1956 wingmaster ADL 3" conversion

219F

219F

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the coach's post about wingmaster prices got me thinking about converting one of my old wingmasters to 3"

I believe that I would need a 3" extractor, choke opened up and the chamber lenghtened. Have anyone out there had this done, and how hard is it to find a gunsmith that can do this work?
 
i would not bother with smithing the barrel - just pick up a 3" one off the EE. by the time you have your old plain 2 3/4" barrel threaded for chokes, the chamber lengthened, etc it will cost more than the price of a take-off vent-rib 3" barrel and will not be as good.

as for the parts for the 2 3/4" to 3" conversion, you need these (Brownells):
870ejector.jpg


with the rivets, likely you will not be able to re-use your existing ones. when you install the new rivets, they come in the white and you will see two small rivet heads on the side of your receiver. you can pay to have your entire receiver refinished so that these rivet heads are invisible, or you can just dab some cold blue on them and leave it til later - its covered by a sidesaddle anyway.

once it is removed, you can save a further $12 by taking 2 minutes to file the blade on your existing 2 3/4" ejector further back so it is identical to the 3" ejector -- but unless you have a 3" ejector already as reference this is difficult to do.
 
MBP what do you think of having the barrel opened to modified without the chokes, my walls are too thin for screw-in chokes anyway. I would still be looking at lenghtening the chamber, big job for a good smith?
 
yes the rivets line up with the old ones. the refinishing is just because of this: if you look at the side of your 870 opposite from the ejection port, you can make out two faint 'dots' (usually slightly darker) - these are the heads of the rivets that hold your ejector/ejector spring. theyve been finished flush with your receiver and blued along with the gun.

now if you look inside the port, you can see one rivet holding the ejector spring. there is another one underneath the spring on the other side as well. you can buy a $40 cutter from Brownells that will let you trim the existing rivets so that they can be punched out, and hopefully they have enough meat on them so that you can re-peen the existing rivets.
otherwise if you cant re-use the old rivets, when you install the new rivets their heads will slightly protrude from the side of your receiver. when a gunsmith does the job hell finish these smooth with the receiver and blue the entire thing so theyre invisible, but this drives the price up since youre also paying for receiver refinishing. if you are planning on having your 870 parkerized/gunkoted/teflon coated anyway then that would be a great time to do the 3" upgrade.

if you are mechanically inclined at all, then its a simple job to do even if you dont have the specialized tools. otherwise let your gunsmith do it: they usually only charge about $30 to replace them if you have the parts, and with luck they will be able to re-peen your existing rivets and you wont need a refinishing. if this is just a hunting gun and you dont care that youll have two small 'buttons' sticking out a millimeter from the side of your receiver then just dab some cold blue on it and be done with it. if its a 'tactical' style build then your sidesaddle will cover it anyway.

as for the barrel:
i honestly believe that any money spent on the old 2 3/4", plain wingmaster barrels is money wasted. i have seen the 28" vent-rib, 3" chamber Express barrels for as low as $120 on the EE, including one choke. this, IMO, would be a far better investment for your money. yes, its Express finish compared to gloss blued Wingmaster finish, but if you are using this for hunting then it doesnt matter.
sell your old barrel for ~$70+shipping on the EE, someone will buy it to cut it down. put that money towards a new barrel.

one rivet (other one is under the end of the spring and visible once the spring is removed):
ejector.jpg
 
ok here is what I tried. I used two of my express 3" barrels on the Wingmaster receiver and the fit was very poor, tight and didn't seem to seat properly. the barrels are from late ninties guns. is the problem trying to fit a 1990's barrel to a 1950's receiver. Before I buy a barrel I wnat to make sure I get a good fit. minor differances between the WM - EXp?

thanks for all the help MBP:rockOn:
 
i would not try this change you can buy a 3 inch wingmaster used for about 4hundred everyday .then you have a magnum resever that will handel the recoil .sell yours for 250 or 300 and buy the right gun you need .another thing to think about is why you need a three inch gun .years ago we shot geese and ducks deer bear all with 2.75 inch shells never felt under gunned .you can buy shells in 2.75 inch that will do the job on anygame we have on the planet .it just seems to be a waste to start changing a good old gun to end up with a broken stock .or jamming problems becoues thre inch shells will hang up well kicking them out DUTCH
 
dutchhunter said:
i would not try this change you can buy a 3 inch wingmaster used for about 4hundred everyday .then you have a magnum resever that will handel the recoil .sell yours for 250 or 300 and buy the right gun you need .
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a. 3" Wingmasters for $400 everyday? my ass.
please show me some examples from the EE or from gun shops. if used 3" Wingmasters were $400, noone would buy an Express, ever.

b. a 'magnum receiver that will handle the recoil'? is it made from some new magic recoil-handling material? ...because dimensionally there is no difference between a 2 3/4" and 3" receiver. all they did is change the ejector and ejector blade for one thats 1/4" further back.
 
is that why the 3 inch guns are stamped magnum .there is one on ther right now .and are local gun shop has two for 400$ right now
 
dutchhunter said:
i would not try this change you can buy a 3 inch wingmaster used for about 4hundred everyday .then you have a magnum resever that will handel the recoil .sell yours for 250 or 300 and buy the right gun you need .another thing to think about is why you need a three inch gun .years ago we shot geese and ducks deer bear all with 2.75 inch shells never felt under gunned .you can buy shells in 2.75 inch that will do the job on anygame we have on the planet .it just seems to be a waste to start changing a good old gun to end up with a broken stock .or jamming problems becoues thre inch shells will hang up well kicking them out DUTCH
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I am keeping it due to sentimentality or senility? This piece has been in our family since our barber took off his right hand cleaning it, that was back in "65". I know and he was an armourer in WWII, proves it can happen to anyone. bottom line is I would like to see it handed down to my son.

I do quite a bit of goose guiding and I feel that to do the job effectively you need the extra punch. Sure 2 3/4" work but I like the added insurance of 3" BB's.
 
This thread is very interesting. I will try to bring it back.. I do have a old Wingmaster, in 2 3/4. I have replaced everything but the receiver. Composite stocks, ( the original wood was eaten by the salt water). My original barrel was a 30", full. It got got and a polychoke put on, worked great. Replaced the barrel with a 26" Hastings barrel a few yrs latter, with remchokes and VR. Again works great. Used this gun for years, and it knocked down everything. Got caught up in the 3" racket, and really found a differance with steel. Parked old gun, used new semi. Would bring out the 870 for clays and duck. BUT, I am a firm believer of the old cliche, " Beware of the man with one gun, for he will often shoot it well" I have recently been reunited with an old army buddy, who is a handloading guru. We brought out the old gun and it was smacking the crap out of geese. Don't know if it was my familarity with the old gun, or great loads. BUT, You do not NEED 3" or 3 1/2" shells to kill stuff. I have toyed with the idea of having it modified, but I doubt that I ever will. If it ain't broke.......... etc. But with that being said, if someone has a beat up 870 Mag receiver cheap, I will re-tool the whole gun again.

PS"

The receiver of an existing old 870 2 3/4, will handle a 3" recoil. All the pressure is in the barrel...
 
again, for the 1000th time -- there is absolutely no difference between a 2 3/4" Wingmaster receiver and a 'Magnum' receiver. i went over every damned inch of it with a caliper and micrometer: they are identical.

if people want to believe that the newer receivers are made from a 'Special Steel™' engineered to handle 3" pressure (despite the fact that all pressure is contained in the barrel), thats fine - sell your 2 3/4" Wingmasters and buy a 3" one for over 2x the price :rolleyes:

if you can believe that Remington just swapped the ejector/ejector spring with one that has the hook 1/4" further back, stamped MAGNUM on their receiver and made a sh*tton of money reselling them to people who already had 2 3/4" Wingmasters... well... then just swap the ejector and convert your old gun to a 3".
 
manbearpig said:
again, for the 1000th time -- there is absolutely no difference between a 2 3/4" Wingmaster receiver and a 'Magnum' receiver. i went over every damned inch of it with a caliper and micrometer: they are identical.

if people want to believe that the newer receivers are made from a 'Special Steel™' engineered to handle 3" pressure (despite the fact that all pressure is contained in the barrel), thats fine - sell your 2 3/4" Wingmasters and buy a 3" one for over 2x the price :rolleyes:

if you can believe that Remington just swapped the ejector/ejector spring with one that has the hook 1/4" further back, stamped MAGNUM on their receiver and made a sh*tton of money reselling them to people who already had 2 3/4" Wingmasters... well... then just swap the ejector and convert your old gun to a 3".
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Well put and concise MBP!

I'm back to my point that I am having a hard time seating my 3" Express barrels on my Wingmaster receiver?

and the barber who unfortunatly took his hand fought in Italy, landed on Juno Beach and liberated Holland. "Dummy is not a term I associate with this man.
 
i noticed there are minor deviances in barrel and receiver diameter - for example one barrel that will seat really tight on one 870 will be a tad loose on another (even if the receiver is brand new), etc.

ensure that both the barrel shank and the inside of the receiver are totally clean, then apply a few drops of gun oil and try to gently put the barrel in by rotating back and forth a bit. on the tighter barrels if there is any slight misalignment they wont go in, but once perfectly aligned they usually fit.
 
870

I did the conversion just as manbearpig says and it turned out fine. I replaced the Stock & Forend with Composite and found a 3" Chambered, 28" Modified Barrel. The Quality or the Steel of the old Guns is far superior than any newer Gun....Excellent project......Excellent Gun
 
Besides the fact that the actual receivers are identical between 2-3/4" and 3" 870s, the bolt locks up into the barrel extension, not the receiver. The receiver is more of a box that holds all the parts together than a highly stressed component.
 
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