Dave, vang don't charge for putting on his extension, just for the work designing it and the CNC machining that goes into making it. He doesnt like SCT cast metal ones so made his own. Have one on my first vang, an 870, the second VangComp is a benelli and still underconstruction at gg and g. I guess I cycled the benelli a little too fast and lost the rear ghost ring apt. So decided to upgrade to MMC 4130 machined Ghost Ring sights, what the Benelli should have had in the first place IMO.
Dr Rob, we can set targets out at 50 yards and compare the buck patterns of a Vang modified to an unmodifed 870. I'll spend money to keep all the pellets on man sized target "out there" If the BG walks through a hole in the pattern will it make you feel good about saving some money? And yes I want buckshot good out to 50+ yards and have spent the money to do it.
If 30 feet is your goal and you feel that that is the furthest range you will have to shoot and your gun shoot well at that range then I am glad it meets your expectations.
The cost ain't much for 870 when you put things into prespective, say like the cost of Built Benelli (around $1500-1800) , or worse a full custom 1911.
Or we can talk serious money and bring up McMillan,Robar,HK-PSG-1,K80'S, and we could go on and on. So if you can afford it do it, if you can't don't bitch about people that can.
Not trying to flame anyone but saying these modification in effect do nothing is like saying a stock rem 700 is the same as a McMillan M-86. Just because the owner of that M-86 doesn't practice with it doesn't change the fact that it exceeds the factory rifle in nearly all aspects. Sounds like we are blaming the expensive gun instead of the unskilled owner. Implying that an unkilled owner of a custom gun makes the gun something less, makes no sense. The quality of a gun is not dependent upon the skill of the owner.
Having the skill to exploit the modfications is another story.And justifying the expense is an subjective call for all shooters. One thing is sure if you buy one it won't make you a worse shot than if you didn't, but it could help you in some ways even if you are trained less than the experts.
As a drag race driver I know says, how fast do you want to go? That will determine how much you will spend.
I have talked to instructors at Gunsite and when at FrontSight asked them opinions about these mods and they recomended getting them. If they can take in SWAT teams and improve them they seem to have a very good grasp for training and the skills to back their recommendations. I doubt many here are as well trained as five gun master Piazza. Based on what I learned in one day I feel confident trusting their opinions.
BTW who said that add on parts make up for practice and skills?
Though this is not best analogy, but when I started playing tennis and later helping instructor teach it I used cheap graphite raquet. Later I upgraded to one that was as good as it gets. And yes I could tell the difference betweent the two. The new one was much more rigid and had better feel. The reason I was using a raquet that Michael Chang later won the French Open with was that I knew that it would always exceed my playing ability. This left no doubt about my ability or lack there of. Can't blame the equipment when it will exceed your best ability.
If a shotgun doesn't pattern as well as it could (Pellets are still effective at that "x" range) then you are limiting ammo that is too limited in range already, or trying to shoot slugs without sights at ranges the slugs are effective and you end up missing targets, rifle or ghost ring are going to beat that bead most every time. So why keep the ability of your gun limited if you can afford to change it, or in some cases can you afford not to?
BTW all shotguns work just fine without recoil pads! Why spend the money.
And on the 3" mag load I would think they would be recommended for all Benelli owners seeing how I have heard of all the stalling problems with light loads in this gun as talked about on this forum in the past.
Based on the number against doing anything to stock guns on this thread I will agree to disagree here. To each his own.
[This message has been edited by oberkommando (edited September 11, 2000).]