Michael, thank you for the great photos and information about your Remington 870 Wingmaster.

From Michael:

Great Blog you’ve got here. I just thought I’d share with you and your
readers my 1979 870 Wingmaster. It has been retired from deer hunting
and is now currently performing home defense duties.
This 2 and 3/4″ chambered 870 originally came with wood furniture that
included a grooved “police” forend and a 21″ smoothbore
improved choke slug barrel with rifle sights. The original modifications
included a TacStar magazine extension giving a 7+1 loadout,
a Choate HighVis orange follower, a TacStar 6 round sidesaddle, a
magazine clamp mount “shoot me” light and a sling.

Great Blog you’ve got here. I just thought I’d share with you and your readers my 1979 870 Wingmaster. It has been retired from deer hunting and is now currently performing home defense duties.

Remington 1979 870 Wingmaster

Remington 1979 870 Wingmaster

This 2 and 3/4″ chambered 870 originally came with wood furniture that included a grooved “police” forend and a 21″ smoothbore improved choke slug barrel with rifle sights. The original modifications included a TacStar magazine extension giving a 7+1 loadout, a Choate HighVis orange follower, a TacStar 6 round sidesaddle, a magazine clamp mount “shoot me” light and a sling.

Recommended Product:
Get TacStar Magazine Extension Here: http://tinyurl.com/c8wyhvg

 

Choate HighVis Orange Follower

Choate HighVis Orange Follower

After some practical usage, the shortcomings became apparent. First it was too heavy with a full loadout and 6 in the sidesaddle for the wife to use and the full length stock and short forearm didn’t help either. I managed to find an used set of synthetic youth model stocks with a longer forend. The stock is 1 inch shorter than the original.

Recommended Product:
Remington 870 Youth Stock Get Remington Youth Stock Here: http://tinyurl.com/c3jnjp8

 

Youth Model Stock

Youth Model Stock

Once the furniture was taken care of, I wanted to do something about the stock safety. I installed a Scattergun Technologies jumbo head safety after I did a litttle “mod” to it. I simply put  some red enamel paint in the outside groove show it would “show red” when the safety was disengaged. The jumbo safety is a great mod, highly recommended!
Scattergun Technologies Jumbo Head Safety

Scattergun Technologies Jumbo Head Safety

Scattergun Technologies Jumbo Head Safety

Scattergun Technologies Jumbo Head Safety

Red Enamel Paint Safety

Red Enamel Paint Safety

I still wanted a decent loadout so I kept the TacStar extension but I did ditch the sidesaddle – it has just proved to be too awkward. The Choate follower was also kept.
For house duty, I ditched sling but I did put the magazine clamp mount light back on. It is located on the left hand side rotated up so that it overlaps the forend and is lined up over the finger groove. I can just use the thumb of my support hand to activate. I’m still not sure if it is all that useful but we’ll see!
TacStar Magazine Extension and Light

TacStar Magazine Extension and Light

The shorter stock makes this weapon much easier for my wife to handle as does the longer forend. The short stock doesn’t bother me at all, in fact I think I can mount the 870 faster. With the longer forend, she doesn’t have to “reach out” to grab it and I think it helps to guard against short stroking.
Remington 870 for Home Defense

Remington 870 for Home Defense

So there you have it! Not very exotic compared to some of the other “tactical” rigs out there but, it works for us.
Great information and photos, Michael, thank you very much!