I'm a little confused here. I have just taken the step and bought two wingmasters one which is a magnum and the other which is a 2 3/4. I took them apart last night to find the differences and they look exactly the same. The only difference I could see is the wording on the reciever. I was wondering if there is strength differences between the two guns. I know from machining you can get different strengths of steel, but that shouldn't make a difference as the barrel holds the explosion. I have observed both guns vary carfully and the only difference is that the barrel is only chambered for 2 3/4.
Whats the difference between a remington wingmaster and wingmaster magnum
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So does that mean that I can use 3 inch shells in a 2.75 reciever. The other question is does the 2.75 barrel take a 3 inch shell because I can put a 3.5 shell all the way into the chmaber. These may sound like stupid questions, but i'm really curious as i now can observe both guns in person side by side.
Shotgun shells are measured before they are fired. A 2 3/4 in shell is actually 2 1/2 until fired. The folded crimp opens up to the length of 2 3/4. What happens is the gun is chambered for this extended length. A 3 inch shell is therefore only 2 3/4 before being fired but opens up to 3 inches. If placed in a 2 3/4 gun, of course it will fit, but when fired, the crimped area if forced to open within the forcing cone- the constricted area at the front of the chamber. When this happens the shell cannot open fully and the restricted area causes pressures to rise- the amount dependant on the constriction and load, but an unwelcome condition. I do not know if it is advisable to place the 3inch mag barrel on the standard reciever- best email the Remington Tech section and ask for their recommendation. I am confident the reply will be of interest to all. Good Luck
I'm pretty sure the extraction hole on the Magnum is longer. allowing the empty 3" shells room to get out. the feed area is probably different too.
by putting the 3" barrel on the 2.75" receiver, I don't think you'd have any safty issues. but you'd probably end up with feeding / extraction issues. not being able to handle the longer shells. but don't take my word on that.
as above. never never load longer shells into a barrel. as posted above they might fit before fired, but they won't have the room to open up. causing the barrel to blow up from the pressure.
by putting the 3" barrel on the 2.75" receiver, I don't think you'd have any safty issues. but you'd probably end up with feeding / extraction issues. not being able to handle the longer shells. but don't take my word on that.
as above. never never load longer shells into a barrel. as posted above they might fit before fired, but they won't have the room to open up. causing the barrel to blow up from the pressure.
I was curious and tried shooting out of a 2.75 reciever with a 3 inch barrel and they aextract fine. I took all the components out and literly compared everything with both guns. The only difference is that the writing on the out side of the reciever. Should I continue to use it as a 3 inch as it functions flawlessly with 3 inch shells. Or should I try and shooot only 2.75 inch shells.
Craftsman 441
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Depends if they're your guns...
I'm not a gunsmith, so take this with a grain of salt, I have a book around here somewhere on shotgun gunsmithing and IIRC you can use a 3" barrel on a standard receiver. On some models it is neccessary to open up the ejection port, but I don't believe that this is the case with the 870.
Like I said, I'm no 'smith, so check with one first before doing this. Some brands of shotguns have different sizes of receivers for the 2 3/4 and 3", such as Ithaca 37's, so the above is definately not applicable to all guns.
ETA: If you look at the parts section of a Brownells catalog you will see that the receiver components are the same for all 870's except for the Super Magnum.
Like I said, I'm no 'smith, so check with one first before doing this. Some brands of shotguns have different sizes of receivers for the 2 3/4 and 3", such as Ithaca 37's, so the above is definately not applicable to all guns.
ETA: If you look at the parts section of a Brownells catalog you will see that the receiver components are the same for all 870's except for the Super Magnum.
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I recently got a used non magnum Wingmaster but the ejector had been replaced. I compared it with the length of the ejector on my Magnum 870 and it is the same (2 3/4")
It looks like who ever changed the ejector replaced it with a magnum length to allow for proper ejection of 3" shells.
It looks like who ever changed the ejector replaced it with a magnum length to allow for proper ejection of 3" shells.
JohnC
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
The only difference between the 2 3/4" Remington receiver and the 3" is that the ejector (the little hump inside the receiver on the left side that the shell base hits on the way back when you're ejecting ) is positioned a little further back on the 3" model. All other parts, port openings etc are the same , and to my knowledge Remington doesn't even sell the 2 3/4 inch ejector any more. You can put a 3 " barrel on a 2/3/4" receiver and have no safety issues with 3 inch shells - you may at times run into ejection hangups, but not normally if you don't try to go too fast. The ejector can be swapped but it requires removing and replacing a rivet on the left side of the receiver.
