Picked up this shotgun today for $750. Did I get a deal or did I get screwed?
Barrel is non-ported and one side is marked 12 GA. for 2 3/4 or shorter shells, other side has the standard Remington marks, and is stamped Vang Comp Gunsite model. It has non-tritium ghost ring sights. Follower is neon green and marked Scattergun Technologies, shell feedramp is smooth and stainless in appearance. It has a speedfeed 4 shell stock, GG&G ambi receiver snaphook sling mount, Surefire 618FA forend with LED bulb, and a tacstar side saddle.
It sounds/looks like it is missing the flex-tab upgrade, but the pictures are too small on my blackberry.
I am not at all familiar with the VC GS model, so I can’t tell you if you got screwed or not. Unless it is fairly old, it should have the flex-tab system though.
Can you post pictures of the underside of the bolt and top of the carrier? It looks like perhaps you got a Vang that someone cherry-picked some of the parts off of along the way or it is an older model that someone upgraded. Admittedly, I haven’t seen all that many, but all the VCs I have seen had his follower in them, not an SGT. But perhaps someone didn’t care for his and preferred the WC follower. Is it a Wingmaster or police model? I thought I saw a wingmaster bolt in it.
I would need to take the shell carrier off but it seems like its a refinished Wingmaster. The gun has a matte finish to it, but the trigger guard still looks blued. The flextab upgrade would be that sort of squared off u-shaped cut in the feedramp, correct? It doesn’t have that. The bolt has a stainless finish to it as well. I looked on Vang Comp’s site, and I didn’t see a Gunsite model. I’m thinking it might be a Wingmaster that someone sent in for an upgrade.
The ghost ring rear looks like the old unit made by Steve Wickert. All of the recent Vang guns I’ve seen have LPA sights.
If the gun functions and patterns well, you did okay on the price. Not exactly a steal, but a fair price. The shotgun is nicely outfitted. I prefer a conventional buttstock, but that’s just me.
I have a Hogue 12" stock I’ll probably put on it, the Speedfeed stock is too long for me. I should have looked it over better and talked him down more, he was asking $800.
I think ya did pretty good. Saved a few bucks and it looks pretty clean. If you’re satisfied with it, then you’ve accomplished what you wanted to in the purchase.
Don’t sweat it. You did okay. If you would have talked him down another $50, big deal. Amortize the theoretical savings over–say–the rest of your life and it’s peanuts. Lose that pistol-gripped monstrosity and drive on.
You’ll love how the Vang barrel patterns buckshot.
Watch the Wickert sight. If the screw that lock the slider for elevation backs out, you can lose the whole slider and aperture. Locktite (blue) is your friend. The Wickert sight is a nice unit. Wickert worked with Fred Wells in Prescott, AZ and turned these out in his spare time. These were the first proper ghost ring rear sights I encountered for the 870 (probably circa mid-1980’s). Before these, folks made do with crappy Williams sights and such.
Took it out yesterday. S&B 00 buck patterned at about 5-6 inches across at 10 yards. Also, didn’t realize the barrel was 20 inches, so the Speedfeed definitely has to go for a Hogue short stock. Can’t get the bolt off though. Any tips for this?
Get the proper tool from Brownell’s to remove the stock. Makes it a snap.
No disrespect to Vang, but not having ports is a good thing. The hearing you lose if you have to fire without earpro is worth a lot more than the tiny amount of muzzle jump saved…particularly if you use low recoil rounds and proper technique.
The interior barrel massaging is what makes the Vang work prized; if you desire tiny patterns.
That’s a gun built by the Gunsite Gunsmithy in the early to mid 90’s, back when Ted Yost was running the show. The barrels were sent to Vang for his mod (sans ports), but the rest of the work was done at Gunsite. Yours pre-dates the one I had built up in 1997; mine wore a set of MMC sights, which they switched to around that time. Search youtube for the old Gunsite Tactical Shotgun Clips featuring Yost, Jack Furr and Bill Jeans; it came out about the time your gun was made.
Great first post, that’s exactly what I was looking for since Vang Comp’s website had no mention of a Gunsite model. What do you think about the price I paid? I got the stock switched out for a Hogue short stock and it handles much better.
