I've been around guns of all sorts for decades, but it's never too late to learn.
I've got several Remington 870 Wingmasters in 12 gauge. Lately I wanted to get one in 20 gauge. Note the spelling, GAUGE, not GUAGE. One of the most commonly misspelled words in the English language. Years ago, I had an early Wingmaster in 20 gauge, I think it was made in 1952 or 53. At one time in Warshington, 20 ga. guns were somewhat unpopular. Like back around when lead shot was banned for waterfowl. Lots of the older field guns had been made with full choke barrels. During that time, you could go into a gun store and buy a fairly nice 20 ga. 870 for $100. Even back then, I was interested in defensive guns and I wanted such a thing in 20 gauge. In one of the local gun stores, I found the early 20 ga. 870 for sale cheap. It had a long, full choke bbl. I used a pipe cutter and carefully shorted the bbl. to 18-1/2 inches. I chamfered the muzzle with an automotive reamer than I had. Looking through my taps and drills, I found a tiny, matching pair and drilled a hole for a brass bead sight in just the correct, centered location at the muzzle. I surprised myself by how good of a job that I did.
This early 20 ga. Wingmaster had the corn-cob, grooved forend wood. One evening, I knocked the gun over onto a concrete floor and it cracked that forend which caused a good flow of bad language. Well, this shotgun came and eventually went away.
Last year, I decided I wanted another defensive 20 ga. 870. Of course a lot had changed since I'd had my 20 ga. Wingmaster. There is a thing called, LW. Which means, light weight. Which means, smaller receiver than a 12 gauge. You smart fellows may be ahead of the story already. My old 20 ga. Wingmaster had the same size receiver as a 12 ga.
The 20 ga. 870's I've been looking at lately have not been Wingmasters; they've been more recently-made guns. Which, so far as I know, all have reduced size ("LW") receivers as compared to a 12 ga. And I believe there are variations in later 12 ga. receivers, but that's another story. Since I wanted a defensive gun, it pretty much rules out older guns. Which had fixed chokes. I wanted a short barrel with a Remchoke feature, which you can change. Which restricts me to a later gun with the smaller receiver. Some of these have fixed choke barrels, some have Remchoke, so I was being careful about this.
Last month, I found what I wanted for what I thought was a good price but it had the Youth Stock on it, which is too short for me. Ah ha, but I had a matching full length butt stock already on hand at home, left over from another project. No problem, take off the Youth stock and put on the replacement. But it was a problem, because of the difference is receiver sizes. Drat. There aren't many options for 20 ga. 870 butt stocks, either. And I've discovered that a used stock set for a 20 ga. costs about 2/3 the price of a whole gun. And some wooden sets offered for sale are cracked!
In snooping around, on the internet, I discovered that there is an adapter made just for this problem. Adapting a 12 ga. stock to a 20 ga. gun. Made by Mesa Tactical. One of the few "tactical" things I've ever bought. It solved my problem for $20.
Close up of the joint where the adapter fits. I'm not crazy about the appearance of that little hump-up where the 12 ga. stock joins to the 20 ga. receiver, but I can live with it. After all, it's a pretty ugly gun anyway.
I've got several Remington 870 Wingmasters in 12 gauge. Lately I wanted to get one in 20 gauge. Note the spelling, GAUGE, not GUAGE. One of the most commonly misspelled words in the English language. Years ago, I had an early Wingmaster in 20 gauge, I think it was made in 1952 or 53. At one time in Warshington, 20 ga. guns were somewhat unpopular. Like back around when lead shot was banned for waterfowl. Lots of the older field guns had been made with full choke barrels. During that time, you could go into a gun store and buy a fairly nice 20 ga. 870 for $100. Even back then, I was interested in defensive guns and I wanted such a thing in 20 gauge. In one of the local gun stores, I found the early 20 ga. 870 for sale cheap. It had a long, full choke bbl. I used a pipe cutter and carefully shorted the bbl. to 18-1/2 inches. I chamfered the muzzle with an automotive reamer than I had. Looking through my taps and drills, I found a tiny, matching pair and drilled a hole for a brass bead sight in just the correct, centered location at the muzzle. I surprised myself by how good of a job that I did.
This early 20 ga. Wingmaster had the corn-cob, grooved forend wood. One evening, I knocked the gun over onto a concrete floor and it cracked that forend which caused a good flow of bad language. Well, this shotgun came and eventually went away.
Last year, I decided I wanted another defensive 20 ga. 870. Of course a lot had changed since I'd had my 20 ga. Wingmaster. There is a thing called, LW. Which means, light weight. Which means, smaller receiver than a 12 gauge. You smart fellows may be ahead of the story already. My old 20 ga. Wingmaster had the same size receiver as a 12 ga.
The 20 ga. 870's I've been looking at lately have not been Wingmasters; they've been more recently-made guns. Which, so far as I know, all have reduced size ("LW") receivers as compared to a 12 ga. And I believe there are variations in later 12 ga. receivers, but that's another story. Since I wanted a defensive gun, it pretty much rules out older guns. Which had fixed chokes. I wanted a short barrel with a Remchoke feature, which you can change. Which restricts me to a later gun with the smaller receiver. Some of these have fixed choke barrels, some have Remchoke, so I was being careful about this.
Last month, I found what I wanted for what I thought was a good price but it had the Youth Stock on it, which is too short for me. Ah ha, but I had a matching full length butt stock already on hand at home, left over from another project. No problem, take off the Youth stock and put on the replacement. But it was a problem, because of the difference is receiver sizes. Drat. There aren't many options for 20 ga. 870 butt stocks, either. And I've discovered that a used stock set for a 20 ga. costs about 2/3 the price of a whole gun. And some wooden sets offered for sale are cracked!
In snooping around, on the internet, I discovered that there is an adapter made just for this problem. Adapting a 12 ga. stock to a 20 ga. gun. Made by Mesa Tactical. One of the few "tactical" things I've ever bought. It solved my problem for $20.
Close up of the joint where the adapter fits. I'm not crazy about the appearance of that little hump-up where the 12 ga. stock joins to the 20 ga. receiver, but I can live with it. After all, it's a pretty ugly gun anyway.
