Winchester 870 barrel question
 

I have an 870 Wingmaster with a fixed full choke. I want to get a barrel that I can change chokes on. I can't figure out what to look for.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Lots of options, and they’re not hiding:

Midwayusa Remington 870 Barrels

well first off its NOT made by Winchester?
a model 870 is made =by Remington
so, if you been looking for a Winchester 870 barrel, odds are you didn;t find any!

next is, you might want to look up the serial number and see what exact model gun you have
as some guns based mostly on age , might not fit teh same as every barrel, as I believe there were some slight changes from the very first 870's to the newer one's!

another option can simply be, send the barrel out and have it fitted for screw in chokes
Briley does this, ( https://www.briley.com/ )
as well as other good gun smiths!
I had them do this to a few rem shotguns over the yrs as well as other brands, you will need to measure barrel to make sure there is enough meat on things to do so, but it can also be a option !

they can also cut back a barrel and add screw in chokes too, if your barrel is longer than you want (lots of older guns had very long barrels , 30-28 inch and likes)

Yeah. Can't believe I wrote Winchester. Thanks for the catch. It's a Remington. Big "duh" for me.

Thanks for the tip on briley.com. I will look into it.

I didn’t even notice the “chester” part In the thread title. I saw the “870 win...” and assumed it would be followed by “gmaster” as it was in the post itself.

yeah I figured it was just a brain Typo, LOL

but figured I say so, just in case

and again, there are other pl;aces that will install screw in choke sin a barrel, there just maybe one of the most known for it, as they make some high end chokes, so there costs might be higher than some smaller shops that do same things

last time I had them do a barrel for me was about 15 yrs ago, and I think, they charged me 50 bucks, but SURE they are costing more for same work now a days.


USED barrels should also be all over places like Armslist, maybe even Ebay, and other like on line used items web sites,, as there not a FFL required item and can be sold by anyone

a USED barrel might be cheaper too, just look closely at things to make sure they look like they fit the same, if buying in person, take your old barrel with you to match things up, or even whole gun

as if my memory is correct, some of the early 870's has some slight differences in barrels and some didn;t swap into modern one's with screw in chokes on them, , but I could be wrong, its been a LONG time since I played with them older ones(even thought I have a bunch of them, mine are mostly in 16 ga's though from the first 2 yrs they came out!)

It was for those things that you pointed out that I made this thread. I don't want to get something and have it be wrong.

Thanks

here is something I just read, so something for you maybe to also read
Here is the deal with 870 barrels. Remington has used 2 different methods for keeping the magazine cap tight.

The first method uses a magazine cap detent that protrudes from the barrel guide ring and matches up wsith the serations on the bottom, outside of the magazine cap. As you tighten the cap, you hear a ratchett type sound. That is the serations going over the detent. This method of mag cap retention was/is used on older Remingtons.

The second method, normally found on Express and other newer models uses a system where the magazine spring retainer acts as the detent system that will match up with serations on the inside of the magazine cap in order to keep the magazine cap tight. There is no magazine cap detent on the barrel guide ring. You will see either a hole with no dent protruding on the barrel guide ring or possible no hole at all.

You may ask why should I care? The answer is that you must have something to keep the magazine cap tight, which keeps the barrel tight. You will damage either your barrel, but more likely the inside of the receiver if the barrel is loose.

You can put barrels with mag cap detents on the barrel guide ring on an 870 that uses the magazine spring retainer detent system with no problems. The barrel will not come loose. Plain English means there is usually no problem putting old 870 barrels on Express and other newer 870 models.

You can't put barrels that have no mag detent on the barrel guide ring on shotguns that do not use the magazine spring retainer detent system. There will not be any detent system there to keep the magazine cap from loosening. Plain English means there is usually a problem when putting new barrels on older Remingtons.

If you need barrels that use the older mag cap detent system that uses a detent on the barrel guide ring, but you can only find newer barrels that don't have the detent, you can purchase a detent and detent spring for less than $5.00. Drop the spring in the hole first, then the detent, then stake the detent in place. Problem solved.