I recently decided to get a shotgun for around the house and I had seen a few new guns, like the Stevens 320 but wasn't exactly liking the fact it was made in China. I would have liked to find an Ithaca Deerslayer in 12 gauge but not with the limited funds I have on hand that wasn't going to work. What I did find was a really nice older Remington 870. The serial number from what I have gathered puts it at 1981 or so production. It has a 30 inch vent rib barrel on it now, but I have a couple of guys who I have talked to who are interested in it and I have several leads on both 20 inch and 18.5 inch barrels for it. Have no fear because you will not see a synthetic stock on this gun, the most I might add is a mag extension and factory style sling swivels, nothing else. It is only 2 3/4 inch but I have seen enough of what a 16 gauge 2 3/4 inch slug can do and the same with 00 buckshot that I am not concerned. I was able to get this beauty out the door for only $260 tax & title at a local gunshop. After selling the barrel and buying another should have it around $300 or a bit more minus the accessories.

Good score...she's a fine lookin' specimen Dave...!!

Nice gun. I have a '76 Magnum that's its twin. It was made before 1980 as that's when the stock style and rollmarking changed. Purely personal taste, but I think those guns with the early fleur di lis checkering style from '63 thru '79 were the best looking ones they have ever made, and they definitely shoot as good as any. I got a Light Contour barrel and it feels as good as the old fixed choke barrels..

I put the barrel on the 870 for sale on Ebay to see what I can get for it and it's got a couple of bids on it past $70 and it has three days left with a lot of watchers. I have located a couple of barrels for it so far, most around the $100-$125 for all original Remington barrels second hand, if I want a Mossberg made 18.5 inch barrel for it I can get that for just under $100 and then there are the cheaper barrels that are made in China I think I will stay away from. Not that there might be anything wrong with them, but it won't fit the gun in my opinion. I do want to try and get a barrel that is marked only with 2 3/4 inch since that's what the gun takes. I'll never load 3 inch in it, but I in case someone were to use it or borrow it, I don't want any issues.

You picked up a nice looking shotgun there David! Looks like it is in excellent shape. Speaking of the Chinese made shotguns, I have an H&R Model 1871 pump, made by Hawk Industries of China, that is tough as nails and very reliable. I bought it about 1 year ago, and have put quite a few rounds down range with it. It is a short-barreled version to fill as an inexpensive "tactical" gun, but works well.

Actually, being as though Remington is owned by Freedom Group, so is Hawk Industries. I think they just wanted an 870 clone, at half the price. Anyways, it's a good shotgun, that pretty much accepts all 870 parts, except the barrels.

Still ain't as nice as the one in your pictures though!

Well, latest is the long barrel sold, for a lot more than I thought. I got $120 for it. The good new is I have found a couple of factory barrels, older ones with the shiny blue in 20 inch and marked 2 3/4 inch so there will never be an issue. I have a bid on one right now and if I win, then I will have broken even because the cost of the 20 inch is exactly the same as what I made off the 30 inch. Funny how that works out sometime. Will post pics once I get a barrel on the gun.

Nice looking 870.

I went with a turkey barrel for my setup. It offered the versatility of a shorter barrel plus I retained the use of the RemChoke tubes without having the added expense of sending the barrel out to get it drilled and tapped (I wanted the adj choke as the gun is a multi-tasker)

If you can't find what you want for the price you want you can always get what you can and cut it down.

I put a mag extension on mine and removed it soon after. I did not like all the extra weight up front. YMMV

I did add an over-sized safety.

I like the wood stocks, mine was cracked so I did replace it with a Hogue short LOP. I now wish I had found another wood stock for it. Nothing against the Hogue, it's a great stock, but I prefer wood hardware.

Keep us posted of you progress, I'm interested to see how it turns out.

Well while I was out today the big brown truck stopped by and dropped off the barrel for the 870. I put the 30 inch full choke barrel I have little to no use for (this gun was bought almost exclusively for a house gun, I have my 16 gauge for birds) on Ebay and got more than I expected. I found this original Remington barrel, marked 2 3/4 inch which is what this earlier version chambers for pretty much the exact same amount. So I really didn't spend anything extra. So I have the original $260 into this gun and that's about it for a good 12 gauge house gun. I might get a Wilson combat 2 round extension, not sure yet. I will be putting a sling on it, but there will be no black stock for this, the wood is just fine as it is. One thing I did do was instead of buying a high visibility mag follower I took this one out and used to 1 shot lettering enamel (same thing they paint signs and pinstripe cars with) and painted the follower orange. It stands out now and saved me $10 for a new follower. Not a lot but that's two 5 round boxes of 00 buckshot at the local gun shop.

Looks good David !!

Looking Good!!

I like it. Simple, classic, but functional. Buckshot out of a blued, wood-stocked shotgun hurts every bit as much as buckshot out of a "tacti-cool" range toy with an AR-15 stock, a camo paint job, and a 5-pound quad-rail.

Wilson Combat makes some good magazine extensions. A little unrefined and heavy, but they're tough, simple, work well, and don't cost an arm and a leg. One thing I would note is that Wilson Combat extensions are Parkerized, and would stand out a bit on an otherwise blued gun, but that's a purely cosmetic issue.

Another thing you could do to your gun, if you start getting the tinkering itch, is upgrade the action with new-style flex-tab parts. This will prevent the gun from locking up if a shell from the magazine slips back over the carrier while the action is closed.