Remington 870 Choke Tubes

kam582

kam582

New member
This is a basic question and I should know the answer, but I don't have any experience with choke tubes. I picked up a Remington 870 used with a choke tube system that came with a modified and improved cylinder tube. There was no full tube. My question is, what is the choke with no tubes inserted, or can you even shoot it with no tubes in it. I looked at the barrel markings for a choke size on the barrel and there were none, expect for one star right in front of where the barrel is stamped 12 GA 2 3/4 or 3". I always thought that one star meant full choke. Thanks for the help.
 
No choke in the barrel would be cylinder or even more open. While it can and has been done, I would not shoot a threaded barrel without chokes installed. IIRC, you can get a choke that is just basicly a thread protector.

What are you wanting to do ?
 
Looking for a full choke so it sounds like I'm going to have to go get a full tube. Looking to use it for coyotes, and maybe some snow geese this spring when they get up here.
 
I would not run the gun with out a choke tube in it. Go pick up a remington full or extra full choke tube from any sporting goods store and be done with it. If you run it with no choke you could possibly damage the threads and then you SOL for using your other chokes. Sometimes you can find a used choke tube for $15-25 for factory or pick up a Dead coyote or something along that line for $25-45. I would not risk it.
 
I use an extra full turkey choke for yotes. You can get fixed choke barrels for wingmasters (mine is modified choke barrel) but not sure about expresses. Just get another choke tube.
 
In general a modified choke will act as a full choke with steel shot and most factory full chokes are stamped No Steel Shot. I would pattern the steel in the modified and if you want a tighter pattern you'll have to go for a specialty waterfowl choke that will hold up to the harder steel shot.
 
I always thought I had to have EF chokes for long range shooting but after testing different chokes with different coyote loads I found sometimes more open chokes actually perform better at longer ranges. I would test the chokes you have before buying more, course every gun/load is different. Just my 2 pennies
 
I found what KJ said to be true. Always thought the tighter tubes gave the best performance at any distance. Not true with my 870. The mod and IC tubes actually performed better in mine at longer distances using #4 buckshot (lead). Every shotgun is different and no one can accurately predict what your tube will do. Shotguns are like girlfriends...quite unpredictable.
 
Back
Top