Adding a slug barrel to a Wingmaster

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wilbur007

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I have an older Wingmaster and I've been considering adding a rifled barrel to it for shooting slugs during whitetail season. There's a bunch of land around Saskatoon where a shotgun would be useful.

Has anyone done this that can offer me any insight? Just as simple as finding one and sorting out the right ammunition?
 
IanC said:
All 870 barrels are interchangeable so you should have no problem adding a slug barrel
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Most are interchangeable. They made some tactical flavored model with an 8-round tube, and the barrel lug further up. Barrels are not cross-compatible with this model.
 
Blastattack, yeah they made that one outlier so hopefully they made a slug barrel to go with it. I own an 870 LW special field 20ga try finding a slug barrel for that…..
 
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Thanks everyone. It's a fine example of what used to be the industry standard - wood and blued steel, 2 3/4" chamber, smooth action, deep bluing. All I need to do is track down a slug barrel for it.
 
Wilbur007, the EE on here should be a good place, just cruise the adds for a used one or local shops. The older gun shop in London used to have a bunch too. I always enjoyed a wingmaster action with a modern barrel. Be prepared to spend a couple hundred now a days. There are a lot of stock options too its the 10/22 of shotguns or else the 10/22 is the 870 of rimfires.
 
IanC said:
Blastattack, yeah they made that one outlier so hopefully they made a slug barrel to go with it. I own an 870 LW special field 20ga try finding a slug barrel for that…..
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I have one that fits your model .... rare as can be ....
 
Retraction ... I might not have it cant find it ... might have sold it ..... old age .... will have tear things apart ...
 
My buddy had a very old blued 12 Ga. Wingmaster and asked me to source a smoothbore slug barrel for it. That was a chore and a half! I finally found one on this site. It was the proper blued, rifle sighted, 2-3/4" chamber, and it needed a good cleaning. One thing I did find out is that Remington changed the barrel lock system. I needed the old one with the ratcheting ball bearing cap. Now they seem to have a wing washer to hold the cap in place so something to be aware of.
 
If you are going to want to shoot more than 50-75 yards then get a rifled barrel with a cantilever scope mount, this will work better than a receiver mount or irons.

Yes, the express barrels of now have a different system for holding the barrel on, get the washer and lock that barrel on.

At best I had 2 3/4in Hornady SSTs touching at 75 yards with my super mag express, the wingmaster I put that barrel on did not shoot as well, no idea why.

You will have to test ammo and when you find a good one just buy a ton of it as they change so often.

If you are going to be shooting in close, <75 yards, then look at putting a set of Williams sights on the vent rib, this is one option I use for hunting in close with the 870, a lot easier to stay on target than a bead and does reasonably well with attached wad slugs like the Challenger and surprisingly well with Winchester foster slugs inside 50 yards.

Good luck, a lot more expensive to shoot than a rifle and if I was in a rifle zone I would not run my 870 but that is only due to the cost of sabot slugs.
 
wilbur007 said:
I have an older Wingmaster and I've been considering adding a rifled barrel to it for shooting slugs during whitetail season. There's a bunch of land around Saskatoon where a shotgun would be useful.

Has anyone done this that can offer me any insight? Just as simple as finding one and sorting out the right ammunition?
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You can find an old 30 inch barrel for around 100$ and cut it to the length of your liking, put on a fibre optic bead or standard bead. That should cost you another 100$ at your local gunsmith, it works well for me.
 
FatCatsDad said:
There is always 1 fly in the ointment.
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Yeah except they didn’t make any Wingmaster’s with this longer tube nor have I ever seen it with a rifled slug barrel so the argument is moot.

I’ve got a cantilevered 12g rifled barrel and I gotta say accuracy was less than ideal, I tried 4-5 different brands of 12g sabots and nothing worked well enough that I wanted to hunt with it. I thought if I could get acceptable accuracy between 100-150m it would be a fun black bear set up but it was so bad at 50m i just stuck with my .308 or .303.
 
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Butcherbill said:
Yeah except they didn’t make any Wingmaster’s with this longer tube nor have I ever seen it with a rifled slug barrel so the argument is moot.

I’ve got a cantilevered 12g rifled barrel and I gotta say accuracy was less than ideal, I tried 4-5 different brands of 12g sabots and nothing worked well enough that I wanted to hunt with it. I thought if I could get acceptable accuracy between 100-150m it would be a fun black bear set up but it was so bad at 50m i just stuck with my .308 or .303.
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What receiver is your cantilever barrel on?

I ask this because I had mine on an express super mag and could put 3 shots touching, SSTs, at 75 yards. Then I put that barrel on a 1950s wingmaster receiver and my group was multiple feet. I got my hands on an Express magnum, put a thumbhole stock on it and the cantilever barrel, back to the tight group I got from my super magnum.

Gives me options now for the controlled hunt.

Crazy enough, I picked up a Lyman mold in 12ga and 20ga for slugs, the 12ga slug loaded in Fiocchi hulls I get a 4in group at 100 yards with a rifled barrel and 2in at 50 yards with the rifled tube super mag gun and clamp on iron sights.
 
Fox said:
What receiver is your cantilever barrel on?

I ask this because I had mine on an express super mag and could put 3 shots touching, SSTs, at 75 yards. Then I put that barrel on a 1950s wingmaster receiver and my group was multiple feet. I got my hands on an Express magnum, put a thumbhole stock on it and the cantilever barrel, back to the tight group I got from my super magnum.

Gives me options now for the controlled hunt.

Crazy enough, I picked up a Lyman mold in 12ga and 20ga for slugs, the 12ga slug loaded in Fiocchi hulls I get a 4in group at 100 yards with a rifled barrel and 2in at 50 yards with the rifled tube super mag gun and clamp on iron sights.
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I’ve had it on the 870 express mag it came with as well as a DA Grizzly 870 clone, I figure it’s picky with ammo. Would like to shoot some REM accutips through it but they haven’t been all that easy to find, not am I in an MU that I’m only allowed to shoot slugs for certain open seasons. Not a big deal but I’d like to find a load it’s shoots well, would be a fun bear gun.
 
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