Seeking advice from 870 Police experts

[Gordon]

I am building another 870 Tactical gun. I am using a 1989 Wingmaster Magnum SP base gun. I put on a Remington Police extension assembly and clamp, Vang domed safety and his spring and mag follower. I just won this barrel:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...00016007423&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWN:IT&rd=1

Is this barrel any good or hype? I can't find any Rem. specs for it.
This gun has the flexi tab, but examining the carrier it looks like 2 pieces pinned together instead of a forged single piece like my earlier guns Also it has square leading edges as does the bolt , is it cool to SLIGHTLY smooth and polish the bottom leading edges of the bolt and carrier or is that a waste of time on the flexitab system?It seems these areas are 'relieved' compared to the older Bolt and carrier. Maybe they don't touch the shell now?
I decided NOT to go with ghost ring sights for a number of interesting reasons. I AM putting a set of Tritium inserts in the Rem. rifle sights however.I have a 12" Houge Overmolded stock with a GG&G single point on the front of it and an extra Limbsaver slip on pad over the back. That gives me exactly the right CQB LOP for me and has worked well the last couple years on my older Robar 870 from the mid 80's.Of course the requiste Surefire forend , in LED , is on the front.I am gonna take this , and the old Robar just in case, to the Oct. ITTS advanced Awerbuck tactical shotgun course and wring it out. I am NOT gonna waste the class's time with my A-5 or Benelli Nova creations. They seem to work best next to the bed and around the ranch and not blasting 800 rapid rounds in 3 days. !

 

[dfariswheel]

The barrel looks like a little of the normal seller's "hype" since that pretty well describes the standard Police barrel.
Since it IS a Police barrel, it'll be an absolutely top quality barrel.

I've never heard of a "hardened chamber" and I was unaware that Remington was now putting a longer forcing cone in their barrels.
This part "may" be the hype.
In any case, they don't get any better than Remington Police barrels.

The Remington carrier, or slide, as they call it, has been two pieces, brazed together for as long as I can remember.
I've never seen one broken apart and they seem to be super tough.

There's no reason not to lightly round and smooth the edges of the carrier, and the only possible reason not to do the bolt is that it will remove the finish.

 

[Dave McCracken]

FWIW, the cones on my two newer LC barrels are longer than those from days of yore. Haven't measured them but they seem to be 1.25-1.5".

HTH....

 

[Fred Fuller]

I saw that one. Bid on it, as a matter of fact. Not because of the hype, just because I bid on every decent looking 18" barrel I see on the list. Win a few, lose a LOT. Including this one. Hope it performs well for you. I'd suggest getting someone with a bore gauge to check it out for you right off the bat.

It was a similar looking 18" parkerized RS Police barrel that caused me some hassle a while back in finding a buckshot load it would pattern. The folks at Colonial Arms gauged it and said as near as they could tell, it had a .739" bore and a .729" choke, along with full thickness barrel walls- which made it a factory overbore as near as they could tell.

This is the same barrel that caused me problems by hanging up when it got hot, shooting the Fiocchi birdshot I was using at Louis' class in May. Even after multiple sessions of honing/polishing/honing the chamber it STILL won't run a 15-round string of that Fiocchi load without sticking shut. No matter what bolt I use or what gun I put the barrel on, it has teething problems with that one load. Go figure. It runs everything else I have fed it OK, it just doesn't digest the Fiocchi. So I don't feed it that any more.

As long as the carrier clears the bolt well enough to allow easy loading of shells into the magazine, I wouldn't worry about polishing it or the bolt. I think it's better to 'work harden' those areas by cycling them repeatedly than to just remove metal by stoning or polishing, as long as the moving parts clear sufficiently to function acceptably. The flex-equipped bolt and lifter are relieved a bit to allow the system to work as it should in case a shell escapes the shell stops so it won't completely ride back under the bolt and on top of the lifter and jam the action. As long as it's easy to load the magazne I wouldn't mess with it. I have had one gun where it helped to stone the front of the lifter a bit to get a little more relief for loading.

Congrats on the class, it ought to be fun-

lpl/nc

 

[Gordon]

Thanks , friends!

 

[Akurat]

Anyone have experience with Mossberg-made barrels for the 870? They're relatively inexpensive, is that reflected in the quality?