I have a older late 70's remmington 870 12 ga 23/4" if i put on a barrel chambered for 3 or 31/2 in will this action handle it or is there a heavier action for these barrels

Won't work. Remington makes a special longer action for longer shells. Fortunately, there are lots of them for sale on the used market.

the receivers for 2 3/4 inch shells and 3 inch shells are the same size. the ejector is the different part. the shorter shells work in the longer chambered gun.

John Barsness says if you want to shoot 3" shells in your 2 3/4" chamber go right ahead as it won't hurt a thing. I'm not interested in shooting anything larger than a 20 gauge skeet load these days, so have no use of a 3" shell in anything, but I suspect that Barsness is right.

Stonecreek ??? Goes against everything I've ever been taught. Not a 3" shell in a 2 3/4" chamber.

Maybe you mean a 2 3/4" receiver can handle a 3" shell. But the barrel has to be a 3" chamber.

As far as the original question. To my knowledge the 870 receiver is the same but the ejector clip needs to be moved backed to handle the longer empty shell. CB

For 3 1/2" shells----no way.

The 3" and 3 1/2" barrels will fit on the 2 3/4 " gun, and it will shoot the 2 3/4 "" shells just fine. People with older guns do this all the time. BIG issue is remembering to NOT run the large shells through the gun. I have read many places that the 3" shells will not cause too many problems, but will not eject anyway, so why even try.

You need to change the ejector. That is the only difference in the receiver. The process requires re-blueing of the rerceiver unless you are very carefull.

www.danesguns.com

time to buy a new wingmaster but keep the old 870 as it is a well made gun