I have an old style 881 with all metal parts and has a real wood stock. The barrel shroud is beat up and the internals are weak. The wood stock is in good shape as well as the metal receiver and metal pump arm. I was thinking about just buying a new 880 and “blending the best of old and new” to take advantage of the the improved valve design but keeping all the metal and wood components. My question: is this even possible?
Yes it is possible and I have done similar several times. Since you have a wood stock I would assume wood forearms as well. That makes the job easier as you can use the new style frame rail, which doesn’t have the tabs to hold the plastic forearms on.