Cantiliver Barrels

[extreme1]

O.K,I purchased a Remington 870 Super Mag and will be looking for a good Cantiliver barrel for the gun.I know there are alot of manufacteurs that offer barrels for this particular model being Remington of course,mossberg,hastings and so on.
My question is whats a good barrel for this gun,mainly being accuracy as the number 1 priority.I would like the barrel to be ported if possible and hastings makes one but some feedback would be great.Cost is factor number 2.I know I will spend some good money on it and want to get the best barrel for the money.
I also want the gun to be portable and want to know if a 20" barrel would be more then sufficient or go with a 23" barrel.
Anyone have a 870 with a cantiliver barrel and want to share their experiences with me.
Also what scope should I purchase that will handle the harsh recoil and stay in zero over time?
Thanks for all the feedback
jason

[Paul L Mohr]

Hastings would by my choice. They offer several different models to choose from. The length really will not matter, both are long enough for a slug to reach peak MV. If there is difference it will not be much. The shorter barrel may be louder, especially if ported. If you were going with a open sights I might suggest the longer barrel, but I don't see any advantage with a scope.

My opinions any way.

Paul

[Paul L Mohr]

Oh, most of the compact low power scopes above $100 will do what you want. I would look for something with good eye relief though. I personally own a bushnel trophy and like quite a bit. 1.75-4x32, cost right around 100 dollars. I wouldn't mind a bit more eye releif though, or different mounts.

More expensive scopes will obviously be better. The more money you spend the better optics you get in most cases.

Paul

[trailer]

Bushnell make a Banner Dusk to Dawn with 6"� eye relief designed for a cantilever barrel. I"™m not sure how it would stand up to heavy recoil but it looked pretty good at the store for clarity. I"™m not sure if 18"� barrel would be required but would think the longer barrel would be better for noise when shooting. I have the 1300 Winchester cantilever deer gun and find it handles very well in heavy bush with the 22"� long barrel...

I have shot remington and hastings. I wasn't impressed by the hastings. Back then they warned not to shoot copper solids. And copper solids shot great out of the remington barrel. The hastings only shot the lightfields well. I still got the remington.

[Redneck Bill]

Although you have a Super mag all the available cantiliver barrels will have 3" chambers.I have a hastings Fully rifeled barrel for my 870 20Ga. and I am not happy with it.I have a smoothbore Remchoke and a fully rifeled barrel for my 870 12 ga.I like the 20 inch length and they both shoot great.I got the smoothbore last year,to avoid shooting expensive sabots,Both Brenneke KOs and federal Tru-Ball shot as well as the sabots.I am considering getting a B-Square universal cantilever shotgun rib mount for my SPS-T 3 1/2 inch barrel.In fact I starte a thread inquiring about how well they work and got very positive feedback.I like a red dot scope and Aimpoint is the only one I have found with 2X magnification.They are expensive,but worth it.

[Paul L Mohr]

I have a buddy that has an 870 special purpose turkey gun (3.5 inch mag). He got the remington barrel for it and it shoots pretty well. It is light too. I just wasn't impressed with the finnish and how thin it was for the money. That is why I suggested the Hastings, the ones I have seen look better. I have another buddy that has an older hastings on his 11-87 and it shoots just as well. Other than that I really don't have any experience with the hastings other than what I have read and looking at them at a store.

I'm also not sure the hasting are ported as far as recoil and muzzle flip go. They say it is to help seperate the sabot from the bullet. I don't know if it would help with recoil or not. Probobly wouldn't cost much to have a good gun smith port one though. It is just a matter of drilling some holes in the top of the barrel from what I can tell. My mossberg had a ported barrel and seemed to help a little with recoil, and quite a bit with muzzle flip. I used it for turkey hunting. Keep in mind with a short barrel and porting it will be pretty loud. Not as bad a centerfire with a break, but louder than normal none the less.

I do know for what you will pay for a good slug barrel you could darn near get a dedicated slug gun. My H&R ultra was $220 and you could get a tracker II even cheaper, the trackers kick like a SOB though because they so light! Also no scope mount, some gunsmiths will drill and tap them for you, others won't. If you are shooting under 100 yards I would suggest a 20 gauge, especially in the ultra.

Good luck,
Paul

[extreme1]

Thanks for all the great info guys,and paul,thanks for getting so indepth on a few things as well.I was looking at the hastings barrels on their web site and seemd impressed to say the least,I guess pictures and writeup can be deceiving.When I seen they dont reccomend shooting Remington Copper Solids like bigcountry stated as well I kinda got turned off them instantly.
Maybe the Remington barrels will be the way to go.I also seen Remington offers a cantiliver barrel with scope combo for around $300.Seems to be a good deal.Or maybe I will just purchase Remingtons better barrel and install a good reddot scope,not sure yet,and the homework is fun and definately learning a few things as well.
Another question ?--------I am looking at alot of different loads in the Slug department and it is almost mind boggling.I definately want a good slug and I know that they run around $15 bucks for a box of 5----OUCH,or more.What is a good slug for my hard earned money?
I was looking at the winchesters that has an advertised speed of 1900 fps,sounds sweet and would definately be one of the flatter slugs to intended target.Remington Coppers are interesting as well,any feedback on the slugs or barrels would be more then appreciated.
Again thanks for all the info,keep it coming
jason

[Paul L Mohr]

We have been discussing this on other forums which have dedicated slug gun forums. It seems to be unless you have one of the better dedicated slug guns the faster rounds (1900 fps) do not shoot very well out to 100 yards. I know the few I have tried out of my Ultra slug gun do not work very well, I have only tried a few though.

You will never know unless you try, these guns can be sort of picky. What will work in one persons gun might not in another exactly like it. Both my friends guns (870/11-87) like the winchester 3 inch super X slugs. Mine did pretty well with the winchester Platinums, but I am looking for something a bit better. If I can't find it these are what I will use. I am being pretty picky though, I'm looking for centerfire type accuracy at 100 yards.

I would stay away from the combo deals, they don't come with the best of scopes. It would probably work, but you can do better. 300 for a scope and a barrel isn't bad though. I thought my buddy paid close to that just for a remington barrel last year from a gun shop. I could be wrong though.

We did have a little trouble sighting his in. The cantiliver mount was not exactly square and we had to make some minor adjustments to the mounts. He ruined a scope because he ran out of adjustment and turned the turrets too far. He didn't know how to bore sight a scope. He does now.

Paul

[Redneck Bill]

Paul:
I have to agree with you, the faster rounds seem to shoot better out of my Marlin 512 with a 1 in 28 twist but I really like the Federal- Barnes Expanders out of my Remington barrel with the 1 in 35 twist but these sabots are so darn expensive.Last year I bought a Remington cantiliver smoothbore and shot one hole groups at 50 yards with Brenneke KOs( on sale for $1.59 a box) and Federal Tru-Ball Slugs($3.50 a box).I was using an Improved Cylinder choke tube(.720).I just got a Carlson Cylinder tube(.730) to try with the slugs this year.I really like the 20 inch length of the Remington barrels also.

Extreme1: Just a suggestion,Try a box of Federal Tru-Ball Slugs out of your bird barrel just to see how they do.

Bill