Shotgun Followers Overview (Remington 870)

Posted on March 10, 2010

Every owner of the Remington 870 shotgun knows that standard Remington 870 follower is not as reliable and sturdy as we want it to be. Orange plastic follower is the first thing to upgrade in Remington 870 shotgun.

Happily, there are a lot of different alternatives of the Remington 870 follower and I think that more will come in future. The information in this article is intended to explain the differences in what is on the market today.

Main advantages of the alternative followers are:
1. Tail of the follower which improves feeding and prevents spring from kinking. But tail takes some space in the magazine tube.
2. Projection on the head which allows to check an empty shotgun magazine by your finger.
3. Made of better material (metal or plastic).
4. Different color.

Attention: new Remington 870 shotguns have two “dimples” in magazine tube and followers without slots in the sides will not work with them. You will need to drill out the dimples or modify a follower.

There are many followers available on the market:
Remington
Scattergun Technologies
Choate
Vang Comp
Different steel followers (for example Brownells)
S&J Hardware

Let’s start with standard Remington follower

Remington Shotgun Follower

Standard follower is made of thin orange plastic. It is very thin and easily destructible. Several times I had problems loading shotgun which were possibly caused by this follower. They gone when I replaced it. It should be replaced with better one as soon as possible.

First alternative follower is Scattergun Technologies (Wilson Combat) Follower.

Scattergun Technologies Shotgun Follower

This follower is one of the most popular followers and can be easily found everywhere. There are a lot of positive comments about it. This is high- visibility, fluorescent green follower which has a tail which improves feeding and projection in the head which allows to check the magazine by your finger. It is made of ABS nylon and looks reliable. But there is weak point. The middle part (projection) of the follower is not solid and I was able to brake it loading a magazine (it stuck and I had to use force on it).

Next follower in this review is made by Choate

Choate Shotgun Follower

It is orange, made of plastic and has a very long tail. I didn’t have problems with it but I know shooters which had problem with it: follower is too big and diameter need to be reduced to slide freely in a magazine tube.

In my opinion the tail is too long and takes too much of a magazine tube space. Also it doesn’t allow you to check a magazine by your finger but it is made of highly visible orange plastic.

Another popular follower is made by Vang Comp Systems

Vang Comp Follower

This is steel follower with a hole in the front part. You can use hole to check the magazine by your finger. I didn’t have a chance to use it but readers of the blog shared their experience with me. It is very sturdy and virtually indestructible.

The only one known problem is use of the Vang Comp Follower with original Remington magazine extension. Shells can move follower to the groove inside the extension and it will stuck.

There are a lot of other aluminium/steel followers on the market, for example the one from Brownells

Aluminium Shotgun Follower

The follower on the photo is made by unknown manufacturer. 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. Metal followers slide inside the magazine tube very easily.

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.

The last follower in this review is made by S&J Hardware

SJ Hardware Follower

This shotgun follower is the best I have ever used. Let me start with advantages it gives to a shotgun owner:
1. Bright orange (close to red) color.
2. Tail which prevents spring from kinking and improves feeding.
3. Allows to check an empty shotgun magazine by your finger.
4. It has slots in the sides so it can be used in the Remington Express and other non-Police models (which have dimples in magazine tube).
5. Followers are CNC machined from 2″ thick piece of DuPont Delrin® material. Which is a type of teflon impregnated plastic. Delrin is hard enough to machine, soft enough for use and very slippy. So its ideal for a shotgun follower.

This follower is not hollow inside and doesn’t have weak points (like Scattergun follower). It will not break down with cleaning products and hard use. I was looking for a such follower for a very long time.

I highly recommend to use this follower and think that this follower is the best on the market.

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