870 barrel question

[WNM]

I was cleaning my 870 in the shop the other day and dropped the barrel. It hit the concrete and kind of bent the end of it. I tried to straighten it out, to no avail.

I'm going to be converting this to my HD gun, and instead of buying a new, shorter barrel, could this one be shortened? It's the factory 28" vent rib.

 

[shortgrass]

That barrel can be shortened, just be sure it is 18+ inches when you're done. it should be cut so that it can be finished at one of the risers that the rib is mounted on. Any competent 'smith should be able to do the job and install a new bead ,too. Shoot me a PM if ya' need help. (with the peoper tools and skills the bend MIGHT be fixed, hard to tell without having the barrel in hand)

 

[1911user]

The minimum barrel length (18") is measured inside the barrel from the face of the closed bolt to the end of the barrel. If you can drop an 18.00" dowel inside the barrel and it sticks out past the end of the barrel, NOT good! Many will cut at 18.5 inches minimum just to be safe and give some margin to clean up the cut.

 

[ProBusiness]

i think the choke recommended for HD is cylinder. I think a lot of HD defense shotguns when you buy them, come with a cylinder choke.

when you cut the barrel off, below the choke, what you should have in effect is a cylinder choke, although technically there is now no choke in this barrel. so this gun should be good to go for HD.

a gunsmigh i know straigntened a bent barrel by placing a large amount of lead shot on the barrel with nothing under the bent part and just gave it time.

but he also had the tools to determine when it got straight. actually that might be as easy as placing an level or something equivelant along side the barrel.

a shotgun is the number 1 gun recommended for home defense beating handguns.

if u later decided u want a stock 870 barrel you can find them but sometimes not that cheap.

 

[technetium-99m]

Shortening is easy, you can do it or take it to a smith. I like the ability to use chokes because it makes the gun more versatile. I think you can buy the tools for threading, but probably better/cheaper if a smith does it.

For some reason my 870 shoots rifled slugs far better through a modified choke than an IC or cyl., and I love the uber tight pattern of federal 00 buck through a modified choke as well.

On the off chance you ever want to shoot a practical shotgun match the cylinder bore may limit your ability to knock over heavy steel with birdshot.

 

[mr ed]

I don't know exactly what kind of damage your talking about without pictures but if its dented in and out of round on the muzzle.
any gunsmith who works on alot of shotguns should have a hydraulic dent remover that can remove dent and re-round the barrel.

problem is most charge so much now-a-days that it might be cheaper to cut it off and thread for chokes

 

[WNM]

Thanks for the responses guys. I bought another 870 last week for hunting duties, and now I'll probably take the barrel to a smith and have them shorten the bent one.