Just got a new 870 about a month ago. Thought I'd show off my set up just for fun.
- Remington 870 Express 7 round
- Houge forend
- Speedfeed I stock
- Messa tactical 6 shell side saddle
It's a sweet handler
Opinions
Ran a few different brands of ammo through it. I know some people like the spread, but I prefer to put all of that energy into one spot.
Tube is loaded with 12ga Federal Premium Defense 00 Buck. Has the flight control wad and copper platted shot, 9 pellet. These things really do work well. The shot group is very, very tight. Even out to 30-50 feet. I'll try to post up pics of targets when I get a chance.
I hadn't had much experience slug shooting, so when I tried some random Winchester slugs found at Wally World and was simply hitting a silhouette at 50 feet I thought that was pretty good. However, after doing some reading I've seen that a lot of people had pretty good luck with just cheapo remington sluggers in their 870's. I tried them out. I kept backing up...further...and further... I was getting a 3 inch group with riffled slugs at 100 feet . The Remington sluggers are definitely my slug choice for this gun. They do shoot a little dirtier than others, but that's not a huge deal.
Side Saddle
As for the rest of the gun, I highly recommend the Messa tactical side saddle. The first and ONLY impression you are left with, is QUALITY. It's thick aluminum. It mounts to the gun via replacing the trigger pins. It feels very, very solid, and it's not going anywhere. Another small nice touch is that it has a cut out allowing you to see the serial number of the gun, that way you wouldn't need to take the side saddle off every time you need to access it.
The side saddle is a solid piece of aluminum. Has a nice tough finish. There are six holes drilled out. Now imagine taking a straw, and running it through those six rings like you were threading them. This is how the messa tactical side saddle holds the rounds in place. There is a rubber tube that you insert horizontally on the back side of the rings. Each ring has a small cut out on the inner back, that allows the shot shell to come in contact with the tube. This applies pressure, and friction to the round, holding it in place.
In the box is the side saddle and mounting equipment. Two different tube inserts, one white and one black. The white one is stiffer than the black, so that you can choose your preference, and or figure out what works best for the rounds that you have. Also, which I thought was a nice touch, is a long wide, and flat adhesive piece of rubber. This is for you to apply to the back of the side saddle so that it does not rub against your gun and ruin the finish should you ever take it off.
The manual does state that the side saddle is not intended for permanent storage of rounds, but that it should be loaded/unloaded before and after competition or patrol, because the rubber tube could possibly deform and no longer properly retain the round. IMHO this is one of the McDonald's "Be careful, the coffee is hot!" statements. Basically just covering their ass. They do say that if this happens, simply take the rounds out for a few days to let the rubber tubing regain it's shape. They also state that new tubing is available free from them for the lifetime of the product. Kudos to them supporting their stuff. My shotgun stays loaded and leans against my couch (yes I live alone). I intend to leave the messa tactical side saddle loaded. We'll see how it pans out. Honestly I doubt I'll have any issue.
Houge Forend
I highly recommend it. Its such a cheap upgrade! I got it for under $20 on amazon. I has a very nice, grippy texture. My hand doesn't slip at all working the pump. There wasn't anything wrong with the stock forend, but sometimes polymer can get fairly slippery when sweaty. Even without that factor, for how cheap the forend was, it is a GREAT upgrade. Talk about bang for your buck, you'll love it. It also happens to fit my hand better than the factory forend, but I'm sure that'll boil down to personal prefference
Speed Feed Stock
I have messed with pistol grip stocks, and folding stocks, and in the end, I just shoot shotguns better with a normal stock. And since I was opting for a "normal" stock, I figured it should at least do something useful...like hold extra ammo.
Now, I do realize that you could hold more ammo with an elastic shot shell carrier on the stock, but honestly, four rounds is enough. And I like that there is no extrusion on wither side of the stock. Everything is inline.
One other positive note for me that I hadn't thought of until playing around with my loading techniques is slug transitions. I always tilt the gun to the left, bolt open, and towards the sky, and use my left hand to drop a round into the open action. I do this from one of two places. Either the two primer up slugs I keep in the front positions of my side saddle, or I can move my hand to the back of the stock, and take a round out, sliding it back up and into the action very quickly. Essentially, this is allowing me to leave all of my slug workings to one side. I leave my buckshot primer down in the side saddle and load into the tube with the gun tilted right. So it makes it easy. Right, load buck into tube. Left, load slug into action.
One thing I will say for it, is while the grip area is "textured" its... yeah it's just slippery synthetic. I think checkering at least would have been better. I am going to buy some aerosol spray rubber and apply a light coating. Hoping to use the texture they put onto the stock, and turn it into a textured grippy surface. It just feels kind of odd to have such a solid grip on the forend, pulling into your shoulder and your hand not going anywhere, and at the same time you can noticeably feel your trigger hand not keeping it's place. At least not in the same rock solid fashion. I should be doing the grip treatment this week, I'll let you all know how it turns out.
Over all
Over all, the gun just feels SOLID. That is one of the reasons I went for the speedfeed stock. Everything inline, Nothing to slide around, pop off, or peel off. You pick up the gun and nothing moves, nothings rattles, it's just solid. It feels great in my hands and is very, very, pointable.
It is a little heftier. But not by any margin that would make me say it's "heavy". A metal side saddle, all of the additional rounds, and the fact that the 870's receiver is steel, instead aluminum like the mossberg 500, it definitely adds weight. However, that weight transitions into a solid gun, that is great in my hands, and I love
- Remington 870 Express 7 round
- Houge forend
- Speedfeed I stock
- Messa tactical 6 shell side saddle
It's a sweet handler
Opinions
Ran a few different brands of ammo through it. I know some people like the spread, but I prefer to put all of that energy into one spot.
Tube is loaded with 12ga Federal Premium Defense 00 Buck. Has the flight control wad and copper platted shot, 9 pellet. These things really do work well. The shot group is very, very tight. Even out to 30-50 feet. I'll try to post up pics of targets when I get a chance.
I hadn't had much experience slug shooting, so when I tried some random Winchester slugs found at Wally World and was simply hitting a silhouette at 50 feet I thought that was pretty good. However, after doing some reading I've seen that a lot of people had pretty good luck with just cheapo remington sluggers in their 870's. I tried them out. I kept backing up...further...and further... I was getting a 3 inch group with riffled slugs at 100 feet
. The Remington sluggers are definitely my slug choice for this gun. They do shoot a little dirtier than others, but that's not a huge deal.Side Saddle
As for the rest of the gun, I highly recommend the Messa tactical side saddle. The first and ONLY impression you are left with, is QUALITY. It's thick aluminum. It mounts to the gun via replacing the trigger pins. It feels very, very solid, and it's not going anywhere. Another small nice touch is that it has a cut out allowing you to see the serial number of the gun, that way you wouldn't need to take the side saddle off every time you need to access it.
The side saddle is a solid piece of aluminum. Has a nice tough finish. There are six holes drilled out. Now imagine taking a straw, and running it through those six rings like you were threading them. This is how the messa tactical side saddle holds the rounds in place. There is a rubber tube that you insert horizontally on the back side of the rings. Each ring has a small cut out on the inner back, that allows the shot shell to come in contact with the tube. This applies pressure, and friction to the round, holding it in place.
In the box is the side saddle and mounting equipment. Two different tube inserts, one white and one black. The white one is stiffer than the black, so that you can choose your preference, and or figure out what works best for the rounds that you have. Also, which I thought was a nice touch, is a long wide, and flat adhesive piece of rubber. This is for you to apply to the back of the side saddle so that it does not rub against your gun and ruin the finish should you ever take it off.
The manual does state that the side saddle is not intended for permanent storage of rounds, but that it should be loaded/unloaded before and after competition or patrol, because the rubber tube could possibly deform and no longer properly retain the round. IMHO this is one of the McDonald's "Be careful, the coffee is hot!" statements. Basically just covering their ass. They do say that if this happens, simply take the rounds out for a few days to let the rubber tubing regain it's shape. They also state that new tubing is available free from them for the lifetime of the product. Kudos to them supporting their stuff. My shotgun stays loaded and leans against my couch (yes I live alone). I intend to leave the messa tactical side saddle loaded. We'll see how it pans out. Honestly I doubt I'll have any issue.
Houge Forend
I highly recommend it. Its such a cheap upgrade! I got it for under $20 on amazon. I has a very nice, grippy texture. My hand doesn't slip at all working the pump. There wasn't anything wrong with the stock forend, but sometimes polymer can get fairly slippery when sweaty. Even without that factor, for how cheap the forend was, it is a GREAT upgrade. Talk about bang for your buck, you'll love it. It also happens to fit my hand better than the factory forend, but I'm sure that'll boil down to personal prefference
Speed Feed Stock
I have messed with pistol grip stocks, and folding stocks, and in the end, I just shoot shotguns better with a normal stock. And since I was opting for a "normal" stock, I figured it should at least do something useful...like hold extra ammo.
Now, I do realize that you could hold more ammo with an elastic shot shell carrier on the stock, but honestly, four rounds is enough. And I like that there is no extrusion on wither side of the stock. Everything is inline.
One other positive note for me that I hadn't thought of until playing around with my loading techniques is slug transitions. I always tilt the gun to the left, bolt open, and towards the sky, and use my left hand to drop a round into the open action. I do this from one of two places. Either the two primer up slugs I keep in the front positions of my side saddle, or I can move my hand to the back of the stock, and take a round out, sliding it back up and into the action very quickly. Essentially, this is allowing me to leave all of my slug workings to one side. I leave my buckshot primer down in the side saddle and load into the tube with the gun tilted right. So it makes it easy. Right, load buck into tube. Left, load slug into action.
One thing I will say for it, is while the grip area is "textured" its... yeah it's just slippery synthetic. I think checkering at least would have been better. I am going to buy some aerosol spray rubber and apply a light coating. Hoping to use the texture they put onto the stock, and turn it into a textured grippy surface. It just feels kind of odd to have such a solid grip on the forend, pulling into your shoulder and your hand not going anywhere, and at the same time you can noticeably feel your trigger hand not keeping it's place. At least not in the same rock solid fashion. I should be doing the grip treatment this week, I'll let you all know how it turns out.
Over all
Over all, the gun just feels SOLID. That is one of the reasons I went for the speedfeed stock. Everything inline, Nothing to slide around, pop off, or peel off. You pick up the gun and nothing moves, nothings rattles, it's just solid. It feels great in my hands and is very, very, pointable.
It is a little heftier. But not by any margin that would make me say it's "heavy". A metal side saddle, all of the additional rounds, and the fact that the 870's receiver is steel, instead aluminum like the mossberg 500, it definitely adds weight. However, that weight transitions into a solid gun, that is great in my hands, and I love
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