A Handier Barrel for the 11-87

by Sarge , Central Misery, Sunday, November 03, 2013, 21:29 (3981 days ago)

I’ve favored relatively short shotgun barrels for most of my life; but I couldn’t bring myself to cut the barrel of my old 11-87 Premier. I’d been shopping for a decent, light contour 11-87 barrel but they are bringing about what I’d give for a good clean 870. I saw a few 11-87 slug barrels around, but slug barrels have gas ports designed for heavy loads only. The sporting barrels employ ports designed for the self-adjusting gas system. I figured they would be more likely work with the full range of loads. I also have a strong preference for vent rib barrels.

Saturday, I went to a gun show and bought a 28” light contour barrel for 150 bucks. While not pristine, its little boo-boos were easily corrected with cold blue & 0000 steel wool. I cleaned it up & tried it on my shotgun; it slipped right on and my forend fit it perfectly. I ran a few field loads through the ‘new’ barrel and it functioned and shot fine. The used barrel had a RemChoke ‘full’ tube in it that patterns substantially better than the factory full-choke tube that came with my gun- so that was an unexpected bonus. I stowed that one for use with my 28” barrel.

I laid out the cut to land in front of a rib post and snugged the barrel in a padded vise. Nothing left to do grit my teeth & grab a hacksaw. The cut went well and I deburred the muzzle, inside & out, with a round handheld stone. I squared it first at 90 degrees to a sanding belt; and finally by filing across the muzzle ‘around the clock’. The barrel finished right at 21”.

I attached ‘Winchester’ clip-on fiber optic front sight to the rib.

The gun ran a half a box of field loads and a half dozen slugs & 00 Buck without a malfunction. I didn’t miss any thrown birds with it and the first slug cut a 3” target dot at 25 yards. Olin MilSpec 00 Buck will stay on a B27, but it’s not tight by any means. I may, at some point, have an I/C TruChoke installed but I’m pretty happy with it as is.