870's, extended mags, and clamps

[Soybomb]

So I have an older 870 police, its beat up and kinda ugly but fun to shoot and reliable. It has a 20" barrel and one of the +3 extensions on it with the little 2 piece thin clamp with the screw and nut in the middle. I absolutely hate taking the barrel off and cleaning the thing because the clamp is such a pain.
I was just going to buy the really heavy duty and much more user friendly looking clark clamp for it, but then I got to wondering, how necessary is the clamp anyway? Is it really needed or is it just a tacticool accessory? Is it a crutch for a cheap extension tube? Would getting a more stout extension tube from vang or wilson just be better? Is it actually useful and would keep me from putting my magazine 90 degrees to the barrel?

It came with one and I just always assumed it should have one. You tell me what you think is best for a home defense/emergency shotgun. It looks like neither wilson or vang use clamps.

A little searching though let me find dfariswheel's opinion on it so I'm very much inclined to do so

 

[steveracer]

I don't have the clamp on mine.

It's the plus-2 Wilson unit on my 18" Police Magnum.
Never had a problem.
Steve

 

[Fred Fuller]

It isn't the barrel that needs support.

It isn't the magazine extension that needs support.

It's the THREADS ON THE MAGAZINE TUBE that need the support. Doesn't matter how good or how expensive your magazine extension is. The extension is a lever, and any stress applied to the extension is directed to the thin metal of the magazine tube that is already weakened by threads.

Look, it's your gun your money your whatever, so do what you want with your stuff. If you hang around people running shotguns long enough you will learn of failures of unsupported magazine extensions. It happens. It can happen to you, too. Ten bucks spent on a magazine clamp can prevent the problem. Or you can do without the clamp and take your chances. Up to you, big boy rules apply here.

Personally I prefer repeaters that keep working as repeaters. YMMV.

lpl/nc (and getting a new magazine tube put in an 870 is a factory level repair, fwiw)

 

[Soybomb]

It isn't the barrel that needs support.

It isn't the magazine extension that needs support.

It's the THREADS ON THE MAGAZINE TUBE than need the support.

Seems to make sense, just wanted to be sure I wasn't being had with excess gear, I'm getting the clark

Thanks guys