Well you now own one of the most prized versions on the 870, highly prized by upland bird hunters, some would pay a kings ransom to own one. The straight may make slug shooting dicey for some, slug barrels can be found on e-bay most weeks, be prepared to pay. You'll need to decide on a rifled barrel for sabots only, sights or cantilever for scope mounts. The second choice is a smooth bore slug barrel with sights. In your case also an option is to use your current barrel with Foster type slugs or buy the rifled choke tube and use sabots.

On my Wingmasters I shoot a smooth bore barrel with Winchester slugs, I have a Williams set of sights that mount on the rib for deer season. You'll need to check to see if the standard 20GA barrel will work on a 20GA LW frame. Your best info will be the Remington forum at Shotgunworld.com, post a question, "Virginian" over there is very knowing about all things Remington, also a Slug gun forum, I post there under the same screen name as here. Happy shootin'.

 

I have one and really like it. Mine had a imp cyl barrel on it with a set of removable sights. With foster slugs it is very accurate. The 20 ga Rem slugger is plenty for deer. I have taken several deer with it. I have not shot a slug through a screw-in choke but I do not see why an imp cyl choke would not work. I have mounted sights on a few remington imp cyl barreled guns for guys and they all throw a good group with Remington Sluggers.

I purchased a Rem-choke barrel for birds and rabbits. Works great and I don't need to re-sight it in every year. With steel shot my son harvested his first duck with it.

I have never seen or heard of a slug barrel for it. It takes a special barrel different from the light weight 870's. The mag tube is shorter and will only hold 3 shells without a plug. I used the stock shape for my 54 flintlock pictured I liked it so well.

I bought my son a Mossberg combo with a rifled barrel. I wish it was smoothbore as it does not shoot that much better than my 870 and the co$t of sabot slugs is ridiculous.

 

Maybe these guys can help you out, I see some 870 LW barrels listed as slug and rifled (2 3/4 - 3)... not sure what you're looking for exactly though? Anyway, a link...

REMINGTION 870 BARRELS

Good luck to you.

 

Nope they will not work. The slug barrels are for the LW, not the LW SPECIAL FIELD

Only the barrels under this heading will work
Model 870 20ga LW Special Field 3” Mag
Base of Cartridge to magazine band 9 ¼”
To make a LW barrel you would have move the barrel band back to the 9-1/4" distance.
My son with his first deer. Not the best pic but you might be able to see the shorter forearm.

 

I have one also. Mine is is from the 80s I believe. In any case it predates the removable chokes. It came with a 22" IC barrel with a vent rib. Later I found a 26" modified barrel with no rib. It's good looking, light of recoil, easy to carry, points well, and has always been reliable. I have not shot slugs through it.

My understanding is that Remington 20g LW barrels are specific to this shotgun and no others will fit. (Not to say that they can't be modified, however.)

 

What Steve said. The magazine tube on the SP is shorter. The regular lightweight barrels will not attach.

No problem. Shoot it with what you have using an open choke. You might even find a rifled choke to put a spin on the slug as it exits. I have shot lots of 12 ga slugs from smooth bores. Most are plenty accurate for deer at woods range.

 

Been shootin' slugs from a smooth bore Wingmaster 870 for close to fifty years………plenty of venison.

 

Are the 870 's lw a limited edition you dont hear much about them i have a like new in box 870 28 guage lw 25'' vented rib that ive had for 25-30 years i have never shot it thinking serious about moving it to a new owner was wondering what they were valued at ???

 

errolhill, the special field differs from the LW with three features. Straight stock, 21" barrel, and a shorter magazine tube. They make a delightful close quarter quail gun.

Re: the 870 LW 28. If it came with screw in chokes, shoot me a PM with a price. Pictures would be nice.

Thanks,

 

I have never seen a slug barrel for a Special Field. They are great handy guns by the way. Regular barrels will not fit. For shooting slugs I would use an IC or Mod choke tube with regular Forster slugs and you might want to look at these http://media.midwayusa.com/productimages/880x660/Primary/671/671251.jpg for sights.

 

Sorry, I did not answer your question about limited edition. Actually no. If I recall correctly, Remington figured out , in the early seventies, that the twenty ga could be stuffed into a smaller frame, and began marking the frames LW. They even got the 12 lightened for a while with an extra light weight barrel. I have not looked at a new Remington in several years, but the 20 & 28 are still built on a smaller frame, marked as LW or not. The old frame was noticeably larger. I still see one of those from time to time.

 

These 'older' 870s are now collectors items, especially a the rarer variants. Even a j lock 20 or 28 GA is going to be tomorrow's 28 GA model 12. That sounds crazy but consider who's making the 870 now. If you see a nice older 870, especially a sub gauge, it's buy time.

 

Although I have never owned an 870 special field, I did own a 20 gauge 1100 special field. It had a 21" improved cylinder barrel and was chambered for 2.75" shells. It was a cool configuration, and I expect yours handles similarly. It patterned well with some loads too. The bad news was it was just too short to swing on moving targets and was way too heavy for what it was, and at the same time, too barrel-light to be a serious bird gun. That probably matters none if you're shooting slugs out of it. It also had some relief ability issues...which you won't have either as low by as you keep pumpin'

 

Locally lots of folk's like 'em as grouse guns.

 

Nice gun to have. Have not seen one yet on the used market. Made em with 21 and later 23 inch barrels.

 

I'm lucky to have an 870 Special Field 12 Ga. and a 1100 Special Field in both 12 Ga. and 20 Ga, they are fine shotguns for woods or upland, not so good for roadblocks,alley sweepers and entry guns!. Nick

 

I've had both 870SF and 1100SF in both 12 & 20 gauge. The 1100 SFs will take any standard 1100 barrel. The 870SF will only take
SF barrel due to position of barrel ring for shorter mag tube. The 1100SF 20g with slug barrel feels like you are carrying a rifle.
Pic of my old 870 slug gun, bought in 60s, still looks brand new. Never carried it very much, won a lot of slug shoots with it. Hope
to never use it again for deer, we finally got rifle in Ohio.