870 barrel?

[snapper1d]

I have an old Wingmaster 3" mag somewhere around a 1960-65 year model.I was looking at the new Mossberg rifled slug barrels with scope that Walmart has.I was reading the reviews and most all of them are great but only one had a bad review and that guy says the barrels wont fit an older 870.He also says he contacted Remington and they said his gun has a problem.This gun I have owned for 48 years and have never even looked at an Express so What I am wondering is if all the barrels will interchange.Come to think of it I have never even shot nor handled another shotgun other than mine since my dad gave this one to me 48 years ago.Does that mean I am a die hard 870 man or an 870 addict?

[Synchronizor]

All standard 870s of the same gauge have fully interchangeable barrels, even if the chamber size doesn't match the receiver (though you'll be limited to shell lengths that the receiver and barrel are designed for). There are some specialized 870 variants that require special barrels (which may be what that one reviewer had), but anything from the 1960s should be built on a standard receiver, and will accept any standard barrel.

If you're in the market for one, Remington offers (for the 12ga, at least) a whole range of different rifled slug barrels with various lengths, wall thicknesses, and sight options, and there are a few from other aftermarket companies as well. I haven't really heard bad things about the Mossberg barrels, but it bugs me that they (and some other aftermarket manufacturers) port their barrels. Porting makes barrels look vaguely high-tech, and lets them list another meaningless selling point on the package (and as far as I know, doesn't actually hurt performance), but that's about it. It's just a really dumb and pointless thing to do to a shotgun, where gas pressures are too low and free recoil is too high for the concept to have any meaningful effect, and it doesn't suggest good things about the design priorities of the manufacturer.

[snapper1d]

Thanks,thats exactly what I wanted to know!

[woodstock]

After reading your post I changed out the barrels between a 1978 WM and a 2013 exp.
Did not shoot them, but they fit.