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[codifier]

Hello, I have recently picked up a used 870 Police Magnum. Not my first shotgun, and certainly not my first firearm, but it is my first 870 (wife has an express but it's job is trap). I chose the rifle sights version which came with the M4 stock. 1994 model by serial number lookup, filthy but little used internally and finish wear on the outside which is exactly as I expected.

* M4 stock, not particularly fond of these on a Mossberg but it has grown on me for the 870 but they had a crappy ATI one on it (really, on a PD gun?!). I have a Mesa tactical adapter on its way and will be using my own buffer tube, grip, and stock.

* 4+1 doesn't cut it for me, +2 Remington magazine extension on its way, parkerized version. I can ditch and store the spring retainer after I get this right?

* Rifle sights aren't as distinctive as I would like. Looking at replacements, not sure if I want to go with night sights or not. Very little information on how to remove the stock rifle sights and what replacements are decent/fit. Suggestions? Otherwise they will just get painted.

* Finish is worn down to the white in places including top of barrel and trigger assembly. Should I just toss some weapon black on there or just paint it? Suggestions?

* Going to order a new follower and larger safety. Who has these besides Brownells and Midway?

[Synchronizor]

* 4+1 doesn't cut it for me, +2 Remington magazine extension on its way, parkerized version. I can ditch and store the spring retainer after I get this right?

No need for the spring retainer when using a magazine extension.

* Rifle sights aren't as distinctive as I would like. Looking at replacements, not sure if I want to go with night sights or not. Very little information on how to remove the stock rifle sights and what replacements are decent/fit. Suggestions? Otherwise they will just get painted.

Are these the hunting-style adjustable rifle sights with a ramp for the rear element, or the low-profile fixed rifle sights?

* Finish is worn down to the white in places including top of barrel and trigger assembly. Should I just toss some weapon black on there or just paint it? Suggestions?

Police 870s still use the old-style compressed aluminum trigger plates. They won't take bluing compounds or other finish chemicals meant for steel, you'll need to re-paint it (one reason many folks prefer the newer polymer trigger plates is that they don't show scratches & other wear nearly as much as painted aluminum). For the barrel, just touch it up with whatever best matches the factory finish. Any well-used 870 will show some bare metal, and it doesn't seem to cause problems so long as the gun isn't grossly neglected.

* Going to order a new follower and larger safety. Who has these besides Brownells and Midway?

For the follower, I'd recommend those from S&J Hardware. If you're running a factory Remington extension, the cup-style Type 3 S&J follower would probably be best, as it'll be less likely to over-compress the long Remington extension spring.

As for the bigger safety, there are a lot of options out there, offering different sizes and shapes. I'd say get your stock & grip put together first, then do some shooting and see how much bigger you think your safety button needs to be in order to let you work it easily. Depending on what adapter & pistol grip you're running, you may even find that the factory safety works fine.

[codifier]

Thanks for the reply Synchronizor, I really appreciate your Youtube videos.

The sights are (front) dovetailed, and (rear) ramped so the hunting style? Anyone carry the S&J stuff besides S&J themselves? $14 S/H is really steep for a follower. I was looking at them and their site says the type 1 and 2 are for mag extensions, type 3 for standard. Is that correct? As for the finish I think I will just leave it kind of battered, it shows character, and I will hold off on the safety per your advice. Was figuring on maybe just getting the S&J oversized safety along with the follower to take some of the heavy S/H sting off if I end up wanting a larger one.

[Synchronizor]

Yes, dovetailed front & ramped rear are the old-school hunting-style rifle sights used on a lot of Remington shotguns & rifles. The setup works fine on a fighting shotgun, but as you've noticed, the factory sight elements aren't the quickest to pick up, especially in lower light. Plenty of companies offer a variety of replacement sight elements for those barrels.

S&J has a distributor in the states now: S&J Hardware US. You can get a lot of S&J's more popular items from them without paying for international shipping.

S&J includes their Type 1 & 2 tailed followers with their magazine extensions, and recommend them for use in other extensions. However, the Remington extension kits use a spring with a very long solid length, and their extension tubes have an internal follower stop that's meant to prevent over-compression of the spring when the factory cup-style followers are used:



This means that if you switch to a solid-bodied follower like the S&J Types 1 & 2, there will be less room for the spring when the follower is against the follower stop. You can use a solid-bodied follower in the Remington extensions - I've done it plenty - but if you lose count when loading or try to jam one more shell in, the spring coils will bunch up against each other, accelerating wear and possibly causing binding or jams. With a cup-style follower, the extension's follower stop prevents this from happening, so I tend to recommend cup-style followers for the factory Remington +2 & +3 extensions.