Remington 870 Front Sight Fell Off

Remington 870 Front Sight Fell Off

Any ideas of how to avoid such problem? Please leave a comment.

He uses sport belt called Load-Two which enables shooter to take and load two shells at a time. This may not work with Remington 870 because Benelli has some differences.

This is very good result, especially taking into account that temperature was about 5 Fahrenheit

Safely Unloading a Shotgun

Some basics today. Small “How to Unload a Pump Action Shotgun” video which will show how to safely unload shotgun without racking all the shells in the magazine tube through the chamber.

This is extremely useful during dry fire trainings when you need to unload a shotgun often.

Gun Safety

Gun safety rules are very important and here is small video to illustrate this. This video was recorded during one of the recent trainings on the shooting range.

I have fallen on the ground with loaded shotgun in my hands. That is why it is important to keep your finger off the trigger and shotgun pointing in safe direction.

Shooting Timer

You will find some basic drills which you can do with your shotgun and timer to measure your progress.

All drills can be done from several load conditions:

1 – Chamber loaded, magazine loaded, safety on.

2 – Chamber empty, magazine loaded, safety off.

3 – Chamber empty, magazine empty, safety off.

Time of the first shot – shooting timer shows how fast you make first shot. It is very important to shoot fast and accurately. Start with your shotgun at a waist level. Try to shoot as fast as possible.

Load four shells and make a first shot -  this way you will see how fast you load 4 shells into your shotgun.

Load eight shells and make a first shot – shooting timer will show how fast you load eight shells.

Make two shots – shooting timer has special “split” time which shows how fast you do follow up shots.

Always keep record of your results, this will help you to see your progress.

The only disadvantage of a timer is price but you can get free shooting timer for your iPhone from Surefire:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shottimer/id295005845?mt=8

Leave a comment with your results. I will record a video of my results this weekend.

When to Use a Handgun vs. a Shotgun for Home Defense

If you wake up at 2:00am to the sound of a window being smashed and you hear someone entering your house, here’s what you should ideally do: Gather all of your family members together in the same room, lock the door, call the police and have your gun ready in case the intruder should try and enter that room.

However, we don’t live in an ideal world so it’s much more likely that if you hear someone breaking into your home at 2:00am you’ll have to go confront them or at the very least, you’ll have to go to the top of your stairs and make sure the intruder doesn’t make it past you to get to your family members.

So, if the above ever happened to you, should you use a handgun or shotgun for home defense? Well, to tell you the truth, it depends on the situation. For instance, let’s say you’re a prepared homeowner and you’ve already rehearsed a “home invasion” plan with your family. So they know if they hear you shout a special code word they’re supposed to quickly run to your master bedroom.

And let’s pretend…

Remington 870 for Home Defense

That one day someone did try to break into your house and since you were prepared you were able to safely get all of your family members into the designated “safe room.” For this particular situation I would want a shotgun. I would want to be able to have my family in the bathroom (out of the line of fire) and I would find a good piece of cover and just sit there with my shotgun pointed at the bedroom door. My shotgun of choice is the trusty Remington 870 and my ammo of choice is 00 buckshot. (But be very careful with 00 buck. If others are in the house – besides the intruder – you’ll want to consider birdshot.)

On the other hand, if I weren’t able to get my family in the “safe room” and I had to go confront the intruder and clear my house, I would definitely want a handgun. Here are a few of the reasons why:
First off, there are a lot of corners in a house.

And the last thing I want to do is have my long shotgun barrel sticking out around a corner so that an intruder can grab it and perhaps take my gun away. Also, if you have to enter other bedrooms on the middle floor or basement floor it’s much easier to open a door and bring a handgun to the “close contact firing position” than to clumsily open a door with the shotgun sticking out for a person to grab.

Let’s not forget, if you’re trying to be “stealth” and sneak around your house so the intruder doesn’t know you’re coming, there’s a much better chance you’re going to knock your shotgun into a wall or hit something, especially if you haven’t practiced clearing your house with a shotgun, which most people haven’t. That’s why my handgun of choice for this situation is my concealed carry gun, the Glock 19.

Of course, the gun you have at the time of a home invasion is the one you use whether it’s a shotgun, rifle, or handgun. But whatever gun you decide to go with I would practice the two scenarios above: Gathering your family in the safe room and clearing your house.

Whad do you think? When to Use a Handgun vs. a Shotgun for Home Defense? Please leave a comment.

Serial Number

Remington Year of Manufacture Codes maybe found on the barrel of your Remington rifle [or shotgun] on the left side, just forward of the receiver; the first letter of the Code is the month of manufacture, followed by one or two letters which are the year of manufacture. For shotguns with removeable barrels, the code will be valid for the manufacture of the barrel; maybe for the receiver, as barrels do get switched around.

According to the “Blue Book of Gun Values”, the coding continues as follows:

Month Codes: [first letter]
B – L – A – C – K – P – O – W – D – E – R – X
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12

Year:______Code: [second (and third*) letters]
1930_______ Y
1931_______ Z
1932_______ A
1933_______ B
1934_______ C
1935_______ D
1936_______ E
1937_______ F
1938_______ G
1939_______ H

1940_______ J
1941_______ K
1942_______ L
1943_______ MMZ
1944_______ NN
1945_______ PP
1946_______ RR
1947_______ SS
1948_______ TT
1949_______ UU

1950_______ WW
1951_______ XX
1952_______ YY
1953_______ ZZ
1954_______ A
1955_______ B
1956_______ C
1957_______ D
1958_______ E
1959_______ F

1960_______ G
1961_______ H
1962_______ J
1963_______ K
1964_______ L
1965_______ M
1966_______ N
1967_______ P
1968_______ R
1969_______ S

1970_______ T
1971_______ U
1972_______ W
1973_______ X
1974_______ Y
1975_______ Z
1976_______ I
1977_______ O
1978_______ Q
1979_______ V

1980_______ A
1981_______ B
1982_______ C
1983_______ D
1984_______ E
1985_______ F
1986_______ G
1987_______ H
1988_______ I
1989_______ J

1990_______ K
1991_______ L
1992_______ M
1993_______ N
1994_______ O
1995_______ P
1996_______ Q
1997_______ R
1998_______ S
1999_______ T
2000_______ U
2001_______ W
2002_______ X

* the years 1943 though 1953 had double letters: ie, MM = 1943

As maybe seen, the year code letters duplicate; some knowledge of when the model was introduced should resolve the actual year of manufacture.

I have contacted Remington and they confirmed that information above is correct.

You may seen this a lot of times: shooter waits about a second after the shot and then pumps his/her shotgun. You need to practice pumping shotgun right after the shot using recoil. This way recoil becomes your friend.

Broken Ejector, Remington 870 Tactical

The ejector on my new Remington 870 Tactical broke after only about 200 rounds. Vitaly helped me to diagnose the problem.

He sent this very helpful email advising me of what I needed to do.  Since I’m a new shooter, I felt like this repair was a bit over my head, so I called Remington Customer Service.

I called the customer service number and told them about my problem. I believe the gun has a 2 year warranty. I had not sent in my warranty registration card, but they were glad to help me anyway. He told me to send it to the nearest of only 7 or 8 Remington Authorized Repair Centers (RARC). This was Paducah Shooters Supply in Kentucky (http://www.pssguns.com/GunRepair.html). He gave me their address, advised me to ship via UPS, gave me some packing directions, and said that they usually have a quick turnaround of 1-2 weeks. I printed their service form from the website, put all the original parts back on the gun, except for removing the XS front sight and breach choke out of concern for those parts being lost during the repair. I shipped it in the original box, but wrapped it with a padded brown wrap to disguise the identity of the package.

They received the gun on December 6, 2011. It turns out that the repair took about one month. I got it back on January 6, 2012. They decided to replace the whole receiver, and it took a few weeks for Remington to send them a new one. I ended up getting a new serial number. I was also surprised to see that they replaced the XS front sight and breach choke. The sight seems to fit more snugly than the first one which was loose fitting and frequently slid out during shooting. The gun was still in excellent condition after the repair. There were only a few minor scratches around one of the screws on the receiver. They test-fired the gun, and the ejector apparently functioned well.

They hid the cost details on the invoice, but this whole repair was done at no expense to me except for shipping the firearm to the repair center. I’ll look into sending my previous XS sight and choke back.

All in all, I am very pleased with Remington Customer Service and the work of their Authorized Repair Center and look forward to shooting more soon, especially after moving to SC and being able to shoot on my own land now.

Push the carrier forward to the magazine tube and then pull out the trigger group rotating it. Here is video which will show you how to do this: