Remington 870 safety

[savage24]

I have a Remington 870 Express Magnum that the safety seems backward to me.
I am right-handed and as it is now, the safety must be pushed from left to
right to release it. Can anyone tell me if the safety is reversable? Thanks.

[tnctcb]

i have 2-870s and an 11-87.i just went to check and all of them push from right to left. maybe someone has modified that gun.

[MarinePMI]

S24,

You safety has indeed been reversed. I'd recommend (unless your mechanically inclined) to take it to a gunsmith and have him flip it around. He shouldn't charge too much for the mod. If you want to try it yourself, well;

There's a pin located behind and above the safety. This has to be taken out (becareful of flyng parts!). This pin holds in a spring and detent ball bearing, once these are out, you should be able to remove the safety and flip it around, putting the ball bearing and spring back in, and securing it in place with the pin being driven back into place. I've never done this before, but from my schematics, it appears pretty cut and dried...

[mrgadget]

PMI,
I'll look at mine again, but I'm not sure you're correct about being able to turn it around. I'm a lefty, shoot left, but use RH guns....I was able to reverse my Beretta safety, but the Rem 870 looked like there was an issue...like I had to buy another safety.... could you check again please? I'll take mine apart tonite and see if I can reverse it....

Otherwise, Savage, I'll trade you!!!!!

[mrgadget]

Last night I took it apart. Now I remember the issue.

The hole that the spring and ball are in is drilled off to one side, instead of dead center. Just flipping the safety around won't work because of this. AND, you can't just buy another safety; it looks like you either a) have to buy another trigger assembly (or trade me) or b) drill another hole adjacent to the one already there.

MPMI, check this out on your schematics and see if it shows the hole offset; I'm no gunsmith, but I'm fairly certain I'm right about this. I hope I'm not; I hope you have another answer.

S24, to drop your trigger, just tap the two big pins out and pull the trigger assembly out. Look at the pin that hold in the spring, and see if there are two holes where you could move the spring over to the old hole...if so, just tap out the pin, remove the spring and ball, reverse the safety, and reinstall the ball, spring, and pin in the old hole.

If not, you have the choice of either getting a gunsmith to "fix" it for you, or we can talk about a swap. For now, I just reversed my safety; it just won't move, so I can't put it on safe.

As Hoot said, my finger is my safety.

[MarinePMI]

Gadget,

I can't tell drom the schematics I have where the hole is drilled (only have a side view of the trigger housing). Apologies if I lead anyone astray, just trying to help...

[mrgadget]

No sweat, I just thought I was a bonehead and couldn't figure it out..
I'm not doing any drilling on this gun until after opener, even if it is my backup gun!

S24, I can't tell you how many times I put this gun "on" safe to shoot it. And curling your finger around the trigger guard to try to unsafe it was just too much of a pain, especially with rooster pheasants scaring the crap out of me right about that time...

[Gun Docc]

Howdy Folks,

with the Remington trigger groups , the safety can be changed to either a right hand or a left hand but you have to have a safety button that is cut for whichever one you desire

the left hand safety button is cut differently than a right hand model

the spring and ball detent in the trigger housing can be modified to change the safety from left to right but it is MUCH easier to get a safety button that is cut for the particular hand

if you had one of each then you can easily see the differences in them as to how the detent ball works in the circular groove of the safety button
there is a wide groove for the detent ball to fall into for the safe position and another groove for the detent ball to fall into in the fire position with a small ridge between the two(which makes the audible click)

the main difference in the two is that with a left hand safety button the wider groove will be cut on the opposite side of the button from a right hand safety button

maybe i didn't confuse everyone with my explanation of the safety workings......hehehe

i have changed many of these safety buttons over the years and it is a very simple process if you have the correct button to start with

the left or right safety buttons for Remington Guns could be ordered through Brownell's or either Uncle Mikes a few years back but i have not had a need for any lately

ps:
as far as the safety button is concerned there are several different models of Remington guns that the trigger group is basically all the same
from off the top of my head without looking up the particulars

Shotguns:
model 1148's, model 1158's, model 878's, model 870's, model 1100's, model 1187's,
Rifles:
model 760's, model 76's, model 7600's, model 740's, model 742's model 74's model 7400's, model 6's, model 4's
hope this helped a bit

Good Luck !

[fowl Shooter]

does that remington happen to be laser ported?

[savage24]

Thanks for all the replies everyone! I have not attempted anything yet -
still trying to decide the best place in the house to work on this;
IE: the easiest place to find a lost spring and detent ball in the event
that parts go flying...

The barrel of my shotgun is ported, though I&#39;m not sure about &#39;laser ported&#39;? http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/afraid_face.gif http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/afraid_face.gif

[mrgadget]

Thanks, GunDocc...I guess that&#39;s why I sell computers instead of work on guns!
Like I said, I&#39;m not doing anything to this gun until after the opener.

That said, I called the local gunsmith to see if they have the safety button; no, and Remington has discontinued making them. Aftermarket buttons are available, but acc&#39;d to the "iffy" guy I talked to, should be under $10. Special order, of course.

[JDC]

Whoo- Hoo!! http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smiley-dancin-red.gif

All these years of fighting the safety on the 1100 and 1187 !? -- and all along there&#39;s been a simple answer? Bogus Dude.

Watch, I&#39;ll get them changed then manage to screw up the safety again from being so used to reaching around the trigger guard.

Why can&#39;t they all just put them on top like my Red Label? Oh wait -- that makes sense http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smiley-biggrin-aqua.gif