Does anyone know where I can get a left hand safety conversion for a right handed 870?

I tried Brownells, but they don't have them. I thought this would be a simple project. I don't normally work on this kind of gun.

Who has these things? I'm sure there is a demand for them.

Thanks,

Mark

I’ve been using 870 shotguns for allot of years and haven’t ever considered their safeties to be “right handed.â€

the last place i know of that sold a direct replacement was pa gun parts. i don't even know if they are still in business. i used to have remington instructions around to convert a right handed safety to left handed operation by altering the trigger guard. i will look for you if you like. i think remington doesnt make them availible anymore because most would asume a right handed gun would have a right handed safety.

I haven't looked at an 870 for years. I think the ones made before the mid 80's could just be turned around. Can't help you on the new ones.

You do indeed have to modify the trigger guard to go to a left handed one. They are the same on the 1100's also. The hole for the detent plunger and spring has to be plugged with an aluminum plug and epoxied in. The new hole needs to be drilled on the opposite side as the original.

Jim

jim,
that is what the instructions i have detail with the measurments. i did a google search and pennsylvania gun parts is still in business, but with a different owner than i used to deal with. he still lists a left handed remington safety that is a direct replacement with out altering the trigger guard. it is a lot like the old uncle mikes and williams was. remove the guard, punch out the pin. remove the spring and plunger. remove the remington safety. install the left handed one and reassemble.
max

Remington sent me a whole left-handed trigger group for mine (everything that falls out the bottom when you knock out those two pins). It was about $45. They at first sent me the left-handed group for a left-handed 870, and then it was sorted out and they sent me the correct one, for my right-handed 870. Don't worry, the wrong one won't fit in your gun. Don't take a file to it, because although it only looks as if there is 1/16" or so too much metal on one side, it is still the wrong part.

I don't remember whether I called Customer Service or the Remington Store to buy it.

H. C.

Mark,
I purchased several of these some time ago at a gun show from:
Outback Gun Parts
New Albany, IN
(812) 945-0480
They were the old Uncle Mikes type LH conversion with jumbo button. I am unsure if they work with the new models with the safety.
At the time, he had nine remaining.
Good luck with your project.
Bob Edwards

Thanks a bunch guys.

That sure helps me out.

Mark

Mark, I don't know if this is true, but, I had contacted Brownells a while back regarding this very issue, and one of their tech guys told me that the reason they no longer carried the after market left hand safeties is because of a liability issue stemming from some lawsuit over an accidental discharge.

According to the technician, guns with such modifications were being purchased by unsuspecting folks who thought their weapons were on safe when they really weren't. I guess it could be true, there are some clueless people out there.

I've converted Remington trigger groups to left hand safety with the method Jim Kobe mentioned, plug the existing hole and redrilling on the opposite side of the centerline. A lefty customer had his LH 870 in for something-or-other and I saw how Remington is handling it these days.

They leave the RH safety hole in place and place the new hole on the other side of CL by rotating the LH hole to the rear around the axis of the safety button. Neither hole interferes with the other. No more plugging holes and the trigger group is ambidextrous by changing the detent ball and spring from one hole to the other.

I thought I'd pass this observation on in case it could be of use to you.

Thanks,

I don't have the gun in yet. I'll have to check that out.

Mark