A little while back my Uncle, a policeman in southern California, tasked me with overhauling his circa-1970 Remington 870 Wingmaster into a “tactical”/home defense shotgun. I was given a budget of $150.00 and given a few requirements. It had to have a collapsible stock, pistol grip, and a railed forend.

Here is the result:

How to attain tactical awesomeness in a shotgun? The right parts, installed correctly. Let’s start with the barrel.

If your going to be swinging a long gun around inside, you want the shortest barrel you can get. Any barrel shorter than 18.5” is deemed by the Federal Government to be a Class III “Short Barreled Shotgun”, so let’s explore some options that won’t require a $200.00 tax stamp. And no, prison and/or a $250,000 fine is not an option either.

Really the only manufacturer of 870 barrels is Remington. I bought one of their 18.5” “Police” barrels on gunbroker used. It is an “Improved Cylinder” only barrel and will not except chokes, however a well-equipped gunsmith could ream it for chokes on a lathe. An Improved Cylinder barrel will spread birdshot out just fine indoors, and will shoot very well with slugs. After all, you aren’t going to be doing any waterfowling with this gun, and if you do it’s super-easy to slap the original barrel back on.

There are home defense scenarios where a 26” vent rib barrel can be quite useful. Like when the killer sporting clays attack. Comparison rifle is a 1000 yard precision rifle.

The business end of a tactical 870. I doubt a home invader would criticize your choice of choke!

The next important part is the stock. Now, with a nice short 18” barrel, the factory stock is plenty handy. But to be even shorter for use in and out of vehicles (squad cars) and in confined spaces, a collapsible stock is nice. A pistol grip can help tame recoil and increases the pointability of the gun as well as adding to the CDI (Chicks Dig It) factor.

A railed forend gives you a spot for a tactical flashlight/foregrip/coffeemaker, but the rails can chew you up after a lot of shooting. Uncle Kevin wanted a railed forend which very much limited my choice in stocks. I chose a ProMag stock from Cheaper Than Dirt. It’s a complete set that comes with a railed forend and an M-4 style collapsible stock. The buttstock is at an odd angle that makes follow-up shots a bit slower as it takes your eye off the bead. But at $60.00 it’s the only stock that fit the budget. It also has three shell holders, but they’ll lock your shells up tighter than a Fort Knox vault.

If you aren’t particularly wed to the idea of a railed forend, I’d recommend the BLACKHAWK! Knoxx stock. It comes with a very comfortable forend but it doesn’t have any rails. The buttstock is in line with the receiver à la AR-15.

The ProMag collapsible

The railed forend, with a homemade weapon light mount and the included forend.

Note the downward angle of the ProMag stock vs. the factory one.

With the stock and barrel, the rest of the parts are just some accessories that are good to have.

You may remember that I had a negative experience with a Choate magazine extension tube. I returned that one to Brownells and found a Remington +2 extension at Sportsman’s Warehouse for $30.00. The Remington tube is considered to be the best. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is tougher than the tube integral to the gun. And I can get it off!

The tube attaches to the threads of the magazine tube with a nut. The actual extension tube screws into the nut. A clamp then secures it to the barrel.

The contents of the extension tube kit, a tube, the nut, a barrel clamp, and an extended spring.

The nut screws on to the shotgun and holds the barrel in place.

Drop the spring slides in.

The hardest part: screwing the tube into the nut. It’s so easy I did it with one hand on the camera.

The clamp slides between the barrel and the tube, over the cutout…

And is held into place with a flathead screw.

Another very useful accessory is the Vang Comp systems “Big Speed” safety. It replaces the factory safety with a large dome on the “fire” side.

The safety allows the shooter to quickly push the safety off with their trigger finger on their way to the trigger. It installs easily enough but watch out for small parts and springs when you remove the old safety.

Last but not least, I added a GSRC single point sling mount. It installs between the stock and receiver like that on an AR. I borrowed a simple sling from a MOLLE shotgun scabbard to demonstrate:

One warning about this part: It adds a little bit to the length of the stock. Negligible in terms of size but it does move the pistol grip slightly back from the trigger. This is actually a good thing for shooters with big hands like my Uncle and I, but might be a bit of a reach for small-handed shooters.

Note that the pistol grip is slightly farther back.

Well, that’s it for this 870 build, but my Dad has another 870 coming from an old neighbor that’s almost identical to this one (in it’s factory state, of course) that I’ll build up to defend the Nelson homestead in Utah.