Converting hd/tactical shotgun into all use gun

[Winter]

Hey guys, I tend to lurk more than I post but I know you guys will help me out.
I currently have an 870 with a Mesa Tactical stock, Speedfeed forend, heavy police springs mesa side saddle and a refinishing and re vamping by J.D at AI&P tactical. I like the idea behind a tactical/hd weapon but I don't like not being able to hit much past maybe 20yds if not using slugs.

I have a new barrel on it with rifle sights and the word mod stamped into the side of it, I don't know wether or not to have my 18.5"barrel cut for chokes or upgrade to maybe a twenty or twenty two inch that is cut for chokes. I slap plan on throwing a different stock on I it as well. So sell the barrel and get a new one or have mine cut? I feel like upgrading because I'm worried about the ballistics of of the shorter one compared to one a bit longer.

Thanks "

[300WM]

If you don't need to use the money from selling the barrel to make the new purchase, get a new barrel and keep the one you have. You don't even need to limit yourself to a 20 or 22". Just according to what you want and what you want to do with it. You will like the versatility of having two barrels.

[Winter]

So if I did that, what length should I run with? If I can afford two barrels I will but I'm not sure.
Thanks

[300WM]

Well, you have a tactical (18.5) length, now. What do you want the "all around" part to do. With an 870 (I assume it is an Express) you can put a rifled deer barrel (22") on and shoot sabots. The Accutip sabots are very accurate. You can go with a longer, interchangeable choke barrel for foul hunting and skeet shooting, but you can do that with the barrel you have, it just may not be as practical, and, you can shoot rifled slugs through it. It really comes down to what you want the "all around" to be.

[300WM]

My son hunts in two different parks in Florida and they only allow shotgun slugs, so we just went through the painstaking effort of finding a rifled barrel for a Win. 1300 speed pump.

[TommyG]

I have a very similar setup (870 Express, mesa low tube kit, wilson/scattergun side saddle and mag extension and spring).

It is so easy to swap barrels with an 870, unless you are hurting for the cash I'd keep yours and buy extras. I have an 18" for HD, vent rib bird barrel and seveal chokes for turkeys, etc., and a slug barrel with the cantilever mount and a red dot sight to use for hunting in the brush in deer season.

It only takes a minute to swap set ups and you can carry everything in one bag/case for a very flexible set up.

[Winter]

I think I'm going to keep my eye open for an extra barrel, I want to be able to shoot clays possibly both skeet and trap as well as plinking (mainly plinking). I have also been seriously contemplating casting my own slugs for some affordable slug shooting.

[broylz]

depending on what you want to do, what you have may be fine. i have a mossberg 535 turkey gun with a 20" barrel with a vent rib, fiber optic rifle sights and choke tubes. i shoot trap and skeet with it as well as turkey hunt and its a HD weapon staged in the corner. the only barrel i may add would be a slug barrel to hunt bigger game with it further out. so far ive shot rifled slugs out to 50 yards with it and all with a modified choke tube minus the turkey shooting with a XX-full.

my build idea in the past was to get an 8-shot mossberg and thread it for tubes to do the same with a few more rounds on tap.

[Winter]

depending on what you want to do, what you have may be fine. i have a mossberg 535 turkey gun with a 20" barrel with a vent rib, fiber optic rifle sights and choke tubes. i shoot trap and skeet with it as well as turkey hunt and its a HD weapon staged in the corner. the only barrel i may add would be a slug barrel to hunt bigger game with it further out. so far ive shot rifled slugs out to 50 yards with it and all with a modified choke tube minus the turkey shooting with a XX-full.

my build idea in the past was to get an 8-shot mossberg and thread it for tubes to do the same with a few more rounds on tap.


How does yours shoot with the twenty inch barrel? Hows the grouping when shooting past say thirty yards and with skeet and trap?