Today being a work holiday and cold outside, I figured it would be a good day to resume a project I started a couple of months ago -- replacing the factory stock and forend on The Lovely Girlfriend's 20-gauge with some fresh goods from Hogue (p/n 08737).

After wrestling with the forend nut for a while (didn't have the right tool; made something up in the garage), I was finally able to remove it and then separate the forend tube from the assembly.

At that point, I thought, "whew, reassembly will be easy-peezy!" It's not. I've got a bit of a dimensional problem here at the bench.

I don't know all the right terminology, but essentially the distance between <the face against which the forend nut banks> and <the face against which the plastic piece that wraps around the forend tube banks> is greater on the Hogue part than on the original.

I know that's a horrible description in text, so I'll try to illustrate.
I lined up the four parts on the bench for this first pic, aiming to align that first face, the nut, and the tube in their relative [assembled] positions.



Perspective doesn't help us out on that, so here's a better pic:



Clearly, I can't draw a straight line with a mouse. Let's try this:



There. Maybe that shows the alignment better. Moving on...

This last pic again shows the Hogue piece on top, then the factory piece.
The red line indicates the alignment between the plastic piece and the original forend when assembled. The orange line shows how far the forend tube its mating plastic piece get inserted into the Hogue piece. Actual distance between these locations is roughly 7/10 of an inch.



Now, the "blacksmith" in me wants to dig out the Dremel and get to hacking on the Hogue part, shortening the distance between the "far face" and the "near face" to match the original Remington piece. Engineer Head quickly chimes in and says, "hey, man, that's probably a stupid thing to do." Engineer Head is probably right, because there are some ribs in the inside of the piece that interface with the plastic piece wrapped around the forend tube, and I'd have to modify those too.

I know my next right step is to contact Hogue, and I'll call them this afternoon. Meanwhile, I knew I'd get good answers and discussion quickly here.

Any thoughts, y'all? Thank you.


- - - - -

2:35 pm update... I called Hogue. Kimberly there is super pleasant, and willing to help research it.

I've swapped out quite a few forends on 870s and what you're seeing isn't unusual.

Let's try inserting the forend tube into the Hogue part seeing how many threads extend out of the front end. I've found variances in the distance from manufacturers and they typically work well.

Thank you for offering to help.

If I remove the plastic adapter from the forend tube and put the tube into the Hogue piece, the end of the tube is still about 1-16" short of the face against which the nut should bank.

With the plastic piece in place, the end of the tube is easily an inch short of that face.

When you installed the forend tube into the Hogue part, was the front of the tube firmly touching the matching Hogue forend e.g, in your 3rd photo with the red line matching firmly against the part with the yellow line?

With molded parts, I've had to massage them into place more than once but if yours matches up firmly, there's a problem of sorts. There's only forend tube size so the parts should fit.

I can insert the plastic piece into the Hogue piece, all the way up to its mating surface



then align the forend tube and see that it's going to be short.



Closer view:



Assembled, the threaded end is still about 3/10" shy of the nut's banking face.

From what I gather there's two different sized 20ga 870s. Is that part of your problem?

I'm thinking that may be the case.

This one is Remington's model number R81100, the "870 Tactical," with the 18-1/2" barrel.

Suppose the 18.5 is what's making the difference?

The 18.5" barrel attachment is the same in 20 gauge, regardless of the barrel length.

What's the part number for the Hogue kit that you have?

Hogue PN is 08737.

https://www.hogueinc.com/remin...with-forend-12-l-o-p

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
Hogue PN is 08737.

https://www.hogueinc.com/remin...with-forend-12-l-o-p

Does your 870 have X or N in the SN? If so, it was built on the 12 gauge frame and requires 12 gauge furniture. I've seen that come up from time to time, depending on the age of the gun.

It's my understanding that all 20 gauge 870s have been made on the smaller receiver since the early 1980s or so. This R81100 appears to be a much newer model than that, from the late 2000s through early 2010s.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
It's my understanding that all 20 gauge 870s have been made on the smaller receiver since the early 1980s or so. This R81100 appears to be a much newer model than that, from the late 2000s through early 2010s.

There's something off about his forend. It's a close fit but in swapping out 20 and 12 forends before on multiple 870s, this is a bit of a puzzle to me.

There's no X or N in the serial... this one's very new.

This is the first real aggravation I've had with an 870, ever. A friend in the county next door has one in 20-ga, I think -- I'd love to borrow and disassemble his for comparison.

How new is "very new"... Made post-bankruptcy and post-spinoff in 2021?

If so, it could be possible that these newest 20 gauge 870s made by "Remington 2.0" aren't fully compatible with accessories for the 20 gauge 870s made by the original Remington. There may be some dimensional or manufacturing differences introduced during the switchover.

I bought it new in June of last year. I don't see anything on the box label indicating a build date, but it's that kind of new.

Interpolating from the chart here, it's a 2023 build.

go to the source.

Ken@hogueinc.com

quote:

Originally posted by kho:
go to the source.

Ken@hogueinc.com

I intend to do that. Kimberly at Hogue offered this afternoon to chase it down and get back to me. If we don't have a solution in a few days, I'll plan to contact Ken.

The 870 Tactical is that stupid new thing they came out with a few years back where the barrel lug is several inches further forward so it won't work with every other 870 ever made, right (second one down in the photo)? If so, I didn't realize that there were other changes besides the barrel and mag tube, but if they're going to make one unnecessary and stupid change, why not make others at the same time?



We bought one of those at work a few years back and the thing has been a pain in my butt because it's different from every other 870 ever made for the past 50-ish years. If I get a chance I'll take a look at the forearm and action bar configuration and see if it's different from the standard one and let you know. I may not be able to get my hands on it immediately, though, because it's issued out to somebody right now.

Not my pic (grabbed from the web), but this is it:



The reason I wanted to change it up at all is that TLG needs a much shorter than standard length of pull. I've had several guns with the Hogue overmolded rubber goods and liked them; this kit seemed a natural choice.

That looks like the older, familiar setup with the barrel lug in the correct place, and the screw-on mag tube extension and barrel clamp. If that's what you have then ignore my post above...that's not your problem.