. Practice. Lather, rinse, repeat.

[Kahr carrier]

Syntectic Stock.:)

[Captain Bligh]

I'm with Sven. Buy shells and shoot it.

Shotguns are pretty great as is. I don't have a mag. extension on mine. Don't feel I need one but I do understand those that want them. But, I don't understand why someone would want to sling a shotgun, particularly if the main application is home defense. Unless, you're planning a 10 mile hike with it, what's the point?

RJ

[444]

You don't mention what your intended use for the shotgun is, but I have to assume you are looking at some kind of defense. I too bought a new shotgun yesterday. It is a Remington Express Synthetic. It came with a mag tube extension. It is an 18" and the extension gives you two additional rounds. I certainly want to carry as much ammo as possible in the gun. I have mag tube extensions on all my defense shotguns and would certainly recommed getting the biggest one you can considering your barrel length.
Slings: A sling is always handy on any long gun. It makes the gun easier to carry, but more importantly it frees up your hands to do other things. For my defensive shotguns, I use a single point of attachment sling like this: http://www.thewilderness.com/Pages/slings_sp.html
The gun hangs right in front of you. You can use your hands for other things when the gun is not in use, yet all you have to do is drop your arms and the gun is in your hands. Just the opposite is true also; for example if you need to transition to your handgun like if the shotgun runs dry or jams, you simply let go of the shotgun and draw your handgun. I suppose another issue concerning self defense would be that if somehow you got in a struggle over the gun, the gun is attached to you. If you use the shotgun for deer hunting however this sling isn't the best. When dragging a deer out of the woods, I would rather have the gun slung over my back. You can easily accomplish this by having conventional sling mounts on the gun with the common quick release swivels. You can have a regular sling with swivels in your day pack, which can be easily installed on the shotgun in a minute or two.
I too would like to have a ghost ring sight installed on mine. Some people are able to attain a fairly high degree of accuracy using slugs with only the bead, and this might be the way to go. I haven't done enough slug shooting with a bead to decide at this point. I do intend to use my shotgun in 3-gun matches and would certainly like to be able to hit a pepper popper at 50 yards with a slug. I haven't researched the issue of sights yet. I figured that AO would offer a shotgun ghost ring sight but I didn't see one on their website.

[Badger Arms]

Don't do anything to the wood but maybe a wash with Murphy's oil Soap. Don't get too into fixing up the gun or you are going to end up wanting to baby the gun. You want this gun to be a tool, correct? Save the money for refinishing and that extended mag tube and just buy the sling swivels.

Uncle Mike's had good swivels. They have one that replaces the mag cap and you can have a gunsmith drill a hole in the stock for the other swivel. It's not in that great condition anyway, right? If you do feel the need to get the extended mag tube, most of them include a clamp that has a swivel mounted on it.

[Dave McCracken]

Congrats, finding a police turnin at that price here in Md is fortunate indeed.

Here's what I'd do with a "New" turnin,a very short list indeed.

First, I'd get the trigger under 4 1/2 lbs if it's not there already. Surprisingly in these ligitious and scant QC times, some still leave Ilion like that.

Second, I'd get the stock fitting me, possibly with a new and good pad.

Third, I'd make sure I could see that bead in low light, a small bottle of Testor's Enamel in Bright Yellow color costs just a coupla bucks and will do hundreds of beads.

Fourth, I'd BA/UU/R.

That's all....

After a few to many cases of ammo, you'll have a better idea of what you and that bargain need to upgrade effectiveness, if anything.

A good shotgunner is abso-#$%^&-lutely deadly with an out of box shotgun fitting those criteria above. All the addons this side of perdition add but little to that...

You might try Valley Gun Shop(410-668-2171) and see if Mike Thomas still is smithing part time. Good smith,especially on 870 triggers, but has a Forensic job now with the Gummint.

If not, try Greg Wolfe in Easton, associated with Albright's gun shop on Dover Street.

Either can do that sling stud, tho this is not a difficult job for a non smith.

HTH....

[45Badger]

Thanks all!

Stripped, cleaned, and lubed it today. Internals are all good (carried and banged around much more than shot!), except somebody hacked around with one of the "bars" (don't know what it's called) that you have to depress to let the forend slides come into the receiver.

The "bar" falls out at disassembly. Somebody whacked at it with a puch a few times to keep it in place (didn't work), and reassembly was a PIA! Shoud this "bar" be welded or silver soldered in place?

I got it together, and it shoots and cycles fine (very, very smooth), but I'm concerned that during a match or HD situation, it may somehow bind up the action.

Thoughts are much appreciated. Thanks!

[Dave McCracken]

That shellholder needs restaking,45Badger. It won't cause probs until it's taken apart again.

All in all,you did well. Enjoy!