870 Magazine Extensions

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Gregory Gauvin

New member
I come across many mentally disabled people daily, so I try my best to stay indoors and online where intelligence lurks. I can't believe how many people in a gunshop could not answer a simple question.

I did a search for the Choate magazine extensions and came across a URL talking about them, and their long followers they are supplied with, but the forum is still a bit confusing. It was my understanding that the long follower supplied with the kit works with the factory magazine extension, but, if you want to have maximum capacity, then use the stock follower with the Choate kit because their long follower takes up about 1 shell of space.

I have a Remington 870 18" barrel, I bought the 2-round extension kit. After using a dremel on the indentations on the magazine tube, the follower would easily pass through. Since this is a 2-round extension tube, I was under the impression that I would get another 2 rounds in the magazine. The gun in stock form holds 4. When I installed the Choate kit, with their spring, their follower, the gun held 5. That's +1. BTW, the directions that come with the kit say to use their follower, their spring.

Anyways, I got my +2 when I put the stock follower back in.

The choate's extended follower seems like a good idea, to help keep the spring from binding. However, you loose a shell with it. So I guess my question is, is it just me, or did a mentally disabled person write the directions and label on this kit?
 
Im not sure how long the Choate follower is, but I have a Nordic Components follower which, although tough, was a bit long for me (about 1/4" too long, to be precise). But, the stock follower for my particular HD gun of choice (590) was a bit shallow. Therefore, I opted to go with the Vang Comp stainless follower. This particular item seemed to bridge the gap between the other two in that its deep enough to keep the spring in check but not so deep that it sacrifices much in terms of round capacity. I might suggest checking into one of the Vang Comp followers.

I am currently looking into acquiring another Vang Comp follower for my Benelli SuperNova, although the stock follower (while being a bit long) is just fine for now as I do not use an extension on this gun.

Of course, spring length/tension strength and the ammo used can also have an affect on capacity.

One thing to keep in mind though, reliability trumps capacity.
 
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I tested capacity with winchester AA target 2 3/4" inch shells. The spring tension is perfect. When using the supplied follower from the Choate kit, the 6th shell will go in about an inch before the follower bottoms out. I suppose I could cut the follower if I wanted to use the one they supplied, but that 6th shell goes in fine with the Remington factory follower. I just don't understand why the product would be advertised as a +2 when it'll only do a +1 with the supplied follower.

Unless there is a difference in the remington magazine tubes for their 18 versus 18.5" inch 870 models? I highly doubt this...
 
I just don't understand why the product would be advertised as a +2 when it'll only do a +1 with the supplied follower.
Click to expand...

The "+2" indication may be relative to "ideal" circumstances.

Id check the ammo length as there are variances at play. For instance, I use Federal LE 2 3/4" ammo which, as it turns out, barely exceeds 2 3/4" in measurement. Multiply that by max capacity and I lose one round when using this particular ammo (along with my particular spring/follower combination of choice).
 
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I trimmed my Wilson follower in one of my 870's by about a half inch to make it less ammo dependent. Preserves it's anti-tilt properties, but still gives me full capacity. Then again, I've never had an issue with the standard orange or black Remington plastic follower.
 
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