Under the heading of trying to set a good example, I thought I'd start a thread chronicling my 870 project and the why's and how's of the choices I make as I move forward with this.
Years ago I had an 870P police-turn-in shotgun. I bought it, and had it re-parkerized, for $250 in the last '90s. It had wood furniture and an 18" barrel with bead front sight. I added a one-shot extension to it and rarely shot it but at $250 invested it was the gun that didn't live in the safe. Eventually this bit me in the ass as it got stolen (and in hindsight teaching me a valuable lesson about leaving guns out that could be used against you). I never really had much use for a shotgun but have always felt like I should have one, and have wanted to take a couple-three shotgun classes so I might as well own one rather than borrow one.
I put feelers out to a few dealers earlier this year and finally got a hit from one down in Miami with some police trade-in guns. I went down, cherry picked my favorite, and when they came up for sale I went and bought it. I *think* it's an 18" barrel with rifle sights and polymer furniture, but the picture below seems to be playing an optical delusion making it look like a 20". I ordered a NIB 18" rifle sighted barrel and a new firing pin from Remington direct just to be safe, so we'll know soon enough (package arrives here tomorrow). If the barrel on the gun is a 20" I already have a buyer for it, if it's an 18" I may just go ahead and install the new barrel anyway along with the firing pin just to be overly cautious. Haven't decided yet.
Along with the gun I picked up a set of used wood furniture. I will readily admit that this is, to some extent, and exercise in aesthetics. There's just something *right* about an 870 with wood furniture. Plus, it's easier to cut down to length than the polymer so that's a win/win IMO.
I intend to get the gun refinished, just like the last one, but this time with Cerakote in a parkerized-grey type of color. Depending on if I stick with the current barrel or the new barrel I may or may not have that part refinished as well.
Modificationss to start with will be extremely limited. I'll add another 1-shot extension like the old one to start with, probably a sling (simply because it seems like it should have one), cut down the wood stocks, get it refinished, and try to get signed up for a Randy Cain shotgun class. Ultimately I'd like to take Cain, Awerbuck, and Haught shotgun classes, probably in that order. I also plan to try to shoot some shotgun and/or 3-gun matches just to get some trigger time with the thing.
so, this is the "new" gun. pretty beat in a lot of areas, but I test fired it for two tubes worth of low-brass birdshot on Saturday and it went bang all 8 times so at least it appears to be functional.
I will update this thread as progress continues, to include snapping a picture tomorrow of the current barrel next to the incoming NIB barrel.
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