Knoxx SpecOps stock

[NcongruNt]

I got out of work early today, so I went down to Cabela's to see if they had a Knoxx SpecOps stock in stock for my Remington 870 HD shotty. Sure enough, they had one left, so I grabbed some 3" magnum buckshot and slug rounds to test it out over the weekend. The stock cost me $120.

Installation will be done tonight (in a few hours) and I'll likely be hitting the range in the morning to test it out. I'll post more pics once I get it installed.

My first impressions of the stock are quite positive. It's very solid, quite more so than I thought it would be. It seems well put together, and I am quite pleased with the fit and finish. It telescopes with 4" of adjustment, with 5 positions available. The adjustment mechanism is quite nice, and there was no wiggle in the stock after you release the adjusting lever.

Here's a picture of my new stock:



Now I need to find a shell holder to attach to the stock, or perhaps a new sling that will hold extra shells. Any suggestions? Blackhawk (who appears to have recently bought out Knoxx Industries) still appears to make the "PowerPak" shell holder, but it's also a battery holder and cheek pad, and seems too much money if I only use the shell holder.. I'm really only looking for a shell holder, but I don't want to have to drill on my new stock. Any suggestions y'all have would be appreciated.

More pics to follow shortly.

[NcongruNt]

And, it's installed!

Installation was pretty straightforward. Removal of the original stock required a phillips head and flat-tip screwdriver. Blackhawk includes an allen wrench for installing the new stock, but it's much too long for the job, as it's up against the adjusting lever - even with the stock fully extended. This meant having to tighten the stock screw in 1/2 turns, which gets old quite quickly. Once the screw started to tighten down, getting the wrench head in and out of the screw top became increasingly more difficult. My set of standard-length allen wrenches were a more appropriate length, but all I had were metrics, and this appeared to be a Standard-sized allen screw.

Once installed, the stock seems to mate well, and it looks to be a tight fit. I have found that this stock is better for lining up the bead to my line of sight than the original stock, so that's a bonus. I'm digging the pistol grip already. It's quite natural to hold, so kudos to Knoxx on the design. For the purposes of this stock, I'm glad I went with the Remington 870 as my HD gun over the Mossberg 500. While the Mossberg is a fine gun, I imagine the safety would be difficult to operate with this stock (or any pistol-gripped shoulder stock for that matter), but the safety on the 870 stays readily accessible.


Before...


After!

Range time is scheduled for tomorrow morning. Then I will get to see how much of the hype about this thing is true. I'll try to get pictures and/or video if at all possible.

[flb_78]

Is it the recoil reducing one?

[NcongruNt]

Is it the recoil reducing one?

Yep.

[flb_78]

Is it the recoil reducing one?

Yep.

Nice.

[anygunanywhere]

I need to get me one of those for my repel boarders shootgun.

Anygunanywhere

[TexCalhoun]

I have the same stock for my Mossberg 590A1.

I highly recommend it. I've fired slugs and heavy-load 00 shot without any discomfort, and it allows my wife (4'11") and I (6'05") to both use the same shotgun because of the quick-adjustment on the stock.

Congratulations on your set-up. The Remington 870 is a fine weapon and I'm sure you will enjoy using the stock with it.

For what it's worth, I don't have any trouble with the safety on my Mossy, but your mileage may vary.

[NcongruNt]

Just got back from the range. This stock is impressive. The range for moving/shooting/shotgunning didn't open up until late, but I did manage to do some brief drills with the gun and get some video. As soon as I get youtube posting figured out, I'll post the two videos I shot before I ran out of shells.

I shot 3" Magnum slugs out of my gun, and recoil felt like I was shooting 2 3/4" birdshot. It was quite amazing. I went through some 2 3/4" #4 Buck rounds earlier in the day, and it was almost like shooting target loads.

[NcongruNt]

Here are the videos! They're not all that impressive, save for the fact that it doesn't look like I'm shooting 3" magnum slugs. It was getting late and the muzzle blast was quite impressive. Unfortunately the overcast and sunsetting sky was behind my muzzle, so you don't get to see that part from where the camera was. Rounds for both videos are Winchester 3" Magnum Rifled Slugs (X123RS15) - rated at a muzzle velocity of 1760fps.

First video of me taking 5 shots at two targets with the shotgun, at a relatively comfortable pace.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=gnMlBbnb21s[/youtube]


Second video I realized I hadn't done any rapid-fire attempts. I had only 2 shells left there with me, so I did a video shooting those two quickly. I'll definitely say that time between shots for me with such heavy loads when attempting to do rapid-fire drops significantly.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=W_SC8Z5GGcE[/youtube]

I like it a lot.

[Lumberjack98]

Thanks for sharing your experience and taking the time and effort to put together the pics and vids.

I have a Mossberg 590 that I'd like to put one of these on.

[NcongruNt]

I'm glad you found it helpful.

I think I've found my shell holder - a Blackhawk 15-shell sling. GT Distributors carries them, so I think I'll go pick one up tomorrow.



http://www.blackhawk.com/product/Shotgu ... 1,1342.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It looks like it will do the trick.

[Skiprr]

I knew you'd like the Knoxx SpecOps stock. I have two of 'em. The only place I, personally, find it inferior is in the "assault-fire" position where the buttstock is clamped high underneath the firing arm. But no pistol-grip stocks excel at that for the simple fact that they all force the firing hand into an articulated, adducted position that isn't as secure or comfortable as would be with a standard rifle stock.

Some would argue that pistol-grip stocks are also inferior for CQB impact work, but IMHO is that they ain't terrible for an immediate response, and if you know you gotta swing away, you can adjust your grip pretty quickly behind the grip, to the barrel-axis.

I think I've found my shell holder - a Blackhawk 15-shell sling. GT Distributors carries them, so I think I'll go pick one up tomorrow.

Never tried on-the-sling shell holders, but it looks like it'll add a significant amount of weight, and would do some unpredictable and less-than-beneficial flopping around if you have to use the shotgun for structure-clearing or as an impact weapon. Too, if you're in an active-fire situation, gettin' shells out of elastic holders floppin' around on a sling may prove frustrating and unreliable.

I'm a fan of bolt-on side saddles. I mentioned in a post elsewhere that your most likely requirement in a defensive shotgun--that presumably has an extended tube--isn't getting your hands on more ammo right away, but on different ammo. Having a few slugs solidly secured right there, in quick and easy reach of your left hand and inches from the chamber, seems the best route to me. You can hot-swap with assurance because the mount is solid.

I don't really trust anything elastic when push comes to shove. (I get humor points for that, right? Elastic; push; shove?)

[NcongruNt]

I knew you'd like the Knoxx SpecOps stock. I have two of 'em. The only place I, personally, find it inferior is in the "assault-fire" position where the buttstock is clamped high underneath the firing arm. But no pistol-grip stocks excel at that for the simple fact that they all force the firing hand into an articulated, adducted position that isn't as secure or comfortable as would be with a standard rifle stock.

Some would argue that pistol-grip stocks are also inferior for CQB impact work, but IMHO is that they ain't terrible for an immediate response, and if you know you gotta swing away, you can adjust your grip pretty quickly behind the grip, to the barrel-axis.

I think I've found my shell holder - a Blackhawk 15-shell sling. GT Distributors carries them, so I think I'll go pick one up tomorrow.

Never tried on-the-sling shell holders, but it looks like it'll add a significant amount of weight, and would do some unpredictable and less-than-beneficial flopping around if you have to use the shotgun for structure-clearing or as an impact weapon. Too, if you're in an active-fire situation, gettin' shells out of elastic holders floppin' around on a sling may prove frustrating and unreliable.

I'm a fan of bolt-on side saddles. I mentioned in a post elsewhere that your most likely requirement in a defensive shotgun--that presumably has an extended tube--isn't getting your hands on more ammo right away, but on different ammo. Having a few slugs solidly secured right there, in quick and easy reach of your left hand and inches from the chamber, seems the best route to me. You can hot-swap with assurance because the mount is solid.

I don't really trust anything elastic when push comes to shove. (I get humor points for that, right? Elastic; push; shove?)

I had the same thoughts, but I am getting this to at least give me some on-gun extra ammo for now. As far as weight goes, I don't have to put all 15 shells in there, though I'm a big stout guy, so I probably will anyway. The problem seems to be finding a shell carrier that doesn't require modifying anything. I found one the other day that supposedly mounted on the left side of the receiver, but I read the install instructions, and it started talking about screws where my gun only has pins. I thought better of it, so I'm back to square one. Blackhawk (Knoxx) makes one specifically for this stock, but as I said earlier - it has way too many features I don't need. Yes, I can only use the shell holder, but that ends up with me paying $40 for a plastic 5-shell holder and a bunch of parts I'll never use, not exactly economical. I found one by some company called Tac-Star, but they offer either a 6-shell holder that won't work with my fore stock, or a 4-shell holder that leaves much to be desired in capacity. I'm off to check what Brownell's has now, but for all my looking, I'm not sure how much new stuff I'm going to find.

[Skiprr]

IMHO, rethink "volume." Think instead, "requirement."

"Volume" might be a handful of shells in your pocket. My bet is you can load those pocketed rounds faster than you can pull shells out of an elastic strap on a sling and load 'em.

And if the situation suddenly calls for a slug, not shot?

That "requirement" shouldn't leave you unprepared. You should be able immediately to hot-swap a slug into the chamber.

I have a four-shell side saddle on my 870, each slot loaded with a slug, and I believe that's the best configuration for me. The tube is charged with 00.

The six-shell pinned side saddle is not an option for the 870. It impedes the action.

[NcongruNt]

IMHO, rethink "volume." Think instead, "requirement."

"Volume" might be a handful of shells in your pocket. My bet is you can load those pocketed rounds faster than you can pull shells out of an elastic strap on a sling and load 'em.

And if the situation suddenly calls for a slug, not shot?

That "requirement" shouldn't leave you unprepared. You should be able immediately to hot-swap a slug into the chamber.

I have a four-shell side saddle on my 870, each slot loaded with a slug, and I believe that's the best configuration for me. The tube is charged with 00.

The six-shell pinned side saddle is not an option for the 870. It impedes the action.

You're obviously unaware of the amount of stuff I keep in my pockets. I generally have 2 flashlights, a knife sharpener, sometimes a spare mag for my BUG in the left pocket. The right pocket has the BUG a large amount of the time.

I generally don't have pockets on in the middle of the night when I'd be most likely to go immediately for a shotgun, so stashing shells in a pocket isn't really a viable option in those cases. If I'm not in bed, I've got a sidearm or two immediately handy (on my hip or sitting next to me) that would be an immediate go-to gun. Of course, the 870 would be preferable, and would be what I would shift to if I were to have the time to do so.

I've since decided that I'll probably get the PowerPak add-on and perhaps I could make use of the extras. Rather than trying to make a $20 solution work, I'll just get the $40 thing that was designed for my stock without drilling or replacing pins. I'll probably get the bandoleer sling just to have it. If I happen to be taking the 870 hunting, it would come in useful for extra ammo. I may take a look at the receiver-mounted shell holders as well.

While I don't foresee any need to transition to slugs inside my current home (live in an apartment), I could see the benefit for serious gunfight situations. It is something I will keep in mind.

I currently keep 3" 00 buck in the gun. An important thing to note (for the benefit of those reading) is that 3" slugs are slightly longer than 3". For my gun, 6 3" buck shells barely fit into the tube, so if the tube is only one round down, a 3" slug isn't going to fit. I re-discovered this when preparing for the first video above, and is why I only put 5 rounds through the gun there. I'm betting this is the case with a lot of 6-shot magazine 870s, so those of you with these guns might check how your magazine works in this situation. If I decide to keep slugs on the gun, I will need to make sure they're 2 3/4" to avoid this problem.