870 build help

[Strutbuster98]

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I'm currently building an old 870 express magnum I've had for years. I wanted to buy a used super mag but with remington going out of business for a year its hard to find them for the price I want to pay. I've always shot 3.5 shells and with this gun 3 inch is max so will I be happy with 3 inch coming from 3.5? I plan on polishing my barrel with the recommended process and J&B products. Does anyone have a go to sight that they love for turkey? I was never a fan of the big Tru glo sights. I like a old fashioned bead but am open to ideas. I'm not sure if I'm going to throw a red dot on yet or not I don't like the fact batteries could die and leave the gobbler walk away. Does anyone have any tips tricks or ideas for my build maybe something you have done yourself that you love. I'm also looking for load/ choke combos and pictures to help figure out what I want to try. I've never shot tss yet because of the cost. I do already have a kicks. 665 choke for the gun I plan on starting with. The long beard XR is what I've always shot. All help will be appreciated. Thanks

[USMC0331]

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If concerned with cost , stay with the longbeards.  Williams fire sights are excellent fiber optic sights. Next option would be the mini red dot sights. Battery life is a non issue.  Change once a year. 

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[CALLM2U]

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If concerned with cost , stay with the longbeards.  Williams fire sights are excellent fiber optic sights. Next option would be the mini red dot sights. Battery life is a non issue.  Change once a year. 

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These are my thoughts exactly. 

[Turkeytider]

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Assuming you`re shooting at ethical ranges ( 40 yards and in ), there`s not a turkey walking the planet that a 3" Long Beard or Hevi-13 won`t kill just as stone dead as any 3.5" cannon shell. Shooting an 870, your shoulder will thank you too! 870s just seem to love .660-.665 constrictions.

[Tom007]

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Assuming you`re shooting at ethical ranges ( 40 yards and in ), there`s not a turkey walking the planet that a 3" Long Beard or Hevi-13 won`t kill just as stone dead as any 3.5" cannon shell. Shooting an 870, your shoulder will thank you too! 870s just seem to love .660-.665 constrictions.

Great advice here. I use 3.5 inch guns, and also use an Old Bottomland 3 inch 870. I mounted a scope on it, my eyes are not what they used to be.  The 3 inch Remy patterns fantastic with Long beards and Hevi-13 #7’s with an Indian Creek .665. I also use Red dots on some of my turkey guns. As stated above, change your battery every season, it will never die. You can mount a red dot very inexpensively to your rib (Meadow Creek Mounts). There are plenty of options there.....best of luck..

[KentuckyLB]

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As far as sights the tru glow magnum gobble dot pro series if you wanting a rifle type sight. The williams firesights seemed to bulky to me. With lead my 870`s always liked a choke in the 655 to 660 range .. and if you decide to go red dot you will never go back to a bead or other sight for a turkey machine. Wish i would have a long time ago just started running one 3 years ago.

[albrubacker]

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3" will won't hurt you. Just pattern a few loads and see what she likes.

[Strutbuster98]

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Thanks for the feedback everyone I love new knowledge. Like I didn't know you could mount a red dot to the rib ill be looking into that for sure. Any red dot brands you recommend for the rib mounting? And I've always patterned my guns at 50 yards since that is what my range is at my dad's place. I will be shooting 40 to compare numbers though. Also I've always heard with red dots if the dot is on the bird your good no matter if your looking down the barrel or not. Is that true or not?

[Tom007]

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Most of them are parallax free. There is only one red dot out there that mounts to any rib without an additional mount. It is the Aimpoint micro s-1. Great sight, mounts real low right on the rib. 12 Brightness settings, totally waterproof, 6 moa dot. Used heavily by the military. The only negative is the price, it’s not cheap. Burris, Vortex, Docter, Nikon Spur, there are lots of red dot options for you. Unless you have a Picattiny rail, or your gun is drilled and tapped, these will require a separate mount. The Meadow creek works great on the ribs, and Sumtoy on our forum here is a great resource for all your mounting needs. He’s great with chokes and custom gun work too. Good luck

[captpete]

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My 870 SPM shoots much better patterns with a 3" shell. With 3 1/2" shells the pattern is never even and always has holes in it. I tried a lot of different shell/choke combinations and the patterns all have holes in them. The 3" patterns are for the most part are evenly spread with no holes.

One of the first things I would do is replace the factory recoil pad with a quality pad like Limbsaver or Kick-Eze.

I had mine drilled & tapped and mounted a Vortex Viper red dot on it. For awhile I did use B-Square saddle mount. It worked pretty good, but was just to bulky for my liking.

Probably the best upgrade I made was to install a Timney trigger kit. A little pricey (Around $100), but to me it made a HUGE difference in the gun/trigger. It is about a 20-30 minute job and pretty simple to do. There are videos showing how to install it.

For choke/shell combination it depends on what you are wanting for a pattern. You looking for a combination that with give you a 100 -110 hits in a 10" circle at forty or looking for 130+ at forty. My 870 with an original Jelly .660 shooting Longbeards 5's will throw one heck of good pattern at 40. At 20yrds that combination gives me about a softball size pattern making it easy to miss. I look at it as if trying to hit a baseball size target with a softball...one little move by either the target or you and it could be miss. So, I opened the pattern up buy using Carlson .670. The Longbeards 5's still give me a good solid killing pattern at 40, but now I have volleyball size pattern at 20.

In my opinion TSS is overkill in a 12ga. Where it really shines is in the sub gauges. Lead in a 12gauge will kill them just as dead (at ethical ranges) as TSS for a lot less money. Just my

[Tom007]

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My 870 SPM shoots much better patterns with a 3" shell. With 3 1/2" shells the pattern is never even and always has holes in it. I tried a lot of different shell/choke combinations and the patterns all have holes in them. The 3" patterns are for the most part are evenly spread with no holes.

One of the first things I would do is replace the factory recoil pad with a quality pad like Limbsaver or Kick-Eze.

I had mine drilled & tapped and mounted a Vortex Viper red dot on it. For awhile I did use B-Square saddle mount. It worked pretty good, but was just to bulky for my liking.

Probably the best upgrade I made was to install a Timney trigger kit. A little pricey (Around $100), but to me it made a HUGE difference in the gun/trigger. It is about a 20-30 minute job and pretty simple to do. There are videos showing how to install it.

For choke/shell combination it depends on what you are wanting for a pattern. You looking for a combination that with give you a 100 -110 hits in a 10" circle at forty or looking for 130+ at forty. My 870 with an original Jelly .660 shooting Longbeards 5's will throw one heck of good pattern at 40. At 20yrds that combination gives me about a softball size pattern making it easy to miss. I look at it as if trying to hit a baseball size target with a softball...one little move by either the target or you and it could be miss. So, I opened the pattern up buy using Carlson .670. The Longbeards 5's still give me a good solid killing pattern at 40, but now I have volleyball size pattern at 20.

In my opinion TSS is overkill in a 12ga. Where it really shines is in the sub gauges. Lead in a 12gauge will kill them just as dead (at ethical ranges) as TSS for a lot less money. Just my

X2 on the Timney trigger kit. Made my 870 very smooth and crisp on the trigger pull.....good advice.

[taketheshot]

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I have my 870 turkey cannon Timney tuned down to 1lb-10oz. Such a great upgrade to an 870.

[Tom007]

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I have my 870 turkey cannon Timney tuned down to 1lb-10oz. Such a great upgrade to an 870.

Amen, great job on a great gun....

[Gobble!]

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Here's one I built for my boys. 20 gauge, KickLite stock, ShurShot forend, Ade red dot, using a TSS #10 load with the factory improved cylinder choke. Been a good setup for them.


My 870 is a MaxGobbler so it came with a Knoxx stock. Added a ShurShoit forend, Burris Fast Fire III red dot, Timmy Trigger (best thing I've done), .675 Indian Creek, and dipped it in bottomland, shooting 2.5oz of TSS 9s.

[g8rvet]

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Just an aside, but I polished my 870 and the patterns got worse with three different loads.  I have heard of a few others say that.  It shot better after a couple of shots.  Don't have any explanation.  That was with the old Hevi #6 (12g), the New Hevi #6(13g) and Longbeards #5.