doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Wingmaster question

If you traded that 870 66 years ago, it was a 20 gauge on the 12 gauge frame. Heavy for a 20, but swings well. I still have mine. The new ones are a lot different.

If I remember correctly the steel plugs for 870 12ga guns came standard with 3" guns. There was a screw to position it at the front end of the magazine tube, probably to prevent any problems with feeding and recoil. I imagine it would spring back and forth if unsecured, something to think about.

I still have the steel plug for a 12 ga 3" 870 I bought in the 60's, which I lost when I fell through the ice while riding a sno-go, on a slough that dumped into the Kuskokwim River in AK.

It did come with the 870 when I bought it, along with a plastic plug. The plug didn't have any type of screw on it. It just had a narrow lip that sat atop the magazine, underneath the cap.

If the OP decides to use a steel magazine plug to add front end weight to his 28ga, he probably ought to fashion some sort of lip so that the plug will sit atop the magazine spring and not slide back and forth with the tilt of the gun....Geo

I bought that 870 new in 1956. Best as I recall it weighed in at about 6 1/4 lbs. Quite certain the frame was not large enough to have been a 12ga one. What ever I simply did not shoot it anywhere near as well as my old J Stevens 12 ga double. Ended up trading them both off, wish I had kept the J Stevens, don't regret letting the 870 go nor do I have any desire for another.

You also might consider loading an older brass-based 28 ga. round entirely with lead shot, sealing it with a glue gun to be certain, and placing it atop your magazine spring, followed by the tube's end cap. I did this for years with a Winchester Model 12 Trap gun and upon disassembly, everything was intact.....no rust, no spilled shot, etc. Diameter of your specific shell fits the magazine diameter than most weights you will find, and remains invisible as opposed to external weights.

Rob

When the Model 870 "Wingmaster" was introduced back in 1950, the 12-gauge guns came with what was called the "VARI-WEIGHT" PRINCIPLE --



Decades later when the Model 870 and 1100 28-gauge and .410-bores were introduced, they offered a Match-Weight Skeet Cap with the Skeet Guns --



One of these Match-Weight Skeet Caps would do the job very nicely.

I could be wrong, but if you examine a steel 870 plug you will find a screw hole below the lip, federal law says that the plug should not be removed with out a tool. An interesting note Winchester model 12s will hold 6 shells

If you bought it in 1956, it was on the 12-gauge frame. That is all there was until Remington began phasing in the Lightweight 20-gauge Model 1100 and 870s in the early 1970s.

James, I believe what you are referring to is the Federal rule that your plug must not be removable without taking down the gun. No tool requirement I'm aware of...Geo