Preacherman
Member
A local pawnshop is having a sale on firearms, having accumulated way too many long guns at the end of hunting season. They have eight or nine 870's, priced at $175 to $225 apiece - and all Wingmasters, not an Express among 'em! As soon as I heard that, I charged on down there.
The gun manager knows me, and sort of rolled his eyes as I came in - but he gamely laid out eight Wingmasters on the counter for me to inspect. I found that they were all 1960's and early 1970's guns, with the old-style shell lifter and bolt - no Flex-Tab guns at all. I checked each one for smoothness of action, overall condition, etc., and to his disgust, pointed out four with internal rust, or cracks in the stock, or roughness in the action, all of which would need attention before sale. He's promised to do that, but I figure he might just sell them to less demanding buyers...
Anyway, I narrowed it down to three, and then went to town, opening them up, taking off barrels and fore-ends, etc. By the time I finished, I'd got a receiver and stock from one gun, a 28" vent-rib barrel from a second, and a fore-end from a third, put them all together, and had a smooth-shucking Wingmaster with excellent wood and a good barrel. Price out the door - $175!
Nice when one can do that...
EDITED TO ADD: I found that Brownells has the Remington Flexitab conversion kits in stock, to convert the old-model 870's to the newer cartridge-feed configuration, which makes feeding more reliable. One oddity: the Web site listed them in the $80+ range, but ordering by phone, they were in the $60+ range! I'll update this Wingmaster and another older one to the new configuration.
The gun manager knows me, and sort of rolled his eyes as I came in - but he gamely laid out eight Wingmasters on the counter for me to inspect. I found that they were all 1960's and early 1970's guns, with the old-style shell lifter and bolt - no Flex-Tab guns at all. I checked each one for smoothness of action, overall condition, etc., and to his disgust, pointed out four with internal rust, or cracks in the stock, or roughness in the action, all of which would need attention before sale. He's promised to do that, but I figure he might just sell them to less demanding buyers...
Anyway, I narrowed it down to three, and then went to town, opening them up, taking off barrels and fore-ends, etc. By the time I finished, I'd got a receiver and stock from one gun, a 28" vent-rib barrel from a second, and a fore-end from a third, put them all together, and had a smooth-shucking Wingmaster with excellent wood and a good barrel. Price out the door - $175!
Nice when one can do that...
EDITED TO ADD: I found that Brownells has the Remington Flexitab conversion kits in stock, to convert the old-model 870's to the newer cartridge-feed configuration, which makes feeding more reliable. One oddity: the Web site listed them in the $80+ range, but ordering by phone, they were in the $60+ range! I'll update this Wingmaster and another older one to the new configuration.
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