Went out to the local guns shop that had just gotten a consignment lot from a estate. They had a lot of older stuff like mausers and enfields. I just happened to see this sitting among them and was amazed at the price. I ended up paying $160 out the door. I plan on swapping out the furniture for a speedfeed and getting a 18" bead instead of the 20" rifle sight. Besides issues with the tube cap does anyone know if there would be a issue putting a 3" chamber express barrel on this wingmaster?

Hey medic ....you might want to whoa up on trashing that rig until you research it's pedigree ..Years ago i was a distributor for Remington selling to sporting dealers ...I never saw that folding stock as a readily available item ...keep in mind they did have a few "Law Enforcement" only wholesalers when I was a sporting distributor ...but I would run it down before possibly screwing up a desirable item

Remington always said no to a 3" bbl on a 2 3/4" frame ...inerta block was said to be different as well as the ejection port length ..that was in the early 80's ... I would bet your gun would fall into that time era or before

So be careful to not destroy a possible classic and be safe and resist tht 3" bbl idea or get a current and compentent gunsmith to verify your choices

Bear

I wouldn't think twice about that purchase

It's pretty much free for $160

And the 18" Police barrels with rifle sights are plentiful out there. You did good OP.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=491319656

My 870 wads a Police trade-in and was a 3" frame 870P. I had the ejector replaced, track lock sights added, reparkerized (well, bead blasted and parked), replaced the original trigger guard with a newer one, added a Vang Comp big head safety, a Surefire foregrip light and a Mesa Tactical Saddle.

By the prefix of the serial it is either a 1969 model or a 1998, judging by the condition I would assume 1998. The stock was marked law enforcement only but it looks like someone tried to scratch it out. I'm not sure but I couldn't imagine a police model wingmaster. I am kind of lost as to what I should do with this at this point.

Killer price! All you need (other than a 3" chambered barrel) is to replace the 2.75" ejector spring with a 3" ejector spring. Any good gunsmith should be able to do this job inexpensively. They should also have a Remington ejector rivet tool kit (from Brownells) "just laying around". If they don't know what you're talking about when you mention rivets and swapping ejectors, then run. Run and find another smith.





It's very unlikely that shotgun left Remington with that folder on it, but a free call to verify wouldn't hurt anything. It would only add value to be in complete original factory configuration with a folder. Barring that rare possibilty, mod away to your heart's content.

Just don't go "full Bubba". "Never go full Bubba!"

The Rem folders look cool, but they are uncomfortable when firing (compared to other options like the Sage, or M4 stocks).

If you want to flip it for profit, just put it in "Terminator 2" config, and bring it to a big gun show.





 
 
 
 

All those folding stocks were marked that way. It wasn't a legal thing, it was just a Remington policy thing. I'd refinish the stock for sure. It was blued originally, but if they scraped into the markings, just refinish it however you want. The finish not being original (or of the same type) won't negatively affect the value at this point.

Yes, there were Wingmaster "Police" guns long before Remington ever embraced any Police markings. I think when those stocks first came out, they still carried only Wingmaster markings, but agency markings were optional.

I may be mistaken but I think I've seen those folding Remington stocks alone selling used for 250.00-300.00. There is a collector following for factory originals.

 
In excellent to NIB original condition, yes it might be worth that much. I haven't priced one in a while.

If the markings are gouged out; it won't be.


If you intend to resell it, you probably won't get as much "additional" money for it as it would cost to refinish it.


If you intend to keep it, I'd refinish it, just so it will look better. You'd be hurting the value if it wasn't scratched-up. But it's scratched-up.

Your mileage may vary.

I wouldn't touch it until I did my due diligence and found out what the original configuration was, if it has been modified, and what it is worth now as a whole and in pieces. What's the rush? Do you need the money?.

Definitely no bubba going to happen here, just wanting to do a regular stock and forearm with a 18" bbl and 2 rnd extension

I have seen them sell for around that much but as was said, that was NIB condition. If I were to sell this right now I would expect much more than $120 or so. As of right now I am going to call Remington on Monday to find out the original configuration. If this was added after production then I will be swapping it out and wont be refinishing it. I don't think the time and hassle of redoing it would make it bring much more.

If you decide to sell the stock PM me.

I like it just the way it is.

My stock in similar condition without the etching sold for $150 on Ebay.

Nice find! Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

So I just got off the phone with Remingtom, I guess I mis-read the serial date code. Manufacture year is 1973, no other info available. As far as I know and the rem guy also agreed, the folding stocks weren't introduced till the 80's. So it looks like the folding stock and forend will be sold off and replaced. I'm still not sure what to do about the barrel, I'd like to go to 18' but I'm still not sure with it only being a 2 3/4 receiver.

You want it to be 3" correct? Just get a modern 18" barrel for it, get the ejector spring replaced, and profit. There should be a "barrel date code" of 2-3 letters on the barrel which will tell you when it was made, if that matters. There is some slight collectibility in the older rifle-sight smooth-bore barrels like that one. At least back then, they were more careful regarding aesthetics when attaching the sights.



As best I can determine, the PFS 87 top-folding stocks were first offered to LE in 1976. (I made a post about them here).






I think you're going about all this entirely the right way.