So, here’s the deal. I wanted a shorty 870, but live in Illinois. Illinois does not allow short barrel shotguns, so I wound up with a braced tac-14. I received the firearm from my FFL today, took it home and immediately noticed an issue.

I cannot under any circumstance get my head low enough for proper sight alignment. Now here’s the bitch of it; this gun has had pretty extensive custom work done to it, and one of those modifications is a 14.25” vent rib barrel that has been cut down from a full length barrel, and threaded for chokes. Adapter is a mesa Leo with sba3. Previous owner never shot it, so I can’t go back and ask about performance.

What say ye? Pattern it and find out what it does? I assume it will shoot high. Throw an rmr on it and act like I like it? The gun is slick, and I’d like to make it work, but it troubles me that I can’t get my head down to hide the top of the rib.

Pic would help. Also can't you get your C&R FFL and then acquire a SBS or AOW.

Negative on the aow and sbs, sbr only.

We're lucky we have ccl.

Below are photos of the gun in whole, what I think the sight picture should look like, and what the actual sight picture looks like. Sorry for crappy photos and messy bench.

Pull brace out further or lower your cheek weld.

Try a different adapter.

First, shoot it and see what happens.  Maybe you'll get lucky.  You could also try some of the Truglo sights that clamp on the rib, the adjustable ones are about $60.  It would raise your line of sight a bit which might be enough.

Brace is out as far as it can be, and I can not physically have my face far enough down to acquire a sight picture. There is a “low tube” option from Mesa that would likely help. I guess I’ll pattern it and see what I wind up with.

I use the tac star adapter with a brace and it's not bad unless you push the brace all the way closed.

As noted already, you may need a different adapter.  It looks like you have the Mesa Leo which comes straight back.  Other adapters angle downward and can make a big difference in the position of your eyes for looking down the receiver and barrel.   I'm not sure which adapter is pictured below, but you can see it angles downward.

I run the mesa adapter on a full size 870 with rifle sights and have zero issues with it. They make a higher mount than the one you have, I assumed you had that before seeing the optic. You should be GTG OP.

Bev

I tried several different barrels on a TAC-14 equipped with the same Mesa Tactical LEO adapter as the OP’s. The barrels I tried include the factory bead-base barrel, an 870P barrel with “XS” sights, and an 870P barrel with the above-mentioned rifle sights. The rifle sights are high enough above the bore to allow a good cheek weld and sight picture. The other barrels/sights were all too low for this.

Admittedly, I haven’t tried a vent rib barrel on a TAC-14 with the Mesa Tactical LEO adapter, but I understand what the OP is dealing with. A barrel with rifle-sights, while possibly an otherwise unusual choice for a short shotgun, will “fix” this problem/issue.

Good luck finding a Remington 870P 14” barrel with rifle sights for ANY price these days. You would be better off buying a longer 870P barrel with rifle sights and sending it off for shortening and remounting the front sight. As far as I know, the REAR sight is in the same location on all 870P barrels with rifle sights.

I had the same issue with when I looked at the mesa adapter there is no way I am getting my head behind that thing to see the sights. I bought the Tacstar one, it is all metal, and lowers the comb to a more traditional shotgun comb, not the straight one of the Mesa Tactical. There are others out there but the Tacstar is the only all metal one that I know of, many of the others out there are plastic.  


Tacstar Adapter

Funny, the seller I bought the gun from caught wind of the thread, and had a tacstar adapter drop shipped to my house. Haven’t had a chance to try it, but he gets some points from me for what he did. I didn’t even bring it up to him.

AOW, DD, SBR are all legal only need a C&R for SBR

You want the SB-Tactical Tac14- SBM4, that's what I have on my Rem 870.

It's the same comb drop as my Benelli M4 (above Top photo).

ERGO makes that tube adapter for the SBM4 if you wish to go that route.  The Tacstar should also do the same thing.

Just as an update to the thread, I am in the process of installing a set of wilson combat ghost ring sights. Front sight is 90% done. I chopped the vent rib and blended it into the front sight. All I need to do is put some touch up paint onto the excess epoxy, and cross pin the front sight. Rear sight will be drilled and tapped tomorrow.

Now, the gentleman who sold me this firearm sent me a Tac-star tube adapter when he caught wind of this thread, which was incredibly nice of him, but I happen to like the looks of the mesa adapter better. What I would like to do is spread the kindness. If there is anyone on here that NEEDS an adapter for their Tac 14 build, drop me an IM and I will ship this Tac-star adapter to you free of charge. Please don’t inquire if you’re just going to turn around and sell it on the EE. Thanks to everyone that contributed, even though I didn’t listen to anybody!

Thanks to this thread I bought the Mesa Tactical 6 shell side saddle for mine. I really like the look, and having the extra ammo avaiable is nice. I wasn't sure about adding one at first but after seeing your pictures I made up my mind.