Newb from NOLA

[Red Beans 504]

I'm a prosecutor from New Orleans. Purchased my 870 police mag after reading through the site and discovering Synchronizor's YouTube videos. (You rock!). Dropped the extra $ for the 870p since this is my only gun.
It's setup for home defense, but after learning to shoot skeet recently, I'm very much looking forward to swapping some parts out and doing a duck hunting setup. I've got 28 barrel, just need to get a mag cap and and a tube insert and I should be ready to go.

My build:
Started out with a new 870 Police magnum which came with speed feed stock and forend and included the Remington 2 piece, 2 shot extension and an 18 inch improved bead sight barrel.
Liked the look and feel of the "hybrid pistol grip thing" that is the magpul sga stock, so I swapped that out for the speed feed stock. I also liked that I could change the length of pull so I could setup short for home defense and longer for duck hunting so it made sense to me.
Then for extra capacity to the 6 shot tube, I added on the Mesa tactical 6 shot side saddle.
Finally picked up a surefire dsf 870 forend integrated light and swapped that out for the speed feed forend.
Very happy with the purchase and setup for home defense.
Now I just need to get some waders and get ready for ducks come fall

[Red Beans 504]

Forgot, I also added a Remington super cell to the magpul stock in place of their butt pad.

[Synchronizor]

Welcome to the forum.

Looks like a nice setup, the 870 is a great do-everything gun. That SureFire fore-end is probably going to be a pain for hunting or clays though, as it's around 12 ounces heavier than the SpeedFeed LE unit it replaced. One thing you might consider is ordering another fore-end tube assembly & fore-end tube nut, and putting them together with your original SpeedFeed fore-end. That will allow you to swap fore-ends quickly and easily when you change barrels for different applications.

[Red Beans 504]

Thanks for the tip. I certainly would not include the heavy surefire light with the duck setup, but adding in the extra parts to my alternate forend would make the swap out process 10x easier. You are my 870 guru!
Was thinking about a hogue over molded forend for the duck setup. Any thoughts on that vs the speed feed forend?

[Synchronizor]

Was thinking about a hogue over molded forend for the duck setup. Any thoughts on that vs the speed feed forend?

I couldn't really say. Never tried the stock or fore-end myself, but I do have a Hogue pistol grip with the same rubber overmolding, and it is pretty tacky stuff. It's a decent pistol grip for the most part (as long as you're not shooting heavy stuff one-handed), but it's not my favorite due in pat to the rubber's tack. That might be a good thing for you though, if you want something that a cold or gloved hand is unlikely to slip on. Plenty of folks seem to like the rubberizing, and Hogue makes some good stuff - I love the Hogue cocobolo wood grips my S&W 19-4 is wearing. However, I'm really not a fan of soft, overly-grabby surfaces on my guns. I feel it slows down handling, and I hate having stuff grab and pull my clothing around (same reason I like leather seats in cars). That's personal preference though.

One thing I will mention is that I've seen a few reports of Hogue 870 fore-ends rubbing or catching on the receiver when the slide is all the way back. It's an easy problem to remedy if it comes up though, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. I suggested the SpeedFeed because it's a nice minimalist fore-end that you already have; but if you think you might want a really grippy fore-end instead, go ahead and give the Hogue a try.

but if you're looking at alternate fore-ends, another way you could go is a long fore-end like what most hunting Express models come with. These are nice because they let you support the gun closer to the receiver, something I've seen folks do while clay-shooting. What I find real funny is when someone has a short fore-end on their gun because it's "tactical", but then when they're swinging the thing, they take their hand off the fore-end and hold onto the magazine tube behind it. A long fore-end gives you more freedom to support the gun in the way that you find most comfortable without adding steps for cycling the gun, and if your hand slips, it's far less likely to get caught between the fore-end & receiver and cause poor ejection or short-strokes. A long fore-end also provides more protection for the magazine tube in case you fall or drop the gun on your way to the duck blind.