Gents,

I need to cut off rem 870 riot gun barrels, then remount a front bead. I notice Clymers makes a nice facing tool, so a square clean muzzle is easy.
How tough is it to drill, tap and then mount the front beads?? Does one use epoxy or loc-tite? Would using a vise to hold the 870 by their receiver seem like an easy way to keep everything square for drilling the hole??

I have over a hundred fifty guns to modify.

Frank N.

Holy Heck! 150 Barrels to cut? Are you an armorer converting 18" riot barrels to the 14" design?

Clymer will give you a nice square face, but it will be slow and the face will be sharp- you'll need to deburr at least then polish the edges smooth...

You have access to the Brownells catalog so everthing you need is in there- Kit for drilling and tapping beads... I think they make a top dead center finder so the bead will be centered... the bead vise holder tool would help... the bead cutter or square cutter to make the bead shaft neat and square would help... and if you could make a jig for the drilling and tapping, you'd be home free...

Ever try that Black Max by Loctite for mounting beads? Sounds permanent enough...

Oh, don't put the receiver in a vise! The thin web of steel in front of the ejection port can and will bend either locking in the barrel tightly or preventing a barrel from being inserted... Just a work of caution.

Good luck.

DeBee,
Due to the ever decreasing room in the patrol units thats EXACTLY what I'm doing. Converting the 18 inchers to 14 so they can fit above the Offciers in a locking mount attached to the cage.
I appreciate the input. I still have to check out Brownells and see exactly what we do need but may get back to you. Have to go on shift.

FN

Several suggestions:
1. You have preliminary homework to do: even tho this is for a police agency, you have 150 sets of Federal registration papers to file and get approved before the first barrel is cut. That approval is for the BATF to okay the creation of a "short-barreled shotgun" under the National Firearms Act and to register each gun. Minimum legal shotgun barrel length is eighteen inches before NFA registration and BATF permissions kick in. If this is not done, you will be in the position of a technical violation of the Federal law; if you do not have written authorization from the police agency to do this work regardless of whether or not BATF approval and registry has been secured, you are at risk --felony risk. So, dot your "i"s and get everything right.

2. As you surely know, the Model 870 barrel is easily removed from the receiver. This makes it easy to chuck in a lathe and trim with due regard for a 90-degree cut. From that point, see if Brownells has a jig for maintaining alignment during drilling for the bead.

3. There is only one law enforcement-value sight worth installing on this type of barrel: drill and tap for a TRITIUM front bead. Most of the time when an officer needs a shotgun, light conditions aren't very good, and the tritium bead makes a big difference. They are cheap and 150 will be a lot cheaper per unit. Check directly with Trijicon or Ameriglo (skip Meprolite). The Ameriglo e-mail address is:

sales@ameriglo.net

The rep is a Rick Callihan. Their 'phone number is: 1-770-390-0554.

IMO the Riot barrel is nearly useless as-is. Consider threading a few test barrels for RemChokes and seeing how well your buckshot patterns and how accurately slugs shoot with the different chokes. One phase of my shotgun training course is to order the officers to fire a 00 or 000 Buck* load at 50 yards then go forward to count holes. With the standard Riot barrel, expect one or two hits on a B-27 silhouette; with an ordinary Modified-choke barrel, expect several more. With a smoothbore deerslug barrel, the contrast in results will be significant. but still not as good as one might hope for big buckshot.

*We qualify with 00 at present, but train and issue 000. Eventually, when I can calculate the scoring for the fewer pellets, 000 will cover all phases.

Hope all this helps,
Paladin