You may luck out with the XS 24/7 tritium Big Dot sight for Remington rifle sighted barrels, if its dovetail is larger or the same as the recess in your Brownells (OEM Mossberg) front pedestal. That is, it could be filed to fit. If smaller, it could be red loctited in place. Of course, that depends on whether XS agrees to sell you the front sight only.

Both your rear elevator and your front pedestal are silver soldered onto your barrel, and the only sure way to use both of the XS 24/7 sights is for a gunsmith to remove your sight bases with heat, solder Remington sight bases on in their place, refinish your barrel, and add the $120 XS 24/7 sights. Obviously, that is not economical.

The Remington rear elevator is too dissimilar to the Brownells / Mossberg rear elevator, but you do not need a tritium rear rifle sight for HD anyway. Your current rear rifle sight will do, and you might not even have time to line up front and rear sights in an emergency. It is the tritium FS that is critical. Nor do you need GRS for HD.

You could call XS Sights at 1-888-744-4880, M-F 9am-5pm Central, for the front-to-back measurement of the dovetail of the FS. Welcome to the Basement, irishthunder.

 

Thank you. This is exactly the response i was looking for. I will call this week sometime to see about ordering the front sight if they will do that.

I removed a rear sight base that was soldered on a Mosin before with a blow torch (very carefully). However the Mosin barrel is thicker then a shotgun barrel. Do you believe a Heat gun would be able to remove the solder without damaging the barrel? I can do my own refinishing. I believe I have the tools i need to line up the new base correctly. I would think a pipe center-finder and calibers should allow me to achieve alignment. Thoughts?

 

You are definitely not the average bear, Yogi, with those skills. However, it seems unnecessary to replace your front pedestal with the Remington front pedestal, as I explained above. Just get that dovetail measurement from Remington (they sell it cheaper than XS) when you order the FS, and you will know whether you will be filing it smaller, or red loctiting it in place. "File the sight, not the barrel: when fitting a new sight to an existing dovetail, do not enlarge the slot in the barrel. Sights are intentionally made oversized, while barrel dovetails are intentionally made undersized, to allow hand fitting." Brownells sells a dovetail file for $47, so you might rather have a gunsmith fit the sight for probably $15.

But to answer you, removing or adding a Mossberg sight base(s) or moving a barrel lug / ring with a torch will only affect the finish, which you can refinish yourself.

From page 71 of the http://www.remington.com/~/media/files/parts-price/2014partspricelist.ashx:
F98843 V-30 870 FRONT SIGHT RAMP 12 GA FBI GUN TRIJICON $15.45
F17595 V-30 870 FRONT SIGHT RAMP PIN $4.12
F401820 V-30 870 FRONT SIGHT XS TRITIUM DOT HEIGHT .350 $40.17
F202450 V-30 870 FRONT SIGHT XS TRITIUM DOT HEIGHT .400 $40.17
F202897 V-30 870 FRONT SIGHT XS TRITIUM DOT HEIGHT .500 OR .450 $40.17

For Remington parts information and ordering, please call 1-800-243-9700. Good luck, sir.

 

If I were to just order the front sight I wouldn't want to change the bases then. However if I could I would like to do the rear sight and have both the front and rear sight set. I like the big dot sight system on carry guns and would think it would work well on my shotgun as well.

Also I would like to add this project to my gunsmithing portfolio. I was a small arms repairman in the service and am currently taking online gunsmithing courses. I know if a bring a roll of toilet paper and a certificate from a online school to a gunsmithing shop looking for work they will say the charmin is more valuable. However i would think if i brought a portfolio showing what different projects i have accomplished i have a better chance of not being laughed out of a shop. This is why I am trying to do my own work on all my weapons. And having to buy the specialized tools needed is a benefit to me. It may not be economical now but hopefully it pays off down the road.

So as long as I am careful I should be able to use a torch to remove the sight base off my shotgun?

 

You have watched kingjoey's video. Please watch 1:30 >> 5:50 again, and note that Joey says that he uses a 0.729" heatsink. I think that a 0.729" steel rod inserted in the barrel would suffice, but if you need confirmation, call King Armory Mfg LLC at 1-615-568-7901 9am-6pm MST M-F.

The following items are listed on page 73 of the 2014 Remington Price List. Good luck with your gunsmithing, sir.

F402137 not shown 870 REAR SIGHT ASSEM WHITE ARROW $12.36
F114600 not shown 870 REAR SIGHT ASSEM XS SIGHTS $17.51
F32502 not shown 870 REAR SIGHT BASE 20 GA $16.48
F111050 not shown 870 REAR SIGHT BASE IN THE BRIGHT 12 GAUGE $20.60
F16965 not shown 870 REAR SIGHT BASE PIN $4.12
F28505 not shown 870 REAR SIGHT BASE SCREW (REQUIRES 2 SCREWS) $3.09
F201975 not shown 870 REAR SIGHT SLIDE MATTE $17.51
F16968 not shown 870 REAR SIGHT WASHER (2) $4.12
F22560 not shown 870 REAR SWIVEL ASSEM (STUD ONLY) BL $18.54

 

Thank you sir. You have been a huge help. I feel like a pretty big dee de dee not thinking about that video where he removes and re-installs that lug. I think I will order the complete set and practice on some scrap barrels I have laying around. Have never soldered before.

 

Thank you sir. You have been a huge help. I feel like a pretty big dee de dee not thinking about that video where he removes and re-installs that lug. I think I will order the complete set and practice on some scrap barrels I have laying around. Have never soldered before.

 

When did you buy your Brownells 20" High Capacity Kit? I always saw the out-of-stock notice whenever I looked, but in reading the reviews I observed that many back orders have been fulfilled by Brownells and Mossberg in the past few years. That's good, and keeps their inventories reasonable.

The Brownells Kit is available either with rifle sights for $179.99 (078-000-162WB) like yours, or with only a bead for $99.99 (631-000-339WB). IIRC, the kit with rifle sights cost $155 last year. Tonight I found the following posted in a ten-year-old thread.

I just called mossberg, and you can make your 500 an 8 shot for 60 bucks...that includes new 20 " barrel, new magazine, and new spring

 

I ordered mine sometime during 09-10 when I was in iraq. I do remember it being in stock the day I ordered. Believe I payed somewhere between 100-150 for it.