Finished my new go-to shotgun.

So I decided to thin my herd of various pump shotguns, and get it down to just one that will be my go-to. I had an 870 Express that I really liked, I preferred the control layout of the Winchester SXP and the Maverick 88. But really liked the solid, old school feel of the steel receiver on the 870. And you can always learn a new set of controls.
Anyway, I like the finish of the new Expresses, a nice smooth satin bluing, but still wanted something nicer if this was going to be a "one-and-only" shotgun, besides maybe just some range toys. So I went out and ordered a new Wingmaster Claro from Buds. It's just a standard Wingmaster, but with fancier Claro Walnut.

To me, the perfect all-around barrel setup is an 18" vent rib, threaded for chokes and with a tritium dot. It gives a nice handy length for home defense or hunting in thick brush and with tighter chokes, will still reach out to bust some clays or fetch a bird in a pinch. The vent rib just looks cool and helps me point the gun. Overall, I think it will do most anything a shotgun needs to do acceptably well. Remington doesn't offer that configuration off the shelf with a matching high polish blue finish. So some cutting had to be done. I stashed the original 28" barrel in the closet. I didn't want to cut up the original, and I couldn't anyway. The original barrel is a light profile. The walls are thinner toward the middle to save weight and then flare out slightly at the muzzle to have room for the choke threads. So if you cut it, the new muzzle ends up on the thin spot and there's not enough metal there to thread for chokes.
Luckily Remington offers a standard profile barrel as well which has the same wall thickness throughout. So purchased that, had a smith cut it down to 18.75" threaded for Rem-chokes and installed an XS Big Dot tritium sight. I know in the end this was a really expensive way to a pretty basic shotgun setup, but now I have it exactly the way I want.

Next to it's trusty back-up. A new S&W Mod. 19-9 reissue.
https://i.postimg.cc/RC54JjTc/IMG-20190216-152959.jpg

Classy. And you can barely see the lock with the blued finish.
https://i.postimg.cc/xYM0V10g/IMG-20190216-153026.jpg

The camera REALLY doesn't do the wood justice.
https://i.postimg.cc/6t7myt6S/IMG-20190216-164058.jpg

Sweet!

I’m a big fan of that high gloss Claro Walnut stock. Very nice work!

back to the '70's

Used a 870 (or a Hi-Standard) as my work shotguns, back in the day.
Both are as dependable a hammer.