Hello, I just bought my first shotgun 18", 7 shot 870 express magnum. Question how difficult is it to replace the bead, eather with fiber optic or "preferably meprolight or radiated sight"? Has any one else seen an 870 express in OD Green? I checked Remingtons web site and couldnt find anything on it. Found it a local sporting goods store and got an awsome deal on it. Thought it looked cool but am woundering if it was painted? Thanks

I've never seen an 870 with an 18" barrel. Seems a little short to be factory. Is the barrel ribbed or plain. This will make a difference on which sight you can install.

Just so you know, the length of the barrel is measured from the chamber of the barrel where the rim of the shell would be, not from the front of the action. Just saying that because you might just have measured it wrong. Just never saw an 18" barrel on any 870 before.

I second Gismo's comments - and if you still have some doubts when measuring from the outside, close the action and drop a cleaning rod down the barrel, mark and then measure. 20" is the shortest I've heard the 870 produced with.

While on one hand I have never heard of the 870 coming in OD green, on the other there should be a sign somewhere that it is paint.

Please let us know what kind of barrel it is - I'm assuming it is the slug barrel and has a posted bead front sight. You'll find a zillion different front post options at Brownells or Midway for the 870.

I put a 2.5x Burris shotgun scope on mine, but could also have put on a red dot or holosight as well. Perfect for 50 yard slugging.

Do you have a tube extender on it, if it holds 7 rounds?

Hello, I just bought my first shotgun 18", 7 shot 870 express magnum. Question how difficult is it to replace the bead, eather with fiber optic or "preferably meprolight or radiated sight"? Has any one else seen an 870 express in OD Green? I checked Remingtons web site and couldnt find anything on it. Found it a local sporting goods store and got an awsome deal on it. Thought it looked cool but am woundering if it was painted? Thanks

The beads are screwed in and can be replaced. Check out Brownell's they have a dizzing selection of beads and shotgun sights. I had a couple of 870 express's. The first one I bought was a very early one and had some finish problems. It would rust if you left it in a bucket of oil. Something do do with that new finish they were putting on them. It was a 3 inch mag.

The second was one of the 3.5 inch mags and was intended for turkey hunting. Kicked the living dickens out of me. I sure suggest you put a limbsaver or such on it. I still have a 20 gauge youth express mag. It's got the wood stocks and isn't to bad to shoot.

I finally went with a Mossberg ulti-mag with the ported 24 inch bbl. This topped with an aimpoint 5000 makes a darned nice turkey rig and is so much easier to shoot with the big shells.

Here is a pix of my rig. The firesights come as standard and those from Williams can be put in any shotgun with a rib on the barrel. For round barrels The standard Remington rifle sights can be put on. There are some interesting combat shotgun sights also available.

Replacing the front bead with a fiberoptic sight will depend on if your barrel is ribbed or not. If it is ribbed, there are many to choose from. If it is a plain barrel, I am not sure if they make anything for that. It would be pretty small if they did.

You can trust implicitly any sugestions Bob and Gismo give -

Brownells is a great place - it's amazing how much stuff they have and how much dough you can kiss goodbye if you are not careful... :)

Thanks for all the help Reading from the box it is a
( Remington model 870 Synthetic express 18" BBL CYL BORE BS 2-shot EXT OD Green BBL and REC ), much of this I dont understand some I do.
What I do know about it is that it is in their Home Defence line up 18" smooth bore. Receiver reads Remington 870 Express Magnum 2 round extension, not ribbed. The bead is the same color as the barrel wich maid me wounder if it was painted. Dicks Sporting Goods tag reads ( *870 HD 4859 )

I can post pics if you like or I can at least try never done that before on this site

I found them on the web site. I found tactical shotguns anyway with the OD green barrelled actions. They show them in black, but they have tactical guns in the OD green.


http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/shotguns/model_870/model_870_express_synthetic_18inch.asp


http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/shotguns/tactical_shotguns.asp

What I do with the bead on my deer gun is paint it with florescent orange paint. Works really well.

Yeah those I had found, its not a tacticle I paid $260 for the shotgun $30 less if remington rebate goes through. It looks exactly like the 870's you found in synthetic black but in OD Green. After searching the internet I am still unable to find any other gun like it. Any ideas on possible sight replacement is greatly appreciated, may just have to paint until viable solution is found. Thanks

Looks like you have a bead on a front block. Take a look at these beads.

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/ns/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=6846&title=TRU-DOT+DAY%2fNIGHT+SHOTGUN+BEAD

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/ns/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=4182&title=HIGH+VISIBILITY+SHOTGUN+BEADS

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/ns/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=1886&title=SIGHT+BEADS

Gismo - as always - thanks for your comments, if they do make it in ODG, great! Does not look painted to me. and thanks Niky for the photos. Does look cool. I support the idea of looking through the brownells or midway sites to find what you are looking for.

Peace,

Thanks, that is a great web site! Been going through it looking at all the toys I mean tools. I like the idea of the meprolight bead, just need to find out if it mounts in the 870 or what the 870 threading is. Thanks to all for your input!

Thanks, that is a great web site! Been going through it looking at all the toys I mean tools. I like the idea of the meprolight bead, just need to find out if it mounts in the 870 or what the 870 threading is. Thanks to all for your input!


pic of the bead

I believe you have a 6x48 thread size. That is standard for front beads. Here are a few more at Midway.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=867479

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=910286

I would maybe check with Remington about the thread size unless you have a way of measuring them. It will either be 6x48 or 3x56. I don't remember which.

Thank you very much for all the time you've put in looking for those products. One last simple question, how to remove the bead? I tried plyers and all it did was scratch the paint? Maybe twisted the wrong way but it really didnt move. Maybey I'll just get the reciever tapped and put a red dot scope

Thank you very much for all the time you've put in looking for those products. One last simple question, how to remove the bead? I tried plyers and all it did was scratch the paint? Maybe twisted the wrong way but it really didnt move. Maybey I'll just get the reciever tapped and put a red dot scope


I bet the paint is holding the bead on. You will just have to keep trying. You just turn it counter clockwise to remove the bead. If you want a red dot you could have the action drilled and tapped, or buy a saddle mount and no need for drilling. If you want a saddle mount, this is the one I like.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=367653

The bead would be cheaper, but the red dots are nice.

Morning Niky -

It's probably sealed with Locktite and over-torqued, the factories love to do that. Use a little nail polish remover. I prefer to seal my threads with nail gloss, that way I can use acetone to loosen them up quicker when I want.

I would suggest the B-Square mount - no tapping required. They mount through the two trigger housing bolts. I then put my scope on that.

With shoutguns, velocity is independent of barrel length. The only reason those bird barrels are so long is to give one a more lengthy and accurate sight picture. And with open sights a quicker acquisition as well. I bought a 20" smooth barrel with the rem-choke system. My 870 is zeroed at 50 yards with slugs. I found that with 3" mag shells it also patterns very nice at 50 yards.

Here's my 870, 2.5x Burris shotgun scope, B-Square mount, Trulock chokes. Aftermarket stock and forend and a Limbsaver recoil pad. I would be just as happy with a 1x red dot scope as well - the choice is yours.

Happy customizing!

www.freewebs.com/acrsaved/870.JPG

Niky I'll give you a hint about Brownell's send them five bucks for their catalog it's worth every penny and so much easier to use than their websight. I've suggested several times to them to go over and take a look at Midways web sight, then hire the guy that did it to revamp theirs.

Any way Brownell's does have a great catalog and you'll get your five dollars back on your first order.

As for your question, Both Remington and Brownells sells a set of sights, just like rifle sights, that will make any short barrel without a rib a very accurate gun, or just buy the barrel from Remington already set up with sight on it.

I finally got an e-mail back from Remingotn, According to them my shotgun is a special run made for Dicks Sporting Goods in 2005 and the bead is pressed into pace, no threads. I appreciate all your input , I will let you know what happens to that front sight or wether I scope it. Again thanks for all our help.

I finally got an e-mail back from Remingotn, According to them my shotgun is a special run made for Dicks Sporting Goods in 2005 and the bead is pressed into pace, no threads. I appreciate all your input , I will let you know what happens to that front sight or wether I scope it. Again thanks for all our help.


If thats the case, just take it to a gunsmith and he can grind it down flat, then drill and tap the base for a regular bead. That would be cheaper than buying the saddle mount and a scope to put on it.

Amen - solid suggestion. Good luck and happy gunning!