Here's a little Range Report with pics of my fighting 870.

[flip180]

I got bored with my 870 and decided to spice it up a little bit. It's amazing how easy it is to go a little overboard when doing that. It started life as an 870 HD with 6+1 round capacity. I first wanted better sights and I have XS 24/7 sights on my Glocks. I decided to go with a pair for my shotgun. Well, in order to do that, I needed a 20 barrel with improved choke with rifle sights. After that, the +2 extension was too small. So there came the Nordic Components +3 extension with a dual picatinny rail barrel clamp. Oh, but there's more! I also put on a Speedfeed monte carlo butstock for a better cheek weld and a Speedfeed LE fore end. The clamp has an M3 with long gun remote velcro'd to the fore end. I also added a Daniel Defense sling loop with an aluminum HK style clip for the Wilderness standard carry sling. Here are some pics of the shotty.





I decided to get it out today and pattern it using four different types of 2-3/4inch 00 buchshot. I patterned it at three different ranges from 10, 15 and 20 yard with all four brands and, I did a 25 yard pair using the best out of the four brands. The brands were;

1. Winchester Super-X 00 Buckshot
2. Wolf Power 00 Buckshot
3. Remington 00 Buckshot
4. Federal Premium Vital Shock 00 Buckshot (2-3/4 Mag)

The boards were patterned and 10, 15 and 20 yards and were shot from the left top to left bottom and then the right side. The Federal won hands down and was tried out at 25 yards. Here are the pics.


Winchester

Wolf

Remington

Federal

The Federal at 25 yards.

Hope you enjoyed the report,
Flip.

 

[MassMark]

Wow! I know folks have varying opinions of "tactical vs tacticool", but your gun blurs the lines really nicely, (in a positive way). Form with function. Nice looking 870 and nice shooting!

 

[Dirtypacman]

Wow! I know folks have varying opinions of "tactical vs tacticool", but your gun blurs the lines really nicely, (in a positive way). Form with function. Nice looking 870 and nice shooting!

+1 I like it .. nice little report.

 

[Saturnine]

I'm not usually a fan of guns with a bunch of tactical stuff on them, but yours still manages to look pretty nice. Shoots good too.

 

[waterhouse]

Thanks for posting the range results with the gun pics. Looks like a pretty nice setup, and the groupings make it clear why it is important to test your load in your gun.

Job well done

 

[flip180]

I'll have to admit I like the old school look better but, this is the way to turned out. It just went that way when I was putting it all together. A standard vertical sling as opposed to a tactical sling is my preference and a light is a must. I shopped long and hard to find a set up that allowed me to incorperate both of those with out being to over the top. I would love to score a wood LE fore end and a wood monte carlo stock. I bet that would really mix tactical and old school together in a nice little package. I'll keep an eye out. The synthetic furnature was readily available when I was looking. Thanks for the comments.

Flip.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Ya did good, Flip. While I'm no fan of pimped out new looking shotguns in general, those patterns show me you're in this for more than show.

All that shotgun needs now is wear marks, and I'm sure you'll be adding them soon.

And NOTE....

None of those brands of buck are trash. The pics reinforce the fact that each shotgun is an individual when it comes to performance of a given load.

Kudoes...

 

[flip180]

"All that shotgun needs now is wear marks, and I'm sure you'll be adding them soon"

I actually started working on that now. It went to and from the range in the trunk of my car without a case. It'll also be going with me to a Louis Awerbuck Stage-1 shotgun class next month. I'm going to wring the hell out of it. This trip to the range really opened my eyes to how amazing the shotgun really is. One thing I really noticed with all of the loads is, it seems the patters don't open up too much between 15 and 20 yards. There didn't seen to be much difference between the two targets. The Federal at 25 yards which had their flight control wad even maintained a pattern similar in size to what it made at 20 yards. I want to try out some #4 buck shot from Federal using their flight control wad also to see what it'll do. I'm trying to get my hands on some Breneke rifled slugs to have a heads up 50 yards shoot out with some Wolf rifled slugs I have here to see who comes out on top. I'll post a report when that happens. If anyone wants me to try another type of slug, let me know and I'll see if I can pic some up.

Thanks, Flip.

 

[[email protected]]

Good gun. I have two 870s, one set up bascially stock and one more pimped out for HD. I have not added anything other than a extended mag +2, rifle sighted smooth barrel 20", and a side of buttstock shell carrier. That is it. I only add what I have tested and what I know will help out. I have added crap just for the sake of it but I am way past that now. My AR-15s are stock as well. In fact, my M4gery is all I ever need in an AR.

I am toying with the idea of a flashlight on a shotgun or a pistol but I haven't tried one yet.

 

[Gordon]

"It'll also be going with me to a Louis Awerbuck Stage-1 shotgun class next month."

You had better pattern that with the cheap birdshot you will be mostly shooting! I like #6 'Heavy field loads' as it takes the steel down better.Sight it in with the slugs you will be shooting at the course.I like Remington Reduced recoil slugs. !oz at 1200fps ought to get er done and they are accurate and flat shooting to 100 yards.They are more comfortable to shoot prone or kneeling,by far. I don't like reduced recoil buck however. Winchester shells have acted up in courses the last few years. They were the cheap ones, however. Rio shells and others give trouble

 

[20nickels]

Methinks that shotty would be sweeeet in the Duracoat of your environment.

 

[Dave McCracken]

You're welcome, Flip. That class will get those marks started nicely. Do consider a case, though.

 

[IDriveB5]

flip- nice work, nice gun! have you a link to that sight? looks like you could pick up that front sight pretty quickly for follow ups.

that federal laid down some nice patterns!

 

[flip180]

Thanks Dave,
I actually do have a nice case but, my little Mazda was so full of boxes and such for the trip that I had to fore go the bulky case and go without.

IDriveB5,
I use those sight on my G19 and my G26. Between the two, I have about 12,000 rounds through both of them so along with three pistol courses. Looking at those sights is imprinted in my brain. It just made sense to put those on my 870. With the Monte Carlo butt stock, the sights line up perfecty every time I bring the shotgun up to my shoulder. Here's a link to those sights.

http://www.xssights.com/store/shotgun.html

Flip.

 

[Bix]

looks like you could pick up that front sight pretty quickly for follow ups.

I am a huge fan of the XS sights on 'serious' shotguns. I ran them on my 870 in Awerbuck's Stage I last year and Tactical Response Fighting Shotgun the year before that. They seem to be a great compromise between the speed of a bead and the precision of rifle/ghost ring sights.

Flip - I'd second Gordon's recommendation of zeroing some slugs in the gun before your class. It took me a little while to get everything hitting in the right place from 0-75 yards.

 

[strambo]

Great report and pics! I liked seeing how the Federal performed. Another load to try is Hornady low recoil Tap 00. I am getting 10-20% tighter patterns than your federal pics at all those ranges with an 18" cylinder bore 870. Others have reported the same results with the TAP load.

Those XS sights look awesome! I'm just using a bead right now.

 

[flip180]

I found a source for the Hornady Tap low recoil buckshot. They also have the breneke slugs on hand. I'm going to place an order this weekend for both to try out along with a few boxes of birdshot. I'll keep you updated on what I find out.

Flip.

 

[another okie]

Very nice looking gun. Tell us more about the attachment for the light.

+1 on the reduced recoil slugs. You do not want to doing a high round count of full power slugs from a pump.

 

[flip180]

Here is a link at Midway for the extension and the clamp

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=115335&t=11082005
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=667570&t=11082005
The clamp came with one rail. So in order to accomodate both the light and the sling attachment, I ordered a second rail for the other side of the clamp. The screws that came with the clamp were too short for my taste. There are two screws that screw in from opposing sides. I felt they were to short and could strip out the threads on the aluminum clamp. I ended up getting 1 inch screws that used all of the threads on the opposing side of the clamp instead of just half. The only problem was they stuck out the other side so, I drilled a small recess on the bottom of both picatinny rail to allow for the longer screw and to allow the rail fit flush on the clamp. The thing about the set up is the clamp and the extension and all aluminum. That's nice in keeping the weight down on the forward end of the gun. The extension is well made but really needs the clamp to be rock solid. I wouldn't recommend running a Nordic extension without a clamp.

Flip.

 

[357wheelgunner]

Thanks for the great pic of the sights, I think I"ll order those for my 870P.

 

[kgpcr]

Nice Zombie gun. I have an 870 with an 18 slug barrel with #00 buckshot in it. Good enough for me

 

[flip180]

Here's a couple of more pics of the sights.




Flip.

 

[readyme]

Thanks for the photos and info. I am seriously considering getting the XS sights, but I too would have to buy a new barrel....and I am short that kind of $$$....it is not cheap.
Anyway, great looking gun.

 

[IDriveB5]

Really like those sights.

Where does she balance?

 

[flip180]

Unloaded with the sling and aluminum HK style sling clip off the gun, it balances right where the barrel enters the receiver. The extension, the clamp, the two picatinny rails and the Daniel Defense sling loop are aluminum and the M3 light is plastic. That really helps keep the weight down. The Daniel Defense loop itself only weighs 1oz.

Flip.