thoughts on magazine extension.

[9ballbilly]

I've just purchased a 1983 vintage left-handed Remington 1100 with a 21'5" slug barrel.

It's going to be my new "bedside" gun loaded with #1 Buckshot.

I've been debating on whether I should add a 2 round magazine extension. taking capacity from 5 to 7 rounds.

What do you think? Would you add the extension?

[jmr40]

I don't think there is a wrong answer. You will probably get more responses saying to go for it than not.

I had one on mine for a while, took it off. A lot of people like them, but it makes the gun very muzzle heavy when loaded. To me the poor handling wasn't worth 2 more shots.

I didn't have mine on long enough to experience any malfunctions, but some of them are less reliable than just staying 4+1.

[deadcoyote]

I’d pattern the shot out of the slug barrel, it’s may throw it crazy wide. I’ve used mag extensions made by Nordic components and MOA precision. The MOA precision one is the way to go. Nordic has an amazing reputation, just the one I got had miscut threads and wouldn’t work, had to mail stuff back to them and they verified it shouldn’t have gotten past QC.

[44 AMP]

I’d pattern the shot out of the slug barrel, it’s may throw it crazy wide.

Absolutely, pattern it with the ammo you intend to use for home defense, at the maximum distance you might possibly shoot inside your home. And don't worry about where the outlier pellets are, look for where the mass of the shot is, at that range. Odds are at indoor ranges your pattern won't be much bigger than your fist, if that. Even slug barrels don't shoot dinner plate size patterns at point blank ranges, unless you're shooting special made "spreader" loads.

Also, don't step off your lawn with that 5 or 7 shot magazine, unplugged, or at least never take it afield during hunting season. You MIGHT beat the ticket, but even if you do, you won't beat the hassle of fighting it.

[V-fib]

add a sidesaddle. they usually hold 6 xtra rounds

[bamaranger]

I would for sure. The Rem guns (870 and 1100) are typically 4+1 guns OEM.
The way most beside/house guns are stored is w/ empty chamber and 4 rds in the mag. Four rounds. You wouldn't consider a handgun with a capacity of four rounds as adequate........why is it OK with the shotgun? Why would you knowingly go into a deadly incident with 4 rounds?

If in the midst of your deadly confrontation if you have time and can remember, you can chamber a round, and add a round from an onboard ammo if the gun is set up that way, now you have 5 shots.......think Chief's Special. Hmmmmm!

When shotguns were LE's big stick, I campaigned long and loud with my outfit to get policy changed to allow mag extensions. It finally happened, but by that time the patrol carbine was becoming a reality.

Full up a mag extension adds weight and changes the balance, but these are not field or claybird guns, you likely will not be swinging on a flying target, and you will not be lugging it all day on hunts.

Once installed, test for reliability

[Jim Watson]

As M.Ayoob said, if your shotgun is empty or jammed, put it down and draw your pistol.
If your opponent picks it up, he has a weapon you know doesn’t work.

[georgehwbush]

as long as it doesn't get too heavy to carry; more ammo is always a good thing IMO

[44 AMP]

You wouldn't consider a handgun with a capacity of four rounds as adequate........why is it OK with the shotgun? Why would you knowingly go into a deadly incident with 4 rounds?

while there is logic in this, there are also "counterbalancing" factors. One of them is the legal restrictions on firearms design.

The bedside/house gun is meant for use inside the house, more than anything else, so shorter is better. Capacity? sure, four rounds isn't a lot, but they are BIG rounds, and I doubt I'd be trying to stop the Terminator. (and my home defense shotgun is a winchester model 12, which has one more round capacity than the remingtons )

For my wife, the choice is a coach gun. She's not a gun person. Double hammers, double triggers, 12ga, doesn't get much simpler than that, and if she ever needed to use it, simple is a good thing.

I would use a butt cuff or the sidesaddle (if it applied) for spare ammo, before I'd go with any aftermarket magazine tube extension, but then, I'm not very concerned with the possibility of an extended Hollywood type shoot out inside my home. But, that's just me.

Nothing wrong with using a slug gun for home defense, it would be handier than a 30" duck gun, certainly.

Assuming it works flawlessly, the only downside to a magazine extension is if it adversely affects the balance of the gun but more importantly, if you ever do need to use it, and face a jury, the prosecutor is likely to do their best to make you look like a foaming at the mouth monster because you made the gun "more deadly" and sadly, these days, that is something must consider.

[bamaranger]

Yes indeed, 12 ga shotgun shells are big rounds, but a miss with a big round is simply a big miss. It happens..........we all know that a slug or even buckshot at close range requires good shooting regardless. Miss and now you are down to three rds.......four if your trained, good, and plugged in.

And then there's the issue of multiple attackers, likely to flee at first shot, but what if they don't? Better to have it and not need it. Hoodlums seem to be traveling in bigger packs, far more often these days.

Coach gun. Yeah, there's one here at the house, a 12 ga. Far too much gun for tiny bamawife, but I like it for travel, I can break it down in deceiving luggage and reassemble and have a legal formidable shoulder weapon almost anywhere. But in that capacity it is always backed with a full size handgun of some type.

[44 AMP]

Coach gun. Yeah, there's one here at the house, a 12 ga. Far too much gun for tiny bamawife,..

Just how tiny is bamawife??

My mother, was 4'10 (and a half! damnit!) wore a size 3 and a half ring. Never weighted 110lbs in her entire life, but she could shoot her father's Ithaca 12ga double, from the hip. Claimed she got the technique from Victoria Barkley on The Big Valley tv show. That MIGHT have been a joke but with Mom, you never knew...

Gun held at waist level, gripped firmly in the hands but loose arms, allowing it to just "swing back" under recoil.

Saw her do it, more than once. If the target wasn't flying, she hit it every time.

It was her determination more than anything. OF course, I also saw that woman hold an angry angus bull cornered for an hour with just a pitchfork. IF Mom thought she could do it, there wasn't a bit of quit in her. My daughter is like that, too. Seems to have skipped me,

[ocharry]

my 1100 is set up this way....remington slug barrel...3 round extension...a GOOD barrel mag extention clamp...(need a good one so you dont bump into something and snap off the threads on the original mag tube)...i also changed the spoon or lifter on my gun for a 1100 competition master...the button is at least 2 times as long...makes reloading WAY faster and easier....and a oversize bolt cocking lever....and a little shorter stock than you would use for hunting

at 15-30' my slug barrel will put everything in a 15" circle or less...it always shot slugs really well

my 870 has the same mag extension and stock....and a remington slug barrel....they look like twins...but the 870 is shorter because the barrel is shorter......i think the 1100 slug barrel is 22" and the 870 is 20" IIRC

just my .02

ocharry

[rc]

Do you have a dimpled magazine? Just make sure you don't have any place for a hang up of the spring, follower or shells and a nice firm spring.

[jmr40]

If the threat is indoors my shotgun is the LAST gun I'd pick up. There is no place inside my home for a shot longer than 20' and in most places the range could be measured in single digit feet. Too easy for an intruder to get their hands on most any long gun and at the least make it unusable. At worst take it away from you. I have handguns with 20-30 round magazines with attached weapons lights for indoors. The ability to have a free hand is huge.

I have a PCC and 16" AR's that would be a better weapon indoors. They are lighter, shorter and have a tiny fraction of the recoil while holding 20-30 rounds. Adding just 2 more for a shotgun isn't that much of a gain. Even an 18" barreled pump shotgun is longer and heavier with recoil in the 300 WM range. About 6 times as much recoil as a 223. The only tactical advantage of a shotgun is the wide pattern that makes it easier to get hits. That is negated inside of 10-15 feet where the pattern would be only 2-3".

Where a shot gun shines is OUTDOORS and at ranges of 10-50 yards. The 2-3 foot patterns with buckshot at those ranges greatly improve the hit probability at those ranges. Especially on moving targets. If that were the case, then I'd pick my shotgun. And I'd be indoors behind cover firing outdoors. Much more time to reload. And I do have 20 rounds of buckshot and 10 slugs readily accessible and stored near the shotgun.

[The Happy kaboomer]

Butt cuffs and side saddles throw a gun's balance off so far it looks like a sinking ship. Go with the extension. Instead of hanging "doodads" that can snag on stuff and make the gun awkward..........My house gun is a pistol.......Only takes one hand to operate.
Touch off of either in a small room or hallway and yer gonna be blind and deaf for a few seconds.

[deadcoyote]

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I live in the PNW, heavily wooded area and my house is on a cleared 3/4 acre with another 1.25 acres wooded and bordering 900 acres of forested government land. I personally love a shotgun as a home defense tool but not so much for someone in my house, I have a handgun with light on it for that. If there’s a disturbance on my property it’s typically a bobcat or black bear or mountain lion. One time it was two women (stupidity). I prefer a shotgun for effectiveness on the whole of my visible cleared land and a high hit probability loaded with 3” 15 pellet 00 buck.

To be fair and specific to the topic my go to shotgun is a 9+1 but I wouldn’t feel helpless with a 4+1. As others have stated, Remington makes great plus 2/3 extensions, should do you well. My only advice would be even if Remington says you can get away with your factory spring buy an oversize replacement spring and cut to length. I’ve used them for years, they work great.