Tactical Recommendations & Questions

AJCrowley

AJCrowley

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Hey all,

I've tried to do some reading before posting, so while I'm sure some of these questions will have been asked a few times before, I'm hoping there's not some idiot that comes in and asks the same questions every few days, and it's just my turn to be the idiot.

Anyway, I've got a pretty bad want on for a tactical shotgun, but being a working man on a working man's budget with a severe shortage of storage space, I want something that does it all (ie tactical, skeet, possibly duck hunting).

At the moment, I've got it narrowed down to 2 shotguns - the Remington 870 Tactical, and the Mossberg 590A1 SPX. I like the look, size, and high capacity magazines. I've heard that there's not really much between these guns, and it's largely down to a matter of personal preference. I like the ghost ring sight and bayonet on the Mossberg, so I'm probably leaning more towards that. They also both seem to have a great range of accessories available, and I'd like to put a folding or Knoxx tactical stock on.

First of all, will an 18.5-20" barrel be useful for hunting or skeet, or is it useful only for tactical applications?

Secondly, I've been unable to find out if either of these guns will accept screw in chokes, which may be a moot point if they're going to be useless for skeet or shooting ducks. If they don't come ready to accept different chokes as stock, is it just a matter of getting a gunsmith to tap the barrel?

Aside from those two questions, I'd really love to hear peoples' feedback, advice, and general tips on the best way to go with this.

Thanks!
 
I'm not an expert or anything but I completely understand your situation and wanted to share my opinion it case it might help...

Like you said, between Remington and Mossberg is pretty much just personal preference as they are both proven gun, and both have loads of afthermarket if you want some.

An 18-20" barrel can probably do all you want with enough practice. lots of people will disagree on that one, but personally I seen SOME people shoot better with those than SOME people with more traditional lenght of barrel for hunting or skeet. The way I see it, if you shoot what you have well it will work anyway, but it is a compromise.

Some of the 870 tactical are ready for chokes. I don't think the 590A1 does, and you will need that for hunthing without a doubt. Depending on the thickness of the barrel it could be done by a smith and I believe Mossberg have rather thick barrel.

If your are looking to do skeet and hunting more than the tactical stuff, you might want to compromise more on the tactical side... If a semi is an option you would consider, Remington has a Tactical 1100 22" ready for chokes that might be worth lookin at (Wanstaal, one of the sponsor, list them for a good price - link = http://www.wanstallsonline.com/product.php?productid=18&cat=0&page=).

of course, take all I said with a grain of salt, but I hope it helps.
 
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If you want a do it all shotgun, either of these models are easily customizable into a tactical night elf mohawk wonder :p. At the same time, both models can easily be used for all hunting applications as well as trap/skeet/clayshooting. IMO the best way to make it a truly do all gun would be to get a short "tactical" barrel for your crap blasting fun, and a longer barrel for hunting and skeet.

I personally have experience with the 870 and none with the mossy's but i'd imagine this info will be roughly the same. The 870 barrels can be had on the EE and you can either buy your shotgun in a more hunting configuration i.e stock gun, longer barrel. The new 870's come with 28" vented rib barrels that accept remchokes. From here you can buy all the tactical accessories plus the short barrel you want and then just swap the barrels out depending on what you doing on any given outing. Barrel swaps on these shotguns are a 30 second procedure so its not hard to make them a do all gun.
 
I bought an 870 desert recon and love it. I shoot skeets with it. Chokes can be screwed in. I use it for screwing around, shooting slugs and buckshot. I can't comment on hunting because I will never shoot ducks with it. Its not because of the the gun, its that I will never use the meat.
 
My preference is the 590 for it's tang mounted safety, rear positioned slide release, and screw secured ejector. You can shoot at clay birds with anything, but if you wish to participate in organized trap, skeet, of shooting clays events, you should have a sporting shotgun, not a militarized shotgun. Again with hunting, shooting waterfowl with a rifle sighted, open choked shotgun leaves something to be desired.

IMHO, your best bet for versatility is an 870 with a pair of barrels; one between 26" and 28" with a bead, preferably on a pedestal, with screw in chokes, and the other a plain cylinder bore barrel that can have a post front sight attached. Install a ghost ring rear sight to the 870's receiver in such a way that it can be removed as required. From this point you can purchase other tacti-cool stuff as you can afford it.

The Mossberg 500s can also provide you with affordable versatility, but I'm personally turned off by magazines that cannot be fully accessed.
 
Remington 870 Express Tactical, it has all the features you are looking for, it looks cool and has screwin chokes. Barrel lenght isn't really important for hunting or skeet or whatever as much as the right size choke. It also comes with ghost ring sights and a rail on the reciever for optics.

870-Express-Tactical-81198-prod.ashx


You want one. If you buy a standard model and than install all the extra things already on this gun it will cost you alot more.

The only thing you would have to buy to make this gun more versital is a set of chokes and a sling. A sling on a long gun is like a holster for a hand gun.
 
P12 said:
You want one.
Click to expand...

I do believe that you are correct.

There was a Mossberg 590 in EE that I had my eye on, but this seems like a better bet. I'm assuming it's compatible with other Rem 870 barrels too, if I ever wanted to put a longer barrel on it for any reason.

Side note - one thing I like about the Mossberg over the Remington is that it takes an M9 bayonet. Would modding the Remington for a bayonet be a big deal, or a fairly trivial matter?
 
Yes, you can swap barrels, anything from 12.5" and up, the longest Remingtom barrel is 30". But instead of spending money that, get the barrel Vang Comped, can be done here www.tacord.com/vangcomp.htm it will tighten the pattern when using buckshot and reduce recoil, if you want to reduce recoil even further install a Knoxx SpecOps recoil reducinig stock.
 
P12 said:
Yes, you can swap barrels, anything from 12.5" and up, the longest Remingtom barrel is 30". But instead of spending money that, get the barrel Vang Comped, can be done here www.tacord.com/vangcomp.htm it will tighten the pattern when using buckshot and reduce recoil, if you want to reduce recoil even further install a Knoxx SpecOps recoil reducinig stock.
Click to expand...
Very cool, any idea how much that mod would cost?

In regard to the bayonet question, S&J manufacture the extension clamps with bayonet lugs, and sell them at a pretty reasonable price.
 
I'm not sure how much it costs, better call TacOrd to find out, if it turns out to be more than you can afford right now, save up and get it later, its worth it.

S&J bayonet lug, go for it, its a very solid design, you should also get a barrel clamp to go at the end of the barrel and magazine tube to keep it from being twisted too much in case you get the bayonet stuck in something.

Something like this, also from S&J, and it has a light mount which can be very usefull and makes the gun even more versitile.

modc870_1.jpg


Try to avoid cheap lights, they will break under recoil, I would know I broke a few trying to save money and in the end it costs more than to buy a good light first. Go with a quality LED light like a SureFire, Fenix or something similar.
 
Well, some #### hit my car in a parking lot and was kind enough to scarper without leaving a note or anything. $500 insurance deductible = bye bye for now shotgun :(
 
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