New Member/Owner with some questions

[johns048]

Hey Guys,

I'm a new member from MA, and this is also my first shotgun. Purchased it used, and having no prior experience, I have some questions around what exactly I have here. I purchased the 870 primarily for hunting waterfowl, but as you can see, it also came with this rifled barrel. As I understand, the rifled barrel is used for slugs, but can it also be used for bird/deer shot? Any other information on what I have here (excluding the 686) would be great. Thanks.

[Synchronizor]

Though you probably don't want to do it a lot, it's generally safe to fire shot (especially lead shot in a modern cup-style wad) through a rifled shotgun barrel. However, the rifling will tend to spin the shot, resulting in a very wide, sometimes donut-shaped pattern that isn't really good for much. Best to keep that a dedicated slug barrel, and get another smoothbore barrel if you want something short for home defense or turkey hunting.

This video shows how birdshot and buckshot patterns from smoothbore & rifled barrels (just don't listen to anything the guy says, it's all really bad advice).

[johns048]

Took my 870 out to shoot some skeet yesterday. What a great gun, I was hitting probably about 80%. But my tube capacity is limited to two shells. It looks like there was an orange plug in the tube. Any pointers as to how I might remove the plug?

[AZCardinalsfan]

I would suggest learning to disassemble and clean the shotgun, including removal and installation of the magazine retainer (either the ball detent type, or the ratchet type). You should be able to find multiple videos on YouTube regarding removing this part. I would try to explain the process here, but watching it is so much easier. It's really easy to do, once you know how. Especially if you have the ratchet type. Once you take out the retainer, you can just turn your magazine tube straight down, and the magazine spring, any plug that might be in there and the magazine follower will fall right out. On a side note, I love your 870 686 combo. I'm currently keeping an eye out for a 4" 586 or 686 -4 or earlier. Good to have have you here, also.

[Synchronizor]

I've uploaded an 870 disassembly/reassembly video that includes magazine plugs and both types of spring retainers.