870 Cantilever deer barrel

[Huntsman1]

 How are these compared to an 870 with the receiver drilled & tapped for scope mount? Having said that, How does the Mossberg cantilever barrel compare to Remington?
Thanks for your comments

[nrb]

I have hunted with both a drilled 12gauge receiver as well as a cantilever scope. With the 870, the barrel is not screwed into the receiver so motion is possible between the receiver and barrel. I found the cantilever mount to be the best solution. I use an 11-87 as my deer getter.

best,       nrb

[Graybeard]

It's been a lot of years since I had reason to use a slug gun for hunting but back then I had a Remington Model 870 Express with rifled barrel and had the receiver drilled and tapped and mounted the scope to it. I had no trouble getting 2" groups at 100 yards with it using Remington's Copper sabot slugs. That was plenty good enough to satisify me. I never found the fact the barrel isn't locked to the receiver a problem.

[LaOtto222]

Accuracy wise I do not think it makes much difference. The difference is if you change barrels. When you take off the slug barrel the scope goes with it; if it is cantilever mounted. If it is mounted on the receiver, you have to take it off for your smooth bore barrel. Then you have to remount the scope for the slug barrel and re-zero. If it is mounted on the barrel, then re-zeroing is not needed or little is needed to tweak it back in. If you have a dedicated slug gun, then it makes little difference. There is a lot of deer hunting in Indiana with slugs. For years it was the only legal way of hunting deer. Over the years they have added bows, Black Powder, pistols/revolvers and this year pistol cartridges in rifles. There are a lot of guys still using slugs for deer here. The rifles bore was a great boon for them. I have a smooth bore Ithaca model 37 that will put 3 slugs into 2"- 2.5" at 50 yards, and under 5" at 100.

[mogwai]

How are these compared to an 870 with the receiver drilled & tapped for scope mount? Having said that, How does the Mossberg cantilever barrel compare to Remington?
Thanks for your comments

I have one of the Mossberg barrels on my 870.  Fit is fine, it tightens down fine, shoots <3" groups at 100 yds with it's favorite slug.  Cost is very reasonable.  The scope that came with mine is very poor quality.

[K.K]

I vote for the cantilever barrel. I loc-tited all of the screws, and change barrels frequently. I have never had an POI change in over 6 years. About the only thing that I would add is that for me, the comb is a little low, and I get belted in the cheek every once in a while. I may add one of those neoprene cheek pads for deer hunting. Other than that, it's a great combination.

[Huntsman1]

Well, cantilever barrel it is then, well at least that's what I ended up buying for my Mossberg 500 20 gauge, I t was a deal I couldn't pass up. I found I was developing a flinch with the heavier 12 gauge slug shooting.