Remington 870 Magazine Follower Overview and Alternatives (Choate, Scattergun Technologies, Original, Stainless, Vang)

Good follower is very important for a shotgun and some of them add reliability even to the most reliable shotgun – Remington 870.

Good tactical shotgun follower has several important features:

1. Allows to easily identify if magazine is empty.

2. Prevents magazine spring from kinking.

Followers for Remington 870

There are several magazine followers on the market:

1. Original Remington Follower.

2. Scattergun Technologies Follower

3. Choate Magazine Follower.

4. Different Aluminium Followers.

5. Vang Comp Stainless Magazine Follower.

Now we’ll  take a closer look at each of them. Let’s start with the standard Reminton 870 follower which comes with your shotgun:

Standard Remington 870 Follower

Standard Remington follower is made of plastic, it is orange and doesn’t have tail which prevents magazine spring from krinking. But that also means that it doesn’t take the additional tube space.  Standard follower works properly and I have not heard about any problems with it but it is very thin and doesn’t look reliable. Several times I had a problems loading shotgun which were possibly caused by this follower. They gone when I replaced it.

This follower is very easy to scratch or brake. I know that there were cases when follower was broken and caused jam. I highly recommend to replace it with another one.

There is only one follower which allows easily check the magazine by touch, this is next follower in overview, it is Scattergun Technologies (Wilson Combat) Follower.

Follower Scattergun Technologies (Wilson Combat)

This is high- visibility, fluorescent green follower which has tail which improves feeding. You can easily check the magazine by your finger. I highly recommend to use this follower in your tactical / home defense shotgun.

It is made of ABS nylon and I really like it. It looks reliable and I am sure that it will last for a long time.

UPDATE: Recently I was experimenting with my Choate magazine extension and broke the center part of the Scattergun Technologies follower (it stuck and I had to add some pressure to it), so it is not as reliable as I thought. Replaced it with aluminium follower. I think that metal follower slides in the tube better than the plastic one.

Scattergun Technologies (Wilson Combat) Follower

Choate Magazine Follower for Remington 870

Next follower in overview is Choate follower. It is orange, made of plastic and has very long tail. I didn’t have problems with it but have heard that some shooters had a problems with feeding. In my opinion the tail is too long and takes too much of the magazine tube space. Also it doesn’t allow you to check the magazine by your finger but it is made of highly visible orange plastic.

Choate Follower For Remington 870 Shotgun

Aluminium Followers for Remington 870

The next follower in overview is red aluminium follower. There are a lot of different aluminium followers on the market. You can purchase aluminium followers of many different colors. They are tough, reliable and I have used one for a very long time without any problems.

They are less visible than acid green or orange followers and can’t be identified by touch but they are still a good choice for your tactical shotgun.

Attention: some people think that metal followers can damage mag tube but I don’t know any facts and don’t know any cases of the damage caused by metal followers.

Aluminium Follower for Remington 870

There are a lot of different magazine followers for Remington 870 shotgun, they have different features, made of different materials and made in different colors. You can choose the one you like. I use Scattergun Technologies High-Visibility follower and very happy with it, highly recommended.

The only one follower which I haven’t reviewed is Vang Stainless follower. I will review it when I will have it in my hands.