I have a 12 gauge 1953 Remington 870 Wingmaster Magnum shotgun. There is about a 4-5 inch heavy, solid metal bar that is the magazine plug. It is held in place with a single screw through the magazine tube. It is very well made and nicely blued, matching the guns original finish perfectly. The standard 870 barrel retaining cap covers and hides the screw.

A gunsmith recently told me that he thinks that is an aftermarket modification and not factory; he says they did it for balance.

Does anyone know if this is factory or a modification?

If a modification which spring steel/friction cap should I look for to bring the gun back to original?

This is a very nice 870 wingmaster with tootsie roll pump and highly figured oil finished stock (factory finish). It has a 30 inch Full choke plain barrel on it. I also have a much later 28 inch lightweight 12 gauge VR/RC barrel for upland bird hunting.

I had to go look. I have one that is earlier than yours. Right at about beginning production. It is beautiful. The port for mine is exactly 3 inches. Do you have the o riginal barrel? And how long is your port? Mine says on it of course 2 3/4 or shorter shells. Hopefully it hasn't been hacked up.

The ejection port is 2.950" and I believe it to be factory original.

The magazine plug is 4.50" x .910"

I do have the original barrel, which is marked 12 Gauge MAGNUM for 3 in Shells and here are some pics.

The weights on these guns had nothing to do with balance, other than to ruin it! They were simply to help tame recoil of the magnum rounds.

quote:

Originally posted by squeezenhope:
The weights on these guns had nothing to do with balance, other than to ruin it! They were simply to help tame recoil of the magnum rounds.

+1 squeezenhope

That's EGGFAWKING ZACKERY what they were for. Like reducers in the buttstock they actually unbalanced the gun horribly. The mag tube weights made the gun feel clubby, nose heavy and slowed down the swing. They really didn't catch on and didn't last long. I do still see them from time to time in old guns and you can tell you have one the instant you pick up the gun. If you're used to it and ducks fall down, leave it in. It would take you a month to learn how to shoot the gun again after you take it out and it does do what it was designed to do. If you do take it out, you might have to get a new mag tube spring for it to make the last shell feed reliably. The old spring may have been shortened or be crushed from years of over stressing it. You would just have to try it, see if it works and go from there.

Personally, I would take it out and heave it in the lake. But that's just me and I'm sort of funny that way.

I agree with the assesment of it's value. My main question is if it is indeed factory. Yes it does take a longer magazine spring if you use the later (not current) style spring, plug, and spring steel cap.

I have a spring steel cap with a small projection that has the single split. It does not fit properly(too tight). I have seen some spring steel caps that do not hav the projection and have the one full slit and two half slits 120 degrees apart. I am thinking that I need one of these or I will cut two half slots in the one that I have.

Further research indicates this is a factory item, the Vari-weight Plug, 12 oz. blued steel. Offered from 1950 until at least 1972, which is the latest Gun Digest I have with it listed. Perhaps Gun Digest never updated and deleted the Vari-weight plug.

quote:

Vari-weight plug

Yeah, it was a Remington flop. They also made weights for the small gauge guns so they would match the weight of the 12 gauge for the skeet shooters for a while. People will pay big money for gadgets. You can still find veggy THWACKITTANASHERS in peoples homes for cutting stuff for salads. My ex had one. It was 5 seconds faster than using a knife. But it took longer to disassemble and wash the THWACKITTANASHER than it did to cut up the veggies with a knife, make the dressing and toss and eat the salad.

I could disassemble, clean and reassemble a Browning Auto 5, in the dark, drunk, with one hand faster than I could clean that THWACKITTANASHER.

LOL!!!! Thanks for the post. I know exactly what you mean!