Follow The Leader
Some products speak for themselves. Tables, chairs, even shotguns. Then you have something show up on your doorstep like the Home Front Defense Devices “Defender Follower”. This is definitely not one of those products. Before even removing it from the package this small part created more questions than answers. I know what you must be thinking...you’re taking all this effort over a follower? I know, I get it but there’s more to this follower. Something that bears consideration. At first sight, this follower is not your ordinary plastic shotgun mag follower. It’s lightweight...and spring loaded. I find the best way to get the answers you need are to go straight to the source. So I emailed HFDD’s owner with a few questions. Below are those questions and the thorough answers I got.
Where did the vision for this design come from? What material is it made of and does it make a difference? What is the purpose of it being spring loaded? What does it offer to the 870 platform? What issue is this follower there to solve?
Ever been jammin’ down the street on a longboard / skateboard, and get stopped dead by a little tiny pebble? Ever crank the bass up so loud that everything in a half-mile radius vibrates like an earthquake is just passing through? Ever fumble a load and drop the shell, pick it up and knock most of the dirt, (mud, sand, whatever) off of it, and load? Ever buy a mag extension that comes with a new spring and follower and you can’t. Quite. Get. That last shell in? These are some of the scenarios that led to the development of the Compression Follower. Like most other upgraded tailed followers on the market, ours are machined
from 6061 T6 aluminum. Light, strong, corrosion resistant, and wears well. Why not stainless steel? Stainless is usually a harder material than your mag tube. The mag tube will wear before the follower does. Like the majority of follower manufacturers, we’d rather have a follower wear to the tube than the other way around. That’s where the similarities end. The Compression Followers have a spring loaded, retractable tail. In the “Workhorse” this allows a low capacity 12 gauge, that might bottom out under load with a standard upgraded tailed follower, to meet capacity. The spring also acts as a vibratory inducer. When you load that dropped shotshell, chances are some debris will load with it.
The spring keeps the follower vibrating like a little jackhammer inside your mag tube. Debris will take the path of least resistance. The flutes on the OD of the follower body allow the debris to pass through, as opposed to binding and stopping dead. The “Workhorse” has exceptionally deep cut grooves, ideal for hunters in the muck. The grooves are also deep enough to be a drop-in upgrade to a shotgun that may have dimples in the tube (like a factory 870). Now take all of the above and tweak it just a bit for a more defensive use…The “Defender”. Again, it’s a little vibrating jackhammer in your mag tube. The flutes are not cut as deep, as this item is designed for a high capacity shotgun. When you add a mag extension to say, your 870, you have to remove the dimples. No dimples, the flutes
don’t need to be quite as deep. That extra meat in the follower body allows us to add a deep trepan cut, an actual pocket for the mag spring that allows for the use of a tailed follower without losing any of that capacity you just paid to get. And not just for the 870… Just about any Remington, Mossberg, Winchester, and their clones will benefit from this upgrade. So many firearm components have evolved...But not the factory plastic or thin stamped metal follower…Until now.
From examining this part I can see that there has been a lot of thought put into it. I didn’t find it to add an extra round. I already had 6 with my extension so I wasn’t looking for an addition either. I do appreciate it being made of aluminum. It tells me a lot that they thought enough to stay away from plastic yet not go with a material that would be harder than the mag tube. It’s all about forethought for me. Solving problems before they become a problem. Home Front Defense Devices has done just that with this follower. From the debris flutes to the spring loaded tail knocking dirt loose so it can fall free without jamming shells. They put as much thought into this design as possible.
