Help me find the best 870 for me

[sides]

I'm pretty new to shotguns. Never owned one myself, but I've shot quite a few. I'm looking to buy an 870 with a shorter barrel and synthetic furniture, since a lot of my time spent with it will be in an ATV or some type of vehicle, while driving around hunting hogs and varmints. Other times I will be doing a little dove hunting and I want the option to swap out barrels and furniture if I so choose. I plan to put the Wilson Combat ghost ring set (front and rear) on the top, so I'm assuming it will need to be drilled and tapped. I'd like as high of a tube capacity as possible that allows me to still dove hunt and swap barrels. I'll be honest, I don't know a whole lot about chokes, but I'd like to be able to change chokes to allow myself to shoot a variety of ammunition, including slugs. So really, I'd like some suggestions as to what would be best for me. Hopefully someone can lead me in the right direction. Feel free to add things I need to consider before I buy. Thanks in advance for your help!

Link to Wilson Combat ghost ring set: http://shopwilsoncombat.com/Trak-Lock-I ... 2DTF%2D12/

Checklist:
Ability to shoot slugs, buckshot, and birdshot
Shorter Barrel
Ability to change barrels and furniture (I understand that most 870s allow this)
Ability to add Wilson Combat ghost ring (link above)
High magazine capacity, while being able to restrict capacity for hunting

[Kentactic]

It would seem any 870 with your desired capacity will work for you. The ghost ring sights are pretty terrible for shooting flying stuff though. Really its a step backwards for anything other then shooting slugs. But even then a single front sight will do just fine.

[Synchronizor]

I'm looking to buy an 870 with a shorter barrel and synthetic furniture, since a lot of my time spent with it will be in an ATV or some type of vehicle, while driving around hunting hogs and varmints. Other times I will be doing a little dove hunting and I want the option to swap out barrels and furniture if I so choose. I plan to put the Wilson Combat ghost ring set (front and rear) on the top, so I'm assuming it will need to be drilled and tapped. I'd like as high of a tube capacity as possible that allows me to still dove hunt and swap barrels. I'll be honest, I don't know a whole lot about chokes, but I'd like to be able to change chokes to allow myself to shoot a variety of ammunition, including slugs.

It sounds like a build with a standard magazine tube and a 20" or so barrel would fit you pretty well. You could put a +3 extension on that for a 7+1 or 8+1 capacity, depending on what extension you get and what shells you're using. If your local regulations require it, you always have the option of removing the magazine extension and putting the cap back on (with a magazine plug, if necessary).

Remington has a nice magnum Express model that comes with synthetic furniture and a 21" vent-rib Rem Choke barrel (click for details):

It comes with a turkey choke tube, but you can replace that with any other tube. You could hunt both varmints and birds with that vent-rib and the right choke. The receiver on that model is also drilled and tapped to let you install a rail if you want to use an optic or other sights (though rifle or ghost-ring sights aren't all that great for bird hunting). X-caliber has a good example of that here. He used a rail that mounts through the trigger group holes, but it's the same idea.

If you want to use multiple barrels, longer vent-rib barrels are pretty easy to find used. Or, you could just start with any synthetic 870 (or find a good deal on an 870 with wood furniture and a set of synthetic furniture to replace the wood) with a Rem Choke barrel suitable for one role, then buy a second Rem Choke barrel (and extension, if necessary) for the other role. You can also have any fixed-choke barrel threaded for interchangeable chokes for about $75-$100, plus the cost of the tubes.

If you're going to be switching, you might want to consider a barrel with both front & rear sights mounted on it for your shorter varmint/hog build:

This would let you switch between builds more quickly because you wouldn't have to remove and reinstall a receiver-mounted rear sight, and the sights would keep their zero when you take the barrel off.

Aside from a few special-purpose 870s that have longer- or shorter-than-normal mag tubes, any 12ga barrel can be installed on any 12ga receiver in combination with any 12ga magazine extension. Furniture can be mixed and matched as well (though some Super Magnum fore-ends are slightly different). Really, any magnum (3") 12ga 870 with a standard-length mag tube can be configured for whatever role you can envision. Getting one with a factory extension, or that is already drilled and tapped for a top rail would save you some time, but those can also be added to any other 870.

[Bastard File]

I have Wilson Combat (Scattergun Technologies) Trak-Lock sights on all my 870 HD guns, less those I own with factory rifle sights. I'd opt against them for wing shooting, but it can be accomplished. As for shooting slugs...depending on your required distance...you can get by with just a front sight, but a rear combined with front for me makes it really nice, especially @ 100 yards and beyond. I use Rem-Choke Improved Cylinder choke tubes exclusively in my HD guns as I feel they perform better for me when using shot of any size,primarily buckshot and slugs. The latest 870 I put together was a new 28" Express with nutmeg laminated furniture. I installed a 20" rifle sight barrel that was choked Improved Cylinder without tubes. I added a Wilson plus 1 extension w/sling stud, spring and follower...jumbo safety and had the barrels forcing cone lengthened. I also installed a sling stud in the stock as well. I plan to "knock" the new off of it this weekend.

[JeffCooper]

Id sure like to find that barrel, parked, without the rear sight...dang!


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