870 for bear protection

Filip

Filip

CGN Regular
Rating - 97.2%
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Location
S.Ontairo
Howdy,

Buddy of mine is relocating north with work and wanted to pick up a 18" synthetic 870 with ghost rear and something high vis up front. Sole function of gun will be bear protection. Anyone have a dealer they would recommend? Trying to find him a decent deal.

Cheers,
Filip
 
With those sights, it sounds like he wants an Express Tactical 870. Pricing is pretty standard across the board on those.
 
If your friend is set on 18" or so and does not want to muck-about with having to mod the gun or tinker, this would seem a reasonable option:

h t t p://w w w.firearmsoutletcanada.com/shotguns/pump-action/remington-870-express-synthetic-12ga-2-3-4-or-3-18-5-barrel-7-shot.html

Or if you want a plastic-coated version that will resist elements, the 887 Tactical might work. not sure if anyone in Canada has it in stock right now.

http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/tactical/shotguns/model-887-nitro-mag-tactical.aspx

If he wants to spend a little more, hard to beat the MagPul 870 18.5" with factory cerakote. Should be impervious to most corrosion, based on a proven action, good stocks out of the box, good sights, lots of features and sling attachment points. Also takes rem chokes so it's pretty versatile from a shooting perspective, though he would likely run an improved cylinder most of the time for a good buckshot/slug performance balance. Just my opinion.

h t t p s://w w w.thathuntingstore.com/online-store/firearms/remington/870-express-tactical-pump-detail.html
 
An 870 makes a great bear/defense gun, but forget about the tactical crap. a "clean" 870 will slide straight in/out of your back seat or behind your drivers seat, fits into any gun sleeve or carrier. All those extra knobs, sights, mags, ect tend to get caught on things when you need the gun the most.

Just my opinion, I use an 870 at the farm/cabin where we have multiple bear problems every year.
 
If shooting slugs at your target, a rear Ghost ring is advantageous to the accuracy of your shot.
The XS sights on the Express Tactical are quite low too, not tall like others are.
 
Thank you all for your suggestions. I only posted in this area because this is intended to be a hunting gun, and I do want to find him something with a short barrel. I am keen on keeping it simple. I think I have settled on an express with Wilson combat sights. I have sent out a few Emails and am waiting to hear back from a few stores and see if they can put one together for me. Any other suggestions most welcome!
 
Had all kinds of pump shotguns over 30 years. Not an 870, but I ended selling my Remington 870 Combo and keeping this one.

As I only hike now this is my bear gun. After 3 years of heavy use love the compactness, ghost rings, really puts my slugs where I want them.

Anyways she wears a Hogue 12" LOP stock, metal front slide arm, and has pictatinny rails for a slide on led light. Totally agree, keep it functional and simple forget the plastic crap, yes I know it wears a tri guard up front but that slides off before I sling it for hiking. . :)

 
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Filip said:
Thank you all for your suggestions. I only posted in this area because this is intended to be a hunting gun, and I do want to find him something with a short barrel. I am keen on keeping it simple. I think I have settled on an express with Wilson combat sights. I have sent out a few Emails and am waiting to hear back from a few stores and see if they can put one together for me. Any other suggestions most welcome!
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I know there are many versions of slug barrel available with the combo, but the one I have is an 18 inch smoothbore with iron sights. In low light conditions the sight dots glow. One dot for front sight and two dots on rear sight to align with. While I generally don't shoot in low light conditions, the irons are good enough to consistently hit milk jugs at 75 paces with 1 oz slugs.
 
The Wilson sights are great, but the gun, sights and work (tapping and install) will exceed an 870 with XS sights already installed.

Buy some 870 wood to swap it out with, and combined with it's choked barrel for hunting, you've got a good gun.

Like mine, (except it's a cerakoted Magpul version)


 
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Filip said:
Thank you all for your suggestions. I only posted in this area because this is intended to be a hunting gun, and I do want to find him something with a short barrel. I am keen on keeping it simple. I think I have settled on an express with Wilson combat sights. I have sent out a few Emails and am waiting to hear back from a few stores and see if they can put one together for me. Any other suggestions most welcome!
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Bear in mind that gun has a fixed cylinder choke. Since you mention hunting.

As the previous poster mentioned, you might as well buy the magpul express. It has all that stuff already and more.
 
The Express Tactical is a good buy. XS ghost ring sights and threaded for remchokes. I picked up a lightly used ATACS camo from Prophet River for $500. The breaching device is just an extended ported cyl. bore choke tube with "teeth". It just adds unnecessary length and something to snag on, a flush IC choke tube cleans the business end up. I have a full choke to test patterns with if I decide to do some light hunting with it. An S&J jumbo safety gets installed in every 870 or clone I buy.

20151231_143514_zpsutgwouxq.jpg
 
EL34/6L6 said:
The Wilson sights are great, but the gun, sights and work (tapping and install) will exceed an 870 with XS sights already installed.

Buy some 870 wood to swap it out with, and combined with it's choked barrel for hunting, you've got a good gun.

Like mine, (except it's a cerakoted Magpul version)


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Sorry for the hijack, but why did you swap on 870 Express Laminate stocks if the gun came with magpul furniture? Most people would switch the other way.
 
Claven2 said:
Sorry for the hijack, but why did you swap on 870 Express Laminate stocks if the gun came with magpul furniture? Most people would switch the other way.
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I had the Magpul on it for about a year, then switched to laminate to get a more traditional meets modern look and feel.
I do really like the Magpul set though, it went on another, shorter shotgun.
 
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