how to adjust cast, drop, and LOP on an 870P

C

Chris17404

New member
Hi all,

My 870P does not currently fit me very well, but I'd like to continue using it for skeet as I learn the basics, improve, and until I can purchase a dedicated clay-shooting gun in the future.

I am 6'3" tall, 200lbs, with long arms. I believe I need to adjust the cast (to the right), drop the comb a little, and increase LOP.

How would you suggest I do that on my 870P? What can I do myself versus having a gunfitter custom fit it?

Thanks in advance for your "on topic" replies.

Chris
 
Sorry I missed this earlier....

For posterity:

I have an 870 that is going through this procedure right now. I need more drop at the comb to shoot plain-barrel'd guns. I first tried lengthening via shims under the recoil pad. I also use tapered shims to adjust the heel/toe. This did effectively lower the comb but not enough. Eventually I wound up with too long a LOP.
Now I am using wedges at the wrist/receiver. This is a much better solution (for me) as it only takes a small amount, like less than 1/8", to get good results, like nearly 1/2", where my cheek meets the stock.
Unfortunately for me though, the amount I need pushes the stock too far away from the receiver and I lose the good fit of the stock-to-receiver so I cannot keep it bolted tightly enough to keep it from loosening while shooting the sporting clay course.
It is amazing to me that a gun as popular as the 870 has no aftermarket spacers/wedges available.
I am not especially fond of modifying my stock as stocks are not forever and sooner or later, I will need to do it again. Plus, I like to restore old stocks so I am forever finding new “diamonds in the rough” for my guns. A spacer/wedge would be transferable to new stocks or even different 870s'.
Still tinkering,
Mike
 
DaveMcC, 9mmMike... here's on update:

I successfully modified the cast of my 870P. It's a really good feeling when you can do something yourself! I basically took Dave McC's advise. Here's what I did:

1. Cut up an empty Winchester AA hull into a piece of plastic about 1 inch long and about 1/2 inch wide. Then I folded it in half lengthwise. This resulted in a shim 1 inch by 1/4 inch and about 1/8 - 3/16 in thickness (when fully installed and pressed together).

2. I loosened the stock bolt (but did not remove it).

3. I slid the shim into the left side of the stock, vertically, between the stock bearing plate and the wood stock.

4. Then, making sure it stayed put, I slowly tightened the stock bolt again.

Voila! This resulted in a very nice, secure fit between the stock and receiver. There is a space on the left side that is not flush, but that was to be expected. The resulting cast-off is about a full inch at the end of my recoil pad (R3 pad).

The stock fits me A LOT better now. My eye is directly behind the receiver and the beads line up!

Next step is to adjust the drop. Once I found out how easy it was to adjust the cast, I did experiment and tried adjusting drop the same way using a shim. It worked fairly well, but it took away some of the cast that I added simply because the additional shim on the top of the receiver was further to the right, thus reducing the cast angle.

Next, I need to adust the drop and LOP.

I am planning to get an adjustable butt plate that I can use to increase the drop. Anyone have a recommendation for this? Ideally, I'd like to use my existing Remington R3 recoil pad with it. To adjust LOP (I need to add about a full inch or so), I may be able to use the same adjustable butt plate, or maybe add a spacer between the butt plate and the recoil pad. Recommendations?

That's it! I am a happy camper! I can't wait to try shooting skeet with my newly modified 870.

One other thing... I am considering purchasing a Remington 1100 for skeet also. Does anyone know if the same stock shimming (to adjust cast) will work with an 1100?

Thanks again to Dave McC for his knowledge!

Chris
 
Thanks for the update Chris. Be careful as you shim. Once you move the stock's "step" from inside the back of the receiver, it will be difficult to keep it from twisting and loosening as you shoot. At least that's what I found when I added my own wedges for lowering the comb.
Good luck and please keep us updated with any more progress.
Mike
 
Hey Chris & Co.,

I am going to order a GG&G single point sling mount for my 870 and see if I can modifiy that to work as a clean-looking wedge. These things look to be pretty much what I had in mind except they are not actually wedges.
Stay tuned.........
Mike
 
It might be worth it to go to a professional stockfitter and get measured. He can give you the dimensions you need and these dimensions can then be transferred to other guns.
 
9mmMike,

Do you happen to have a link to a picture of one of those things so I can take a look?

I'm hoping to get to the skeet range this weekend and test out my modifications.

Chris
 
The synthetic stocks on the 1100 and 870 will take a little abuse from home fashioned "shims"... a wood stock will not. I would not shim a wood stock without making sure you are not putting stress on it.

The stock is tight against the bearing plate and no part of the receiver actually touches the finished part of the stock. You can slide a dollar bill between the stock and receiver all the way around.

If you add a shim to the left side, and the stock is tight against the receiver edge...you will split a nice thin chunk of wood from the stock. I have seen it done a dozen times or more by guys doing this very thing.

Synthetic? Go for it. Wood? I dont think I would do it.

BTW... I have mucho used wood for Remingtons, so go for it!
 
Good points. The spaces that I've been using are cut from thin aluminum sheet and placed under the stock bearing. I was concerned about the wood stock on my guns as well and this way my stock is still in full contact with the bearing plate.
I have ordered one of the single-point sling thing-a-ma-bobs. If I can cut off the sling point and taper the mount to more of a wedge, it should work OK. I do not know how thick it is though. I suspect that the inventor probably went to some trouble to try to keep the mount from adding any appreciable length, which is of course exactly the opposite of what I need...
 
If the sling mount don't do the trick you can always use a plastic spacer made from any junk you can dig up. Anything as thin as a milk jug bottom to a chunk of plexiglas from a storm window. Many hardware stores cut windows and have extra chunks of plastic lying around. Trace one out, and sand it down to the specs you came up with...just make sure the stock is tight, and the wood isn't binding on the receiver.
 
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