[ShotgunPro]

the new remington 870 express tactical has a choke on it. what is the real point of this? and if u take it off will it still shoot fine? would there be better chokes to replace it with?

i'm curious and would appreciate some info on this, thanks!

 

[ShotgunPro]

it takes all standard rem chokes - and yes, the breecher choke on the gun is lame.

 

[ShotgunPro]

the new remington 870 express tactical has a choke on it. what is the real point of this? and if u take it off will it still shoot fine? would there be better chokes to replace it with?

i'm curious and would appreciate some info on this, thanks!

Different chokes for different applications.
One is better for slugs, one is better for buckshot.
Some can do both good, but not great.

 

[ShotgunPro]

Get a cylinder or improved cylinder choke for close range shooting for any shotgun round. No, don't shoot it without a choke as you'll potentially damage the threads.

 

[ShotgunPro]

wow, you dont want a choke on your shotgun? here I am looking for a choke for my shotgun! give me yours and I'll give you mines. Streight up trade!

 

[ShotgunPro]

Even if a shotgun doesn't have a removeable or adjustable choke, it is still choked to a certain specification both at the chamber forcing cone and at the muzzle. The removeable choke may not look cool, but it is nice to have a shotgun pattern better than spaghetti thrown on a wall by a 3 yr old. Like a previous poster said, it just gives you some control over how the gun patterns for certain tasks.

 

[ShotgunPro]

the major upside of the 870 (over say the mossberg 590a1, which is a fantastic gun) is that it uses all rem chokes. so, you can use the 870 for home defense one day, and pheasant hunting the next. To have similar flexibility on the 590a1, you would have to get the barrel threaded.

 

[ShotgunPro]

Really the only 3 tubes you rprobably need are IC, Mod, and Full. They will do anything you need them to.

I have a special tube for buckshot, its called a Patternmaster. I bought it because i goose hunt with large shot size and the Patternmaster is designed to shoot better groups with large shot. But its about $100 i think...and not necessary unless you hunt. If not, i would use a mod for HD i think. I would pattern all 3 on paper at your typical home defense distances and see what patters the best.

 

[ShotgunPro]

What you will find is at HD distances (typically 14'-16' max) your pattern will be around 5"-6" with most any choke as it takes some distance for shot to begin spreading. However you can and should try different tubes with the load you'll have in the gun just to see what it does as varying loads will behave differently.

Many think that a shotty allows one to spray and pray when shooting at "across the bedroom" distances which is a very false and dangerous misconception. With a 6" pattern at 20' one actually has to aim the gun versus shucking and shooting.

 

[ShotgunPro]

Like the instructor told us, "when most people think "shotgun" they think of when you pull the trigger on one, a huge distructive ball rolls out from the muzzle to the target destroying anything in its path..." haha

 

[ShotgunPro]

the major upside of the 870 (over say the mossberg 590a1, which is a fantastic gun) is that it uses all rem chokes. so, you can use the 870 for home defense one day, and pheasant hunting the next. To have similar flexibility on the 590a1, you would have to get the barrel threaded.

Or buy one of the many mossbergs that do have their barrel threaded for choke tubes, like the 500, 535, 835, 930, and 935.

 

[ShotgunPro]

And have the plastic safety break off when you need it most? No thanks. There's a good reason why Remington has sold over 10 million 870's!

 

[ShotgunPro]

And have the plastic safety break off when you need it most? No thanks. There's a good reason why Remington has sold over 10 million 870's!

You know, Im a big fan of Rem. I have a 870, 1100 and 11-87..but for the safety switch, I love my M500A1 over the Rem because Im a lefty and I can use my thumb to switch it to "fire" when I need to instead of go under the trigger gaurd to switch to fire. Thats one of the main reason why I have the M500 as my HD gun and the others as my hunting.

If your afraid of the saftey switch breaking....buy the VCS saftey switch.

 

[ShotgunPro]

And have the plastic safety break off when you need it most? No thanks. There's a good reason why Remington has sold over 10 million 870's!

Blah blah blah... I have a 500 12ga that finally (after almost 20 years) got the safety button broken. It took years (decades) of hard field use, two trips to the bottom of a lake and finally knocking it out of a gun rack onto a concrete walk between rounds of trap. But even with only half a button, it still works just fine.

I also own an Ithaca shotgun, two Winchester shotguns, two other Mossberg shotguns, three Remington 1100s and two Remington 870s, so I'd hardly call myself a Mossberg fanboy or anything. It just bothers me to see people talking (typing) out their asses about something they read on the intarweb.

 

[ShotgunPro]

As a lefty, I can assure you its far easier to operate the safety on my 870 that a tang safety. I can easily move the selector with my index finger, though I would imagine it would be more difficuly for a righty. However, I treat most firearms like Glocks and use the safety between the two ears versus a mechanical safety.

This of course is coming from a Wingmaster owner, so I'm a bit baised. The Mossberg is closer to the Express with its laminated stock and cheap finish.

Hooz, it broke, bottom line. It could happen anywhere, even at the worst possible moment. Perhaps newer models fixed the problem, don't know.

 

[ShotgunPro]

If your afraid of the saftey switch breaking....buy the VCS saftey switch.

But putting another $30 on top of a Mossberg, you could have just got a Remington to start with

 

[ShotgunPro]

Hooz, it broke, bottom line. It could happen anywhere, even at the worst possible moment. Perhaps newer models fixed the problem, don't know.

Yes. But you must've missed the part where I said that even with half a btton missing, the safety still operates just fine and has for a couple cases of shells since. So I guess it wouldn't really matter when it broke.

 

[ShotgunPro]

Cool, always nice to remain operable