I have an extra 870 with a poly choke on it. I'm thinking about making a combat shotgun by having the barrel cut dow to something over 18 inches and having a brass bead put on. Do I need to have the barrel bored or can I just leave it as is once it's cut down. Is there an extended magazine I can add without too much trouble? What else is needed? I don't want to break the bank on this project, just looking for a good HD gun.
As you can see I made a mistake in my title and could not fix it. It should read, 870.
Were it me, I would simply buy a second barrel in 18.5" and have one for hunting and one for HD. There are plenty of them to be found on http://www.gunbroker.com/ . Also, check out http://aiptactical.com/ - you can buy just about anything you need from JD.
Thanks! I already have another 870 with full choke in 3" mag I use for ducks and turkey. I have anotner extra barrel for this standard barrel gun in 26" I/C. I want to jazz this gun into something tactical but not over the top.
If you're going to shorten an existing barrel, I'd get it bored for Remington interchangable chokes (buy a modified tube) and add rifle sights. An 18+ inch barrel is only going to allow a +1 mag extension, depending upon when your shotgun was made, the magazine tube might need to be modified to allow use of the extension. I'd leave the magazine alone if the tube requires modification (Your magazine cap is locked by a plastic widget inside the magazine tube and 2 detents in the magazine tube retain the plastic widget. If it's fitted with a Poly Choke, probably not.). Choate Machine & Tool and Scattergun Technologies both make great mag extensions in a variey of sizes/finishes. If your shotgun doesn't have the flexi-tab carrier, have one installed, it prevents jams due to a shell releasing from the magazine when it isn't supposed to.
Why the above? A cylinder bore barrel generally has lousy patterns and the ability to use rifled slugs is very good to have. Installing the choke tube is about a cost wash with back boring the barrel to provide some choke and is much more flexible. Yeah, you can-with a lot of practice-shoot rifled slugs pretty decent with just a bead. BUT, in the sceanario you may have in mind, you're not going to be cool, calm and collected and far more than deer burgers may ride on the results. A factory deer barrel with rifle sights (DRS) and Rem-Choke might not be that much more.
I have a +2 magazine tube from Scattergun Technologies, that fits perfectly, that I'll sell you. I'm looking for a +4 for competition.
Don't cut up a good barrel. Spend $120, and get the right one.
Jeff
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