870 wingmaster

[Phoneman]

I have an old 870 wingmaster that is chambered in 2 3/4" Is there a way to change the receiver to handle 3" shells?

[Graybeard]

Not safely

[Phoneman]

That's what I needed to know. Time to buy a new one. Thank you

[Phoneman]

I had sent an e-mail to remington before I posted this thread and it took awhile for them to get back but believe it or not they said they can replace the ejector and it will cycle and safely handle 3" shells so long as the barrel is a 3". Going to do some more checking but there is hope for me.

[Graybeard]

I was under the impression the 3" barrels wouldn't fit on the 2-3/4" chambered guns. I still think that's right BUT that part they mention "might" be the why they won't. What did they say about the cut in the reciver? As I recall it's not really long enough to properly allow a fired 3" to eject without hitting. Might be wrong but I was thinking I'd tried one long ago just to see if it would smoothly eject.

If it's a simple matter of the one part and a new barrel then that's an easy route to go if you already have one. I don't have any currently that aren't 3" chambered but sure let some get away from me I'd like to have back.

[Phoneman]

The 3" barrels will fit on the 2 3/4 receivers without a problem. just a difference in how deep they put the forcing cone. Gunnnut explained a little in the rifle forum for me.   I also called a remington factory gunsmith yesterday afternoon and he said the only difference is the length of the ejector. costs about 20 dollars for parts and it's somewhat easy to do. thing that keeps most people from doing it is reblueing the receiver after your done because of the 2 rivets on the left side have to come out to allow the ejector to be replaced I guess that can get expensive if you don't know how to reblue yourself. Looks like it's off to numrich for me. Thanks for everyones time.

[Bullseye]

I have looked into this myself a few years ago.  All my slug barrels are 3" chambers and I use them on some 2 3/4" receivers.  Remington says in the instructions that come with the barrels that they will fit either but to only use 3" shells in a magnum receiver.

If you compare the parts list for a 2 3/4" and 3" gun, the reciever is the same part number and the only difference is the ejector as Remington said.  The ejection hole in the receiver is the exact same size.

There are companies that have advertised making this conversion for years.  Ballastic Product was who advertised it and I talked to years ago.

[Sx2]

http://www.ahlmans.com/shotgunalterations.html

Convert Remington 870 to 3" magnum $65.00