Where to buy 18" barrel for 11-87

[PaulCSomething]

I am having a hard time finding anywhere on the internet to purchase an 18" barrel for my new 11-87. I prefer a screw in bead site so I can replace it with a night sight. It came with a 27" barrel that I could cut down, but that seems like it would be a pain to do, give poor results (big or erratic patterns) and be half the cost of a new barrel.
Oh, by the way I found this shotgun for $200 on consignment. $208.20 out the door! I think I scored pretty well on that one. If fact I thought it was such a good price I bought it even though I already have an 11-87 just like it.

 

[Elmer]

You'll probably pay almost as much for your barrel as you did for the whole gun!!

You might try ebay, every so often a deal can be had there.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Remington's gas guns like barrels a bit longer than 18"- the shortest factory barrel is 21" due to gas pressure curves etc. Some 'smiths like to mess with cutting down barrels shorter than factory offerings but it may well take adjusting the size of the gas ports to get the gun to run reliably and that opens up several cans of worms. I have seen 'entry' length barrels of 14" on 11-87s but these are serious paperwork drills (SBS registration) to keep Uncle happy. I would stick to the usual 21" length myself and let it go at that.

I have seen used 11-87 barrels around, usually for around the price you paid for the gun... and you got a great deal on it, BTW. I'd leave the stock barrel alone and shop for a used deer barrel (21" smoothbore with rifle sights) if I were you.

lpl/nc

http://www.remington.com/firearms/xtrabbl.htm

 

[PaulCSomething]

I actually have an 18" barrel on the other 11-87. It is a police model with rifle sites. It runs great with Fed reduced recoil 9 pellet 00 (100% after 250+ rounds) and 00 buck 9 pellet PMC(100% after 150+ rounds). I put the police model barrel on the new special purpose 11-87 and again it ran like a champ with the PMC, however both are a jam-0-matic with the light field loads, which I already know is expected and normal. So now after testing both guns with the short barrel and 00 buck I wanted to get a short barrel for the new one. I don't really care for the rifle sites I currently have, which is why I was looking for a bead site like my 870. I find the bead to be far and away faster for me. I also like the idea of putting on a night sight bead for HD.