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King,
I've used electrolysis to clean pretty large engine, and car sheet metal components. A 12 volt battery charger is about right, I never used the container itself as the anode-I suspended a chunk of stainless plate, which, the the rust moved off the part and tried to adhere to. You need to add lye to the water for best results, I bought Red Devil brand at the hardware store, but, they won't sell you more than two containers a day here-the meth heads use it for something or other. Don't try to buy any other chemistry (acetone MEK, etc.) on the same trip, either.
I'm betting the process is the best bluing remover ever invented, so keep that in mind. It took about 18 hours or so to completely clean a part like an iron intake manifold, (I'm sure it was FAR nastier than the 870, rusty and gunky) and you have to rotate the part to face the anode several times-the action works best line of sight. Keep in mind it only takes an amp to kill a man, and do it in a well ventilated, but, non-exposed to kids, pets, etc. area.
Good Luck.
Best,
Ted

I don't know if this might be a answer to your problem but it might help?
There's a stuff called Salt-X that is used by many of the long range anglers and the local tackle shops here in SoCal to take care of salt water intrusion of their fishing reels.
Could be worth a try?
http://www.salt-x.com/salt-x.htm

King, You are geting a bunch of advice so perhaps this is just too much but: Lehigh Valley Gun lube is made with "Tall Oil" which has been saponified. Tall Oil is a by prouuct of paper making from pine pulp. It is recomended for cleaning up black powder guns as it removes the residual salts in the barrel. The stuff has been tested and is just as remarkable a rust preventative as Balistol, perhaps even better. You can get it from Track of the Wolf. Don't leave it wet over night as it is active but dry it leaves a film on the metal that is rust proof. David

You guys are the best. Pursuing, and thanks again.

It will work on any size part as long as the ferrous anode's surface area is about as large as the gun part's area. Putting the anode close to the parts in the solution will reduce the voltage drop and allow a little more current to flow, speeding up the process a tad. You really can't screw anything up using a 12V battery charger, so experiment a little. Just be sure to observe the correct polarity when hooking up the rig. Be sure to disassemble the trigger group as you don't want to clean the trigger guard (aluminum) in the same set-up. Put only rusty, ferrous metal parts in the solution. You can suspend the parts on steel(or stainless steel)wire hooks over a steel rod across the barrel top.
Be sure you have good electical contact between the all the parts, wires, etc. Let us know how it works out.

OB

Don't fool around with all this fancy stuff. This is not an 18th century cannon. You cannot restore rusted steel with electrolisis or anything else (except welding in VERY selected cases). Put it in a bathtub of clean fresh water with a little dish soap and disassemble it in the water, scrub each part, and then dry it and soak down with WD-40. Surely you have 2 hours to spare. This WILL stop the corrosion and maintain the status quo while you finish evaluating the situation. When you get it clean then you can see what the real overall situation is. You have NOT stopped the corrosion, merely slowed it down, and have kept it from being greatly accelerated by exposure to air.
I would think the wood will be okay in fresh water for awhile until you decide how to deal with that, but I suspect it is okay. Wood starts out mostly water, just like we do, so it's an entirely different situation. Water won't hurt it, BUT intermittent water and organisms do.

I love 870's, but unless this one is very special, the best solution might be to have the metal teflon coated and put a plastic stock on it.

It's my nephew's 12ga Super Magbum Express with plastic stock. With all the help here, we do not anticipate any trouble making it perfectly functional again. The mint 1925 Fox SW will go straight to professional hands

King,
With all due respect, we may need to coin a past tense form of "mint".
Best,
Ted

Yep, enough to break your heart, Ted, and I had it that day only because IC/M chokes were just the ticket for gunning blacks in a gut between two islands. But that's life. When you're squeezing all the juice out of it these things happen.