Overview of Magazine Extensions for Remington 870 Shotgun (Choate, TacStar, Remington, ATI)

Posted on October 28, 2009

This is overview of the most popular magazine extensions for Remington 870 shotgun: Choate, TacStar, Remington. Some of the information is based on my own experience and some is from other owners of our favorite  Rem 870.

I haven’t reviewed plastic magazine extension (ATI) because I don’t think that it is reliable and I don’t recommend it to anyone.

Let’s start with the original Remington magazine extension, it is different from other ones.

Bundle:
Extension
Spring
Clamp (without swivel)
Mounting screw for clamp

1. Remington magazine extension is little longer than the other ones. There are many theories about the purpose of this nose cap in the end of the tube, but the truth is that it allows to attach a bayonet (for example, M7). If you want to add a bayonet to your shotgun you will need an additional bayonet adapter. For example, the one from S&J Hardware, the price is about $80-100.

Original military U.S.M.C. M870 MK1 Bayonet Adapter/Magazine Bracket (which is no longer manufactured) is difficult to find and will cost you about $250.

2.  This extension has a groove around it that provides an interlock for the mounting screw of the barrel clamp. It positions the clamp on the extension and locks it in position. This is one of the advantages of the Remington extension because clamp can’t move under recoil. Some of the shooters say that other barrel clamps are not as reliable as the one by Remington.

3. Extension consists of two parts. This allows smooth feeding. All other extensions are made from solid tube and have small “step” inside tube which can cause jamming of the spring or follower to malfunction.

This extension is the most expensive one, the price is about $100-120

Next extension in this overview is made by Choate

Bundle:
Extension
Spring
Clamp (with swivel)
Mounting screw for clamp
Orange follower with tail

This is one-piece extension made from metal. It is available in polished blue or matte blue finishes. There are several known problems with this magazine extension:
1. Spring need to be cut to proper length.
2. Follower is too big and diameter need to be reduced to slide freely in the magazine tube.
3. It is difficult to thread it fully on to the existing magazine tube. Fits very very tight.
4. Problems with feeding, follower sticks.  Can be fixed by polishing the inside of an extension tube.

It looks like this extension was stamped and not made of solid piece of metal.

The price is about $40-50

And the last extension in this overview is from TacStar

Bundle:
Extension
Spring

I think that this is one of the most popular magazine extensions for Remington 870 shotgun. You can select polished blued or matte parkerized variant. Some of the users of this magazine extension say that parkerized coating was not very durable. Other that that it works perfectly and does not need any modifications.

The tube is made from solid piece of metal.

Price of this extensions is about $50-60

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Attention: Manufacturers of extensions consider that the standard capacity of the Remington 870 Express shotgun is 5 rounds (4+1), that is why when you want to buy magazine extension for 2 rounds, you need to choose the 7-shot magazine extension.

Please leave a comment if you have experience with Remington 870 magazine extensions from this review.

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