Hello from South Africa

[PeaceOfficer]

Greetings all and thanks for having me on this forum.

I'm PeaceOfficer and I'm from Johannesburg, South Africa.

Stumbled across this site when I was doing a bit of research on 870's. There's a wealth of info here which has been very useful so I thought I'd join up.

I don't own any shotguns at present but that might change very soon. I have my eye on a Wingmaster; waiting for a few things to play out before I make a decision. I'm torn between the threaded barrel and screw-in chokes of the Express models and the general 'awesomeness' of the Wingmasters. Bit of a tough call so reading up to help me make the best decision.

Whichever way I go I'm going to Magpul the heck out of it. Because who doesn't like Magpul

Anyhoo, I'm off to trawl this site in the aims of furthering my knowledge.

Later

[YankeeZulu]

Welcome. I lived in Western Cape for a while. Other than your draconian gun laws, I love it there. Probably headed back next year. Have fun w/the site. Lots of really helpful and pleasant "okes" in here.

[PeaceOfficer]

Thanks YZ

[Synchronizor]

Wingmasters have interchangeable chokes just like Expresses, unless you're looking at older used Wingmasters.

[PeaceOfficer]

Thanks - I was uncertain about that and couldn't seem to find much on the net about it other than a Wikipedia entry.

When you say older, how much older are you talking about?

When I next talk to the seller I'll ask him for the serial number so that I can try and date the shotgun.

[Synchronizor]

Wikipedia's article on the 870 is not very good. Besides just not being very informative, it actually gets a lot of facts wrong.

Most Wingmasters made since the mid-1980s should be set up for interchangeable choke tubes. You may run into an occasional fixed-choke Wingmaster slug or clays barrel that was still made with a fixed choke after Remington introduced the Rem Choke system, but the barrels for most Wingmasters were switched over to Rem Chokes pretty quick.

[PeaceOfficer]

Ah, cool beans. That clears up a lot of it for me.

[PeaceOfficer]

If I could just ask another question, would these mid-80's and up barrels be chambered for 3" shells too?

[Synchronizor]

I think Remington was still making non-magnum (2.75" or shorter shells only) Wingmasters alongside magnum (3" & shorter) ones back in the 1980s - possibly even later. In any case, it's not too difficult to identify whether or not an older 870 is capable of using magnums.

First off, be aware that all standard 12ga 870 barrels & receivers are interchangeable regardless of the shell lengths they're designed for. With used guns, you can run into mis-matches. So the first thing you need to check is the engraving on the barrel; never use any shells that are longer than specified there, regardless of what receiver that barrel is installed on.

After that, look at the serial number on the receiver. If it begins with "RS" or ends with an "M", it should be a magnum model. If the serial number doesn't begin with "RS" but does end with a "V", it's a non-magnum receiver. It is possible to change a couple parts in a non-magnum receiver to allow it to eject 3" shells, so a "V" suffix doesn't necessarily rule out the use of 3" magnums. If you have a serial number ending in "V" and a barrel marked with a 3" chamber, the receiver may have been converted. In that case, it's perfectly safe to give some 3" shells a try. If the receiver has been converted, they'll feed, fire, & eject normally. If the receiver hasn't been converted, 3" shells will feed & fire fine, but they probably won't eject reliably once they've been fired.

[PeaceOfficer]

Excellent information. Thank you very much Synch.