870 Express Problem

[106rr]

I have an 870 Express. It's fitted with a Surefire forend, a shortened birch stock, a Choate extended mag, a six round sidesaddle and a rifle sighted 20" IC bbl. The 20" bbl shoots to the POI with trap loads, low recoil 00 buck, and low recoil slugs. So the center of the pattern with birdshot, buck and slug groups all coincide. This is important to me.
The threads on my mag tube have been damaged by cross threading. I have been told that this is expensive to repair and it would be cheaper to buy a new Express. If I buy a new Express and move the old barrel to the new gun will I retain the same POI advantage?
Is it better to move my accessories to a complete new platform like a 870P? I use this gun for three gun competition and HD

 

[Devonai]

I would definitely see a 'smith about your mag tube before I went out and bought a brand new 870. I find it hard to believe that re-threading the tube costs more than $300.

You also have a weapon that works great and is a known entity. A new or different 870 is an unknown entity. Sure, a new 870 will probably work fine, but you'll spend even more money breaking it in and checking it's POI.

As far as the POI is concerned, this has to do with the fit of your barrel to the receiver and the mag tube. If the new weapon has a different POI I doubt swapping barrels will help.

 

[AStone]

As my user name implies, I think that any 870 is a good 870.

I wish you good luck solving this issue.

Suggestions for doing so:

1) seek advice from Lee Lapin.

2) if all else fails, I have 4 digits for you: 870P.

Regards,

Nem

 

[Fred Fuller]

http://www.remington.com/support/repair_services/ is a locator for Remington factory authorized repair centers. Look for one near you, who might be able to fix the damaged threads or (more likely IMO) replace the damaged magazine tube. I don't see anything in Kuhnhausen about repairing damaged threads, and threads can and do break off magazine tubes with enough encouragement (thus my continued encouragement to use clamps with magazine extensions), so replacement seems the likely approach to me.

Or check with Lee Hadaway- he's back out in Trinidad, CO now. See his page at http://www.thearmsroom.com/_wsn/page10.html.

Note that replacement magazine tubes come 'in the white,' the receiver and magazine tube will have to be refinished once the replacement is done.

Good luck with this, hope it all works out well for you. Magazine tubes are about the only real weak spot in the 870 that cannot be taken care of by the owner.

lpl/nc

 

[106rr]

Nema, Devonai and Lee;
Thank you for your help. I have contacted Lee Hadaway, and will check on a Rem authorized repair today.
106rr