My amazing wife bought me my first shotgun for my 30th birthday. Now, it's nothing amazing, but to me it is pretty special. We don't have a ton of extra cash, as we just bought a house, but she has been saving for a while. I have an 870 with 28" vent rib barrel and a removable modified choke. I'm wondering what you guys would recommend for upgrades or add-ons given that I am getting into hunting for the first time. I am looking into a rifled deer barrel with iron sights. I am thinking of not going with a scope to keep costs down, or is this something you guys would recommend for this gun? I love a lot of experience with service rifles, but none with shotguns. Are any other accessories or modifications recommended to start out with? Thanks in advance for your input.
First Remington 870 Question
- Thread starter Jmassecar
- Start date
madtrapper143
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Steep Rock Lake NWO
Try your new 870 as is with some Federal 1 oz. slugs. You may find that out to 75 yards the bead and rib is all you need to put a slug into a deer's ribs. That would save a lot of cash for you. Fully rifled slug barrels work best with saboted slugs, these are very pricey and are OK for longer shots i.e.: 100 to 135 yards. I use and recommend the smooth bore rifle sighted slug barrel for the 870 if you decide to get one. It can handle 3" buckshot, birdshot and regular slugs well. That is something the rifled barrel cannot. A set of Uncle Mikes sling stud/swivels for the 870 would be nice too. Other than that you are good to go. Oh ya the Modified choke you have is a good all round choke.If turkeys are in your future it will be no problem buying an extra full turkey choke for your gun. Enjoy your new pump.
Darryl
Darryl
I bought a used 870 with a 20 inch smooth bore cylinder barrel and the 28 inch barrel as well today. My first 870. I thought the barrel was rifled when I bought it and was determined to sell or trade the extra barrel, but was very happy to find it smooth-bored when I got it home.
Mine is old enough to have the weird internal lock, so I will be replacing the safety. The only other upgrade I will be doing is getting the 20 inch barrel threaded and buying a ported exterior full choke for turkeys and buckshot.
Mine is old enough to have the weird internal lock, so I will be replacing the safety. The only other upgrade I will be doing is getting the 20 inch barrel threaded and buying a ported exterior full choke for turkeys and buckshot.
madtrapper143
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Steep Rock Lake NWO
Your Modified should work as good as any and probably better than Full.
Darryl
Darryl
For probably the same price of a barrel you can get a rail that is mounted on the receiver and a fairly budget shotgun scope. That's what I've been using for slug hunting deer for last 20 years. Can also get rifled choke tubs but I've never tried one myself. A scope and find the slugs that your gun likes will will put lots of deer in the freezer.
"Fully rifled slug barrels work best with saboted slugs, these are very pricey and are OK for longer shots i.e.: 100 to 135 yards."
Have you priced out saboted slugs. Expect to pay 15 bucks for 5. Gets expensive quick. My rifled barrel comes with cantilevered scope mount, makes sense for that +100m shot.
Have you priced out saboted slugs. Expect to pay 15 bucks for 5. Gets expensive quick. My rifled barrel comes with cantilevered scope mount, makes sense for that +100m shot.
Any gun is special if it's special to you. I personally love 870s and it would be impossible to guess how many rounds I've fired through mine. My most recent shotgun purchase was another 870, a 12ga. "police" model to use as a platform for everything. I have 3 barrels for it, the rifle-sighted smooth-bore one that came with the gun, a 28" VR/Remchoke for clays/grouse, and a 21" VR/Remchoke turkey barrel. For everything I have into this gun, I could have bought something higher-end I guess, but the 870 got the nod. I'm very fond of them. To your question....
It sounds like you have an Express, and they're solid performers for the money. Period. First thing to do is clean (I include taking the choke tube out and cleaning separately, and cleaning the internal threads in the barrel) the gun, and familiarize yourself with the disassembly. Lots on YouTube. Not complicated at all. Keep the gun clean, and all metal surfaces with a thin film of oil. Express finishes will corrode if left wet, so if the gun takes a bath in the rain...or you suspect the internals are wet...total tear-down, wipe-off/out, air dry, re-lube, re-assemble. It will last forever with this small amount of TLC. An 870 tear-down takes me about 2 minutes if I'm REALLY taking my time, and that's only if I drop the trigger group out.
As for the slugs/deer~lots said already about that. Good advice.
Spare parts~if it's an Express, you may decide to upgrade the extractor if you anticipate the gun will see allot of hard use. I've never had an Express extractor fail, but an upgrade to a good one (non-MIM) would be an inexpensive thing to do. I wouldn't consider it a priority...but a good idea when funds allow. Other than that, I'd say get one of those $8 plastic clay throwers, some Winchester white box #7-1/2 shells, find a good place to shoot and find someone willing to lob clays for you. Practice practice practice on moving targets...and it's tons of fun. If you find the spent shells jam in the chamber, hit YouTube again and search "polishing an 870 chamber"...lots of good/easy/cheap methods of doing it. If you find your gun needs this, I'd be happy to send you what you need.
Good luck, have fun, and enjoy your new 870. You're a lucky man to have a wife who'll buy you a gun!
It sounds like you have an Express, and they're solid performers for the money. Period. First thing to do is clean (I include taking the choke tube out and cleaning separately, and cleaning the internal threads in the barrel) the gun, and familiarize yourself with the disassembly. Lots on YouTube. Not complicated at all. Keep the gun clean, and all metal surfaces with a thin film of oil. Express finishes will corrode if left wet, so if the gun takes a bath in the rain...or you suspect the internals are wet...total tear-down, wipe-off/out, air dry, re-lube, re-assemble. It will last forever with this small amount of TLC. An 870 tear-down takes me about 2 minutes if I'm REALLY taking my time, and that's only if I drop the trigger group out.
As for the slugs/deer~lots said already about that. Good advice.
Spare parts~if it's an Express, you may decide to upgrade the extractor if you anticipate the gun will see allot of hard use. I've never had an Express extractor fail, but an upgrade to a good one (non-MIM) would be an inexpensive thing to do. I wouldn't consider it a priority...but a good idea when funds allow. Other than that, I'd say get one of those $8 plastic clay throwers, some Winchester white box #7-1/2 shells, find a good place to shoot and find someone willing to lob clays for you. Practice practice practice on moving targets...and it's tons of fun. If you find the spent shells jam in the chamber, hit YouTube again and search "polishing an 870 chamber"...lots of good/easy/cheap methods of doing it. If you find your gun needs this, I'd be happy to send you what you need.
Good luck, have fun, and enjoy your new 870. You're a lucky man to have a wife who'll buy you a gun!
Thanks very much. Some very solid advice by all. I might go look for some land nearby to practice. Heck of a lot cheaper than getting a membership to an outdoor range, which I may do in the future.
A brand new 870 will possibly be a bit less than smooth cycling, but will improve (as you improve) with some rounds down range. I have a jumbo safety button on mine as I find the stock button a bit small, and sometimes tough to press with gloves. I had my mag spring double back on itself once as well, and added a bright colored plastic follower with a short tail on it which tracks more smoothly in the tube and supposedly helps keep the spring from twisting. The problem never recurred, can't say whether the follower gets the credit, or if I had a fluke issue that wouldn't have happened again regardless. Your shoulder will appreciate a nice stretchy padded sling when carrying the gun slung for any amount of time/distance. As previously mentioned, rain/condensation can quickly turn to corrosion especially in the vent rib gaps which are hard to wipe out. Keep a tin of Sheath spray (or Remoil or WD40) in your hunting kit to give the gun a spritz when you come in out of the rain, or out of the cold. Congrats on the gun and the wife!
My 870 must have about twenty thousand rounds through it and it's still going strong. My son bought one maybe ten years back and it's a champ as well and he really abuses his shotgun. They really are a great shotgun.
Just use it the way your wife bought for you, gifts like that from the lady's are sweeter as time goes on.
Later on down the road you can always pick up another one for tricking out or making tactical.
For me and my opinion heavy modifying of a gift from a friend takes away something from the gift but that's just me everybody is different.
Take reasonable care of it and 20-25 years down the road it'll still be going strong and you'll probably have a good nick name for it by then. A few years back I renamed mine buttery-smooth
Just use it the way your wife bought for you, gifts like that from the lady's are sweeter as time goes on.
Later on down the road you can always pick up another one for tricking out or making tactical.
For me and my opinion heavy modifying of a gift from a friend takes away something from the gift but that's just me everybody is different.
Take reasonable care of it and 20-25 years down the road it'll still be going strong and you'll probably have a good nick name for it by then. A few years back I renamed mine buttery-smooth
