Iron sights for my 870?

[JSTICFRALL]

My wonderful girlfriend bought me a brand new Remington 870 Express for Christmas this year and I'm starting to look for some upgrades. It came with just a bead at the end of the barrel but I'd like to upgrade it to a set of iron sights. I'm not really interested in putting any kind of optic (RDS) or anything like that on there, so having a rail installed isn't important to me. I found these Trijicon ghost ring sights ( http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=109166&cm_mmc=Froogle-_-Gunsmithing%20-%20Gun%20Sights%20%28Metallic%29-_-PriceCompListing-_-109166 ) on Midway that are more or less what I'm looking for, however since I'm new to the 870, I wasn't sure if there was anything better/more affordable that you guys knew about. And in case it matters, I'm setting the shotgun up for home defense.

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

I am running thouse sight on my shotgun their great. If you look through the brownells cataloge their are some more options as well.

[The Cat]

First off, kudos to the cool girlfriend :) Second, great question - I'm wanting to solve that particular sight conundrum myself.

[ChicagoTex]

Is your receiver already tapped for ghost rings?

If not, you'll have to do it yourself or send it in to a gun shop.

This is why my compromise with my express was to get a rifle sighted barrel (where both the rear and front sight are on the barrel). I'd prefer Ghost Rings, but can't lay out that kind of cash right now.

[KCabbage]

The Triji's are nice. They're basically the same as the Scattergun Technologies but cheaper. MMC also makes shotgun sights.

[JSTICFRALL]

Is your receiver already tapped for ghost rings?

Unfortunately it's not. I figured if I got that set-up I'd just take it to the smith and have it drilled and tapped. I do have a drill press and a tap set though...

[ChicagoTex]

Unfortunately it's not. I figured if I got that set-up I'd just take it to the smith and have it drilled and tapped. I do have a drill press and a tap set though...

Ah, well then, sounds good. I was just making sure you weren't under the impression that they were drop-in.

FWIW, I'm not a fan of that style of ghost ring. I'm more comfortable with wide, eared, fully-adjustable rigs like LPA or Vang-Comp (although those are, unsurprisingly, quite a bit more expensive).

[KCabbage]

Unfortunately it's not. I figured if I got that set-up I'd just take it to the smith and have it drilled and tapped. I do have a drill press and a tap set though...

Go for it brother. It's pretty easy work and it doesn't take to long at all. The supplied adhesive came off pretty easy so I used some Loctite Weld the second time and it's still solid.

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

For what its worth the front sight on the Trijicons just glues over the front beed.

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn119/ICANHITHIMMAN/00110.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn119/ICANHITHIMMAN/0028.jpg

BANG BANG

[dwenslen]

Not a complete iron sight, but I put a xs big dot on the front of my 870 and it has worked well. Just glue (or jb weld) over the front bead.

[Race]

For what its worth the front sight on the Trijicons just glues over the front beed.


Does it hold up well against knocks on the front sight? On my old ST 870, I had Hans Vang drill and pin the front sight, but maybe there was nothing under it for the pin to go through.

What about fitting this front sight on one that has the Remington factory front rifle sight? How would you go about that? I'm thinking it would have to be pulled off, somehow?

[The Rat]

For what it's worth, the Trijicon front sight on mine flew off when it was only put on with the epoxy. It was put on by some backwoods gunsmith when I was stationed in Georgia.

I had a local gunsmith here in Colorado put it back on, and he suggested not only doing the epoxy, but also putting a roll pin through it, since it sat on top of the raised portion on the barrel where the brass bead used to be. He said this would be better than welding or silver soldering since the heat from either of those would damage the tritium vial.

Don't think it's going anywhere now.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v495/rupert42/Guns/shotgun7.jpg

[JSTICFRALL]

Looks good! The roll pin idea makes sense. The idea of just using an adhesive sounded a little iffy.

[Race]

For what it's worth, the Trijicon front sight on mine flew off when it was only put on with the epoxy. It was put on by some backwoods gunsmith when I was stationed in Georgia.

I had a local gunsmith here in Colorado put it back on, and he suggested not only doing the epoxy, but also putting a roll pin through it, since it sat on top of the raised portion on the barrel where the brass bead used to be. He said this would be better than welding or silver soldering since the heat from either of those would damage the tritium vial.

Don't think it's going anywhere now.


That's what I had done to mine. I didn't trust epoxy.

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

no mine has never moved I like the pin idea.