I feel a touch embarassed to ask this question, but how do you remove the plug from a Remington 870 magazine tube?  I inherited two 870's from my grandfather who hunted with them, but since I am not a hunter I have no need for the 2+1 limit on capacity.  I also have very little experience with disassembling one(I can remove the barrel and thats about it).  Could anyone tell me what tools I'll need to do this and how I should do it?  

With the barrel and foreend off...

You need to take the end cap off the magazine tube.  It is likely a black cap that will be under some spring pressure and have a slot in it.  Insert a screwdriver in the slot, twist the correct way and the cap and the mag spring will start to come out.

When the spring comes out, there will be a plastic 'ramrod' in the end of the spring.  Take it out, reverse above to reinstall.


Then reinstall the foreend, barrel and barrel foreend nut.  Check for operation.

Tighten foreend nut again and go and try it out at the range.

Ed

Hi!

I'm guessing that you've got an 870 with two dimples at the end of the mag tube and a plastic plug that holds the spring and follower inside (even when the barrel is off). If so, find yourself a flathead screwdriver, push the plug in about an inch, and then rotate it 90 degrees. Let the spring pressure off gently (I've seen a guy bruise his eye pretty bad letting the spring "boing!" out) and the plastic plug should come right out. You can then remove the magazine spring, capacity plug, and follower.

Without the dowel-looking-like insert (the device that limits your magazine capacity to two), your shotgun should hold 4 rounds. If you're wanting to attach a magazine extension, you'll have to grind or drill out the dimples so your extra rounds can slide unobstructed into the extension. A new magazine spring will also be required (should come with the mag extension).

Take care...

BrobeeBiter

Some of the older 870's have the metal mag spring retainers. It will have a gap in it and may or may not have two holes on each side of the gap. If it is this style you have to use snap ring pliers (if the holes are present) or a screw drive to remove it. Be carefull so you don't put your eye out when the thing releases.
Watch wneh you go to replace it once the plug is removed. The metal they use for the mag tube is very thin and will bend easily.

i was able to knock out the dimples by driving a socket down the tube.  i started with a socket that was small enough to just touch the dimples and worked up using both metric and std until i got a smooth tube.

308wood
Thanks for that tip. Lately I've been puting a few of the extended tubes on. I'll give your way a try next time.

Thanks for the advice.  Although I won't be able to use it for another week or so(I'm at summer school and the guns are at home).  But a question remains: how do you remove the forend?(I assume by forend you mean the slide)  I can only remove the barrel, and haven't figured out how to get the slide off(like I said, I have VERY little experience with taking it apart).  But I do want to learn and hence the questions.

Nevermind the last reply(like I needed to say that, no one was minding it anyway).  Went home this weekend and took a look at the gun, it had an endcap that sort of had to be pried off(it had no threading, it just fit in the magazine tube with pressure).  Took out the plug, replaced the spring and endcap, and put the barrel back on.  Took it to the range, and it functioned perfectly.  Thanks for the help, folks!