I've got a Remington Model 870 in 20 ga. The barrel has a ventalated rib and is 28-inches long and threaded for the RemChokes. I don't have machine shop tools to do it, but is it possible to cut the barrel by four inches and have new threads cut into the barrel that would fit the RemChoke threads? It seem that in 20 ga., Remington does not make replacement barrels in anything shorter than 26 inches, so getting a 24-inch ribbed replacement barrel is not an option. Thanks for your time ... Tom Purdom

Thomas,
If you cut the barrel you will not have enough meat in the barrel to install Rem-chokes at the new muzzle. It may be possible to install thin-wall chokes in the shorter barrel. Mike Orlen does this kind of work for turkey hunters on a regular basis. Mike's website is http://members.aol.com/mrmoe/brochure.jpg He has a good reputation and I know several folks who have had him do barrel work.

Chuck Graber

Chuck, without measuring his barrel how would you know he didn't have enough wall to re-install the Remchokes? You rarely see a shotgun barrel get smaller in diameter as you move back from the muzzle. In other words if the muzzle now has the required diameter of at least .720" with a concentric bore then I would expect the diameter to increase rather than decrease as your move toward the receiver. George

[This message has been edited by George Stringer (edited 02-07-2002).]

The factory generally swells the the end of the barrel to facilitate the installation of the 32tpi choke system, and it is an extremely high chance that there will not be enough barrel to reinstall the rem choke system, but the only way to know for sure is to measure the barrel BEFORE you cut it off so there are no unpleasant suprises. The comment about concentric bore is also very important, diameter doesn't mean squat if it isn't concentric. I have been installing choke tubes (true choke 44tpi) since 1987, and have encountered many barrels that are not thick enough or concentric enough to allow for the tubes to be installed, and the rem choke system needs more metal than the tubes I install.

[This message has been edited by DuaneinND (edited 02-08-2002).]

George,
Duane is right most manufacturers swell the barrels to have enough steel to cut the threads in. I have seen a couple of guys on other BBS forums ask this question and several different gunsmiths who install choke tubes gave them the same answer that I gave Tom. Do you know anyone who installs Remchokes, Invectors, or Mobil chokes? All of the 'smiths that I know who install choke tubes will only install thin wall chokes. This preserves enough metal to hold the choke tube reliably.

Chuck Graber

Niether one of these guy answered your guestion. Buy a Remington barrle around $200.00 or less if you know where to look cheaper than a smith cutting the barrle and having to refit the rib. You can get almost any length with rem chokes.
Kerry

Chuck Grabber is correct. If you cut the barrel you will have to use Tru-Choke design tubes which are a little thiner than Rem Choke.

The cost in this area is:

Cut and crown barrel and reinstall bead-45.00
Thread barrel for choke tubes-----------75.00

Well, in my shop I install Winchoke, Remchoke, etc as well as Tru-chokes and thinwalls. I don't recall anyone ever asking me to cut off a 20 that already had chokes from the factory but every 20 with fixed chokes has required the smaller tubes, either Truchoke or Thinwalls. It never dawned on me that the factory would swell a barrel. That doesn't make much sense to me. With all the different lengths they make that have to have the constant bore diameter I would have thought that they made them a little differently with the contour. Wouldn't swelling them in any fashion leave a bulge? You guys seem to know this for a fact and I don't so I'm certainly not going to argue with you. I just have a hard time getting my mind around it. You can flat bet I'll be putting the calipers to the next 20ga with chokes that comes into the shop. I've been a gunsmith since 1976 and one thing doesn't change. You learn something new everyday. George

I have used Mike Orlen before on a Rem. 878 Automaster and he did an excellent job fitting Tru Chokes to my imp. cyl. VR barrel. If he cuts the barrel at the rib post it costs very little.

George

Are you reaming for choke tubes in your lathe or some other method?

My lathe has 36" between ceners but I still am not able to get some of the barrels in.

I don't have a collet set up, I beleive if I did I would gain enough room to do a lot more of them. Right now I'm using the 3 jaw chuck to drive the reamer and a chamber adaptor to enable me to push the barrel with the tail stock. ( Recomended by Manson Reamers )

Craftsman, I do them a couple of different ways with my lathe. I have a milling attachment that I made to attach to my compound that I use for doubles. When using that I'll hold the floating holder in a 4 jaw and feed the barrel into it by moving the carriage. But I prefer to do single barrels the opposite way because my tailstock weighs a ton and is a major operation to remove. I don't take it off unless I absolutely have to. I hold them in a 4 jaw, use a spider in the steady rest and feed the reamer with the tailstock. I have used this same method with doubles but it's such a pain to set them up (twice)that I finally made the milling attachement. A lot of folks use the Palmgren milling attchment for all their choke work. That's probably the easiest method. My homemade attachment isn't as versatile as theirs. I can move it up and down to change positions of the barrels but it requires shims to level the barrels and indicate the bores in while the Palmgren will rotate in the vertical. One of these day's I'll probably break down and buy one. George

George

Thanks for the input. I agree we would both benefit from a Palmgreen mill attachment.

There is a series of good articles on shotgun barrel and choke work by Michael Orlen in The American Gunsmith. He advocates using the mill vise too.

A year or so back we were discussing a swivel joint you designed for pumping coolant through the bore while chambering. I think you mentioned some pictures of the parts laid out and maybe a schematic. Do you still have pictures or schematics that you could e mail? Thanks.

Craftsman, that wasn't me. There's a guy at http://www.gtrtooling.com/toc.htm that has a couple of nice looking systems. I got the muzzle attachment I use now from Brownells. I'm considering the "through the center" system that GTR has though. George

Looked at that GTR tooling site, Boy don't belive everting you read. Unless he does all his work on a high precision NC machine, he's talking out his *ss on a few things about dialing in the action to better then .00005" good luck. Even if you could get it that accurate the machine ways are not that accurate, Probably only a few tenths at best. But for the most part he knows what he's doing. Just a little over board in some area's
Just my two cents
Kerry

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If you can't hunt, fish. If you can't fish, Hunt

I would say that it is possible to do what you want. I believe that the barrel has to have a .080" wall thickness to be adequate. Something I have heard is that Remington barrels can be a bit eccentric sometimes. Not by much. But, if by chance, the wall thicknes is .100" on one side and .06 on the other you just lost a barrel. Or at least the ability to choke it.Personally, I really don't think there will be a problem. The Barrel that my employer took to the S.H.O.T. show was a Remington and it was rather thick. Just for a bit of triva Remington, before they made screw in chokes, Use to true the choke on the outside of the barrel. Then the barrel was swage and you have a choke. That's were some people ran into problems when they wanted screw in chokes. Outside wasn't concentric to the inside, and so on... There is a company, outhere some place, that makes a Double lead choke.That takes half the time to screw in. I don't suggest that to you for you sound more like the hunting type. Lots of gunsmiths in NM. I believe Dave Mansons Brother is outhere. He has to have a choke system you can uses. Mark