870 Project need you help guys!

[45R]

Sitting in my safe is a 870 Express with a rifle sight barrel and a 26" smooth bore "duck/skeet/trap" barrel.

I want the 870 to have a facial. Ghost rings, mag tube ext and speed feed stocks.

If I use the Remmy 18" barrel how hard is it to take off the rear sight. I'll probably order a Ghost Ring from Wilson and have the thing installed by a gun smitih.

Any suggestions or comments from peps who have completed such coversions, and whats a fair price to sell the 26" barrel for?

 

[RKCheung]

Wilson Combat, which acquired Scattergun Tech, now does the Remington Steal program which rebuilds and installs various additions on your 870.

http://www.wilsoncombat.com/s_remingtion_steal.asp

SREBUILD Rebuild M870 $199.95
SREBUILDA Rebuild M870 with Armor-Tuff® Finish $324.95
SREBUILDT Rebuild M870 and Install Trak-Lock II® Sights (Bead Base Bbl.) $319.95
SREBUILDTA Rebuild M870, Trak-Lock II® Sights (Bead Base Bbl.) & Armor-Tuff ® Finish $444.95

I think a 26" barrel should go for around $100 or so.

 

[djl4570]

Used Remington barrels fetch around $100.00 at the gun shows and there's rarely a surplus of them laying around.

A shotgun with an 18" barrel doesn't really need anything but a bead. Sights or aiming a shotgun can give you bad habits, you should learn to point a shotgun, cover the target with the muzzle and shoot. It would be a good idea to shoot some slugs just so you can see where they hit. Both of mine shot slugs higher than I expected at 25 yards. Keep in touch, I can bring them out to the range sometime. We can shoot trap with them and to make it interesting have the machine set to wobbles and shoot heavy target loads from the close position. I've seen several guys doing this with combat configured guns.

26" is a bit short for trap but would work OK with a full choke. A 12Ga pump is a bit heavy for skeet. I tried skeet with my Winchester '97, I think I got four birds. It's a lot harder than trap where I frequently hit 20 to 23 birds with the same gun.

 

[TN-popo]

I bought a police trade in...perfectly functional, finish/stock was just a little rough. Things I did...all purchased from Brownells.

Wilson ghost-ring tritium sights.
Wilson magazine extention.
Speedfeed IV stock.
Daniel Defense single-point sling.


Now I have exactly what I need (except maybe a light). I wish I could use it at work instead of the issued Benelli Nova.

 

[VeT|Us]

I would go with the 20" barrel you already have, thus giving you the ability to have 8 shells in the gun. The money you save on NOT buying a new barrel, you can use on ammo. Then get the GR, speedfed and all the tacticool stuff

Have the 20" riflesighted myself and wouldnt have a 18" with less shellcapacity if I could pick over again.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Plan on the gun being a dedicated 'working gun' if you install a ghost ring receiver sight. You won't want to be putting it on/taking it off on a regular basis to use the scattergun as a fowling piece.

If you want to maintain the versatility of the gun, stick with the factory rifle sighted barrel and add a set of Express sights-
http://www.expresssights.com/catshotgun.html . They fit the factory installed sight ramps.

Any good 'smith can do whatever you want to your scattergun... but if you have to ask, installing ghost rings is not a DIY job.

lpl/nc

 

[45R]

Well since I've posted this tread I went home and checked the actual length of each barrel.

The rifle sighted barrel is in fact 20" and the longer barrel is 28".

Now the longer barrel was sold about 20 minutes ago, I need to get information on mag tubes. What brands have you guys used?

I did a search for mag tubes and they ranged from 35-80 dollars. Do I need a clamp for a 2 shot extension?

All I need to do now is find a gun smith in my area to put the ghost rings on.

 

[Fred Fuller]

For the mag extension, Wilson is IMHO top of the line, TacStar is what I usually use as I think it's the best value. I'd recommend a clamp even on a two-shot, with that 20 inch barrel you can use a 3-shot extension and come out even with the end of the barrel. There are some 18" rifle sighted factory barrels out there, they're common on 870Ps.

Forgot to ask- does your Express have mag tube dimples? Don't forget about them, they will have to be removed or ironed out it they're there. If your Express has the plastic magazine spring retainer under the mag cap rather than a steel split-ring one, you've got dimples.. and they gotta go.

Which ghost ring are you planning to use? Most just require drilling and tapping two holes. The rear sight ramp on the barrel is silver-soldered on and can be unsoldered, the barrel will need refinishing tho. You can either keep the original front sight ramp and install one of the post type front blades or have that ramp removed also and install a completely different front sight. I like the MMC ghostring best, ymmv.

http://www.mmcsight.com/shotgun.htm

Good luck with the project, hope you enjoy it.

lpl/nc

 

[45R]

I'm leaning toward the MMC sights. Does anyone know if this will work with the front sight that is already on the 20in Barrel?

Lee thanks for the input. There are no dimples on my shotty

 

[Fred Fuller]

You can change out the factory sight blade which is dovetailed into the front sight base. The XS 24/7 tritium stripe, or their plain white stripe model, should work with the MMC rear sight. Take a look at
http://www.expresssights.com/catshotgun.html for pics.

BTW, I'd get the plain ghost ring rear, the tritium rear is a bit much IMHO. Too close to the eye, it tends to overwhelm the front sight's element.

HTH,

lpl/nc

 

[Mal223]

which stock?

what stock were you going to put on it, the pistol gripped speedfeed or the regular with the shorter lop?

 

[45R]

I've somewhat narrowed down all the goodies

Primary Priority
Rear sight: MMC Ghost ring
Front sight: AO Big Dot
Tac Star 3 shot extension
GG and G front and rear sling attachments

Lesser Priority
SpeedFeed Stock: Pistol grip if the thing is a beast, regular if not too heavy
Surefire Fore-end
TacStar 4 of 6 shot saddle


Should I get the heat shield?

 

[357wheelgunner]

I went through the same thing you are, and here's what I did. I was going to dress up my 870 express HD, but I realized something: The finish sucks, as does the plastic trigger guard. For 550 or so, you can have a new 870Police, with Wilson Trac-Lock sights already installed. You WILL save money this way, and have a better gun (nice finish and metal trigger guard). Look around before you try to dress up a cheap gun. Just a thought...

 

[45R]

Well after much thought I decided to give up on the Ghost Rings and go with a barrel that has a bead. Took my 870 over to the gunshop and swapped my barrel with a 18" Remington Barrel with a Trijicon FS. The second thing I decided to pick up was the Surefire Fore-end.