Two questions about my Remington 870...

[Hayward U. Buzzoff]

I took my 870 to the range to pattern it- does a nice job as long as you have a good cheek-weld. A guy before me on the range didn't hit the paper from 18-20 yards with the same gun! I was surprised to see no holes in the paper- proper aiming is important even with shotguns!

Anyway, two questions:

I had a surefire light/forend setup put on, and it seems really front heavy now. Does anyone avoid tactical lights for this reason (I know there are other reasons- but I don't plan on staying put after flashing the light to assess my target). It's just too heavy to hold aloft for more than 10-15 seconds.

Also, I don't know if this is due to the new forend, since I didn't fire it before the surefire was installed, but it seems that the shells aren't being ejected very well. They fall gently out the side of the shotgun, one even "stovepiped" when I racked back and forth. Only a couple really flew away as I thought they should.

Should I have to rack the action faster/harder to get the shells to eject well, or does it sound like a problem with the shotgun? Could this be caused by the new forend? I don't think so, it's probably me, but I just wanted to ask.

[Lee Lapin]

HUB,

Open the action all the way and make sure the newly installed fore-end is not contacting the barrel anywhere. If it's misaligned, that could explain your problem with ejection. Then pull the barrel off and look at the underside of the barrel for rub marks, to be sure there's no contact with the fore-end there which wouldn't be obvious looking down from the top.

I remember how proud I was of the shotgun I gave my (5' 4") wife for a wedding present. SureFire fore-end, 2-shot magazine extension, 6-round Sidesaddle, ghost ring sights, parkerized, shortened synthetic stock- I thought it would be perfect. "Too HEAVY" was her immediate judgement, then "I can't reach the forearm" was the final nail in the coffin. So I stripped off all the goodies except the GRs and the parkerizing. I replaced the SureFire fore-end with a regular field length Remington synthetic, replaced the magazine extension with an ordinary magazine cap securing a rail for a detachable light and replaced the 6-round Sidesaddle with the 4-round hunter's version. And she liked it like that.

So much so that there are two more pretty much like it hidden about the house now. Added weight in front of the support hand can make a gun seem inordinately heavy and hard to hold up, no matter where the weight comes from. To me, SureFire fore-ends don't leave enough room for the support hand- the bulge for the flashlight takes up too much space. I haven't sold them, they work and some folks like 'em, but they aren't on guns we use regularly. The rail mounted detachable lights seem to work quite well for us and are not platform specific- we can use the same light on pistol, carbine or shotgun. The versatility is an advantage.

I suggest over and over that people learn to run a box-stock gun before they start adding stuff to it. Here's another reason- you need to establish a baseline of performance for the gun, so you don't have to wonder if it's modifications or added accessories that are causing any functionality problems that might crop up.

Hope you get it sorted out,

lpl/nc

[Hayward U. Buzzoff]

Thanks Lee,

I think that's great advice. I'm having that exact problem- not knowing if the mods are causing issues.

We'll see. Thanks again.