Remmington 870 Wing Master

[Indyerick]

Hello everyone,

I just bought my first what I think is nice Shot Gun. So I have talked to several people that state that I cannot shoot slug rounds out of this gun because of the barrel it has. However they state that I could but riffeled shots to shoot. Does anyone have any recoomendations?

 

[Arthur Dent]

As far as I know it's just a really pretty 870. Swap barrels to a rifled one for shooting sabots or use the smooth bore with whichever recommended choke for rifled slugs.

 

[Zoub]

List exactly what barrel you have on your gun. In general you can shoot standard Foster style slugs through any smooth bore barrel up to and including Full choke, not through anything tighter than Full.

 

[IncendiaryGunner]

There are a few common "types" of slugs....

Shotgun barrels can have a smooth or rifled bore - and the choke details how restricted the barrel is. If you are shooting birdshot or buckshot, different chokes would lead to different shot patterns. As far as shooting slugs, you just need to ensure that your choke is "big enough" for the slug to pass through without damaging your shotgun. Most shotguns can fire slugs, minus shotguns with too "tight" of a choke.

The general rule of thumb, is if a shotgun has a large enough choke - fire rifled slugs through a smooth bore, or sabot slugs through a rifled bore.

While you could fire sabot slugs through a smooth bore - they are more expensive slugs, and you will not gain accuracy doing so (you will lose it compared to rifled slugs in some cases). While you could fire rifled slugs through a rifled bore, they will not be as accurate as sabot slugs, which is the benefit of having a rifled bore.

As Zoub has noted, your barrel should have the size of the choke listed on the side. If you post that, we can help you make sure you are good to go.

The Wingmasters often have a much nicer finish than economy 870's. If you got a good specimen for a decent price, you will likely be happy with a shotgun that will last your lifetime - considering you take care of it.

I have had luck with Remington Slugger rifled slugs, and also Truball rifled slugs out of full sized 870's. There are a ton of other brands that I am sure make fine slugs. Every shotgun is to some degree different - so it would not hurt to get a few different types and see which type yields the best accuracy for you, in your shotgun.

 

[PGRChaplain]

The W/M is a great gun! Look on Gunbroker and ebay for Slug barrel's.

 

[Claddagh]

My LH 870 Wingmaster 'Deer' came with a smoothbore barrel with rifle sights and two Rem Choke tubes: one IC and one rifled. Takes about one minute to change them out.

With the rifled tube it'll deliver 3 rds of most sabot-type slugs into 2 - 3" at 50 yds with the factory irons and my old eyes. Foster-type slugs and the IC tube will run somewhere between 2 1/2 to 5" depending on brand.

Although my 870 has the 'Magnum' action and will accept 3" loads, I stick with 2 3/4" shells because shooting more than a handfull of 3" slugs from the bench leaves my arthritic shoulder with pretty severe pain and very limited range of motion for at least a couple or three days afterwards. Replacing the factory butt pad with a drop-on Kick-Eez unit helps some, but IMO even shooting offhand instead of from a bench it still ain't much fun. YMMV.

When CDNN was running a closeout sale several years back, I was able to add both 24" and 26" VR LH barrels for about $98 each, plus S&H. Both also are Remchoke equipped and have 3" chambers. It only takes a couple of minutes to change a barrel out and turn it into a good upland game or clay shooting shotgun.

I keep a few boxes of 2 3/4" LE-type 'reduced recoil' 00 and #4 buckshot loads handy for HD duty. Only wish that I could locate a plain LH 18-to-20" barrel for that tasking. I have a Remington +2 mag extension I'd attach with it and would slap an XS Big Dot tritium sight over the factory front bead.

IMHO, an 870 makes it easy and relatively inexpensive to cover a whole lot of bases with just one basic weapon platform without breaking the family budget. To me, that was the real deal maker. Again OMMV.