Gad, don't wreck a fine collectible like that! As far as I know a full choke barrel for Model 31 will handle rifled slugs just fine. Not sure who would have told you otherwise. I shot lots of slugs through my old Model 12 without any issues and the Model 31 was every bit as good a gun with well-made barrels. Now an old Model 11 ... maybe not so much. I have heard that even though those barrels were thick metal they were not terribly strong.

Also, you should be able to shoot steel shot through that full choke barrel okay as long as you don't shoot anything larger than BB shot and stick to the lighter, faster loads (1 oz or less for 2.75" shells). Modified might give you a better pattern for steel but I wouldn't advise messing up a great gun like that for the small difference it might make. I kill a lot of geese with steel shot through my old fixed full choke 870 3" mag. On a poor day I bat .500 and many days I will shoot a limit of five honkers in five shots. I don't think I'm an exceptional shot either. Does help to be on the leading edge of the migration, that's for sure.

My older brother's first gun was a 16 gauge Model 31. He still hunts pheasants with me every year using that gun. They were a fine piece of workmanship as far as I'm concerned. The move to making 870s was not a quality one but rather economics in an effort to take over the Model 12's hold on working man's shotgun business. Succeeded in doing that, sadly. Mind you, I have owned an 870 since 1968 and shot perhaps thousands of birds with it. It has done the job but is about through now. The cheap stuff in the guts is finally catching up. The 870 is a cheaply made gun that has held up fairly well. As to workmanship, the Model 31 is head and shoulders above it.

I picked up a new Model 877 when I was in Scheel's at Grand Forks last fall. Ugh! Another step downwards in my opinion. Those things are crude!

Well DakotaMan, they do make slugs a little smaller diameter than the barrel, that is what the cavity in the rear of the slug is for: the gasses fill the cavity and cause the hollow portion of the slug to swell and create a seal inside the barrel, just like the Mini`e (pronounced Min-yay, not mini) balls of civil war fame.

I think he meant he thought he was being given a Win Model 12 but it turned out to be a Remington Model 31 instead. Nice to have that kind of benefactor no matter which gun it was! My guess is someone who knew little about guns inherited one that they were told was something it wasn't and he/she is now handing it down to this lucky fella.

I shot Remington and Brenneke 12 gauge slugs through a full choke accessory barrel on a Rem 870, and the slugs are sufficiently malleable to endure the slight choke constriction near the muzzle. The Brenneke slugs were more accurate for me at 100 yards.