Help with starting my 870

Tactical, combat, military, law enforcement and home defense use of a Remington 870 shotgun.
cdj588
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Help with starting my 870

Post by cdj588 » Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:05 am

Im finally adding an 870 to my collection but I had no idea there were so many options. My goal is to have a standard black 870 with the magazine tube extenstion and an 18.5 inch barrel and 28 inch barrel.

Now that Im looking for one I see some have blued barrels some have that rough parkerized barrels. Then I read the blued finish resists rust better than the parkerized finish but I thought it was the other way around. I read the Wingmaster has a smoother action than the Express, but this guns main purpose is going to be HD so its not a big deal but it made me consider finding a Wingmaster lol. Lastly, to make the mix even more intertesting I found this 887 that is perfect but I am not sure how much I trust it compared to the old faithful 870

http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/prod ... 2+18.5+BLK

I just need yalls help lol

cdj588
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Re: Help with starting my 870

Post by cdj588 » Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:36 am

http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.ph ... press.html

This one would work great if I buy an extension and an 18.5 inch barrel

Kentactic
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Re: Help with starting my 870

Post by Kentactic » Sat Dec 22, 2012 4:56 pm

If the gun will have HD use then it needs a 20" or less barrel. Unless your doing some (im not familiar) certain bird hunting where you need 3.5'' shells theres no need to go with the supermag. It just means a longer stroke for the same power. And if youve shot a lot of 3'' guns then your probably going to be short stroking that gun a lot.

Id recommend the wingmasters for sure. The Express 870's they turn out these days are not fit for HD without some modification. Mainly reffering to reliability issues.

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Banshee
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Re: Help with starting my 870

Post by Banshee » Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:36 pm

cdj588 wrote:
Now that Im looking for one I see some have blued barrels some have that rough parkerized barrels. Then I read the blued finish resists rust better than the parkerized finish but I thought it was the other way around.
Parkerizing resist rust much better than bluing, but the finish on the Express is NOT Parkerizing, it is a matte bluing put on over a sandblasted finish. Police models are Parkerized, not matte blue.
The devil danced as he went down, in the hail of arrows comin' Out on the wild Montana ground, Custer died a-runnin'.

Kentactic
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Re: Help with starting my 870

Post by Kentactic » Sat Dec 22, 2012 6:24 pm

Banshee wrote:
cdj588 wrote:
Now that Im looking for one I see some have blued barrels some have that rough parkerized barrels. Then I read the blued finish resists rust better than the parkerized finish but I thought it was the other way around.
Parkerizing resist rust much better than bluing, but the finish on the Express is NOT Parkerizing, it is a matte bluing put on over a sandblasted finish. Police models are Parkerized, not matte blue.

Yeah and that Matte finish Rusts VERY easily. Shoot in the rain and see how it looks in the morning if you dont dry and clean it.

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Synchronizor
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Re: Help with starting my 870

Post by Synchronizor » Fri Dec 28, 2012 9:18 am

The Express finish isn't the best choice if you plan on getting it wet a lot, but it won't simply melt away.

My story, for what it's worth: I have the basic Express finish on my gun (at least most of the different barrels/tubes/etc, depending on what build I'm running at the moment), and it's been worn down to bare metal in places. I was wading through snow last week to shoot down the family Christmas tree, and the thing got absolutely soaked. I used an oiled wipe on it once I got back to my rig, but got distracted mounting and decorating the tree once I got home; so I didn't take the gun down to clean it until that night.

The exterior of the gun, which I had wiped down properly, had absolutely no rust on it - even the areas of completely naked metal.

A handful of interior areas where water had penetrated and sat, such as inside the fore-arm, under the mag clamps, and the threads on the extension's coupling nut, had dustings of rust. It all brushed off pretty easily though.

The lesson: Any finish depends on how well you care for your firearm. I know people who use Expresses as boat guns up in Alaska, and since they take proper care of them, they have no rust problems. I'm also sure there have been some excellent parkerized or Marine Magnum 870s that have been ruined because some idiot thought they had a "maintenance-free" finish.

*************************

To respond to the original post; if you don't mind doing a little work on upgrading a few internals and possibly smoothing some roughly finished spots (not a big deal, really, if you're any kind of do-it-yourself-er), the 870 Express 7-shot Synthetic (#25077 at the time, though that number might point to a different model now) is an excellent model to start with. It comes from the factory with the magazine extension (meaning no mag tube dimples that need to be removed), synthetic furniture (mine also came with the police SpeedFeed synthetic fore-arm), and an 18.5" barrel for a very nice price (mine was $306, brand new). It's built on a magnum receiver, so it'll take 3" and shorter shells, which will let you do anything a 12ga can do.

Skip the SuperMag, it shoehorns the 3.5" shell into a frame that was never designed for it, and you can only ever use those shells with specific barrels anyway. You only need 3.5" shells if you want to run with steel shot; with modern nontoxic shot, you can do it all with the 3".

There are also some very nice used Wingmasters out there. They're great guns, but you may need to spend more time and money to fit one of them with a mag extension and the synthetic furniture. The "slick action" thing is true, but tends to be over-exaggerated. After being broken in, my Express is slicker than any new Wingmaster I've ever handled; I can point the thing at the ceiling, hit the slide release, and the action will slide open by itself.

The Express finish will stand up just fine for any HD application, and with proper care, it'll take on most outdoor conditions too. You can also always have it parkerized (or plated, coated, whatever) in the future if you want for less than it would probably cost to upgrade to a Police 870. Pick up a 28" vent-rib barrel threaded for chokes (very easy to find used), and toss on your choice of accessories, and you'll have exactly what you say you're looking for.


-- Wow, wall of text... Anyway, hope some of it's helpful to you.

gd2a
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Re: Help with starting my 870

Post by gd2a » Mon Dec 31, 2012 4:17 am

I just bought a new 870 ... what are the reliability issues to look out for and the mod's to remedy them?
Kentactic wrote:If the gun will have HD use then it needs a 20" or less barrel. Unless your doing some (im not familiar) certain bird hunting where you need 3.5'' shells theres no need to go with the supermag. It just means a longer stroke for the same power. And if youve shot a lot of 3'' guns then your probably going to be short stroking that gun a lot.

Id recommend the wingmasters for sure. The Express 870's they turn out these days are not fit for HD without some modification. Mainly reffering to reliability issues.

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Synchronizor
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Re: Help with starting my 870

Post by Synchronizor » Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:18 am

gd2a wrote:I just bought a new 870 ... what are the reliability issues to look out for and the mod's to remedy them
One of the most common issues I've seen is roughly finished areas inside the barrel, chamber, or receiver that can make it difficult to extract shells (especially cheap, low-brass target loads). This can usually be remedied with some polishing & grinding, but will probably go away on its own eventually as the gun breaks in.

Sometimes though, the ammo itself carries the bulk of the blame. I've seen Winchesters in the Wal-Mart bulk packs choke all kinds of shotguns, not just Remingtons. I'd steer clear of those.
Last edited by Synchronizor on Wed Jan 02, 2013 9:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Vitaly
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Re: Help with starting my 870

Post by Vitaly » Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:28 am

Synchronizor wrote:The Express finish isn't the best choice if you plan on getting it wet a lot, but it won't simply melt away.

My story, for what it's worth: I have the basic Express finish on my gun (at least most of the different barrels/tubes/etc, depending on what build I'm running at the moment), and it's been worn down to bare metal in places. I was wading through snow last week to shoot down the family Christmas tree, and the thing got absolutely soaked. I used an oiled wipe on it once I got back to my rig, but got distracted mounting and decorating the tree once I got home; so I didn't take the gun down to clean it until that night.

The exterior of the gun, which I had wiped down properly, had absolutely no rust on it - even the areas of completely naked metal.

A handful of interior areas where water had penetrated and sat, such as inside the fore-arm, under the mag clamps, and the threads on the extension's coupling nut, had dustings of rust. It all brushed off pretty easily though.

The lesson: Any finish depends on how well you care for your firearm. I know people who use Expresses as boat guns up in Alaska, and since they take proper care of them, they have no rust problems. I'm also sure there have been some excellent parkerized or Marine Magnum 870s that have been ruined because some idiot thought they had a "maintenance-free" finish.

*************************

To respond to the original post; if you don't mind doing a little work on upgrading a few internals and possibly smoothing some roughly finished spots (not a big deal, really, if you're any kind of do-it-yourself-er), the 870 Express 7-shot Synthetic (#25077 at the time, though that number might point to a different model now) is an excellent model to start with. It comes from the factory with the magazine extension (meaning no mag tube dimples that need to be removed), synthetic furniture (mine also came with the police SpeedFeed synthetic fore-arm), and an 18.5" barrel for a very nice price (mine was $306, brand new). It's built on a magnum receiver, so it'll take 3" and shorter shells, which will let you do anything a 12ga can do.

Skip the SuperMag, it shoehorns the 3.5" shell into a frame that was never designed for it, and you can only ever use those shells with specific barrels anyway. You only need 3.5" shells if you want to run with steel shot; with modern nontoxic shot, you can do it all with the 3".

There are also some very nice used Wingmasters out there. They're great guns, but you may need to spend more time and money to fit one of them with a mag extension and the synthetic furniture. The "slick action" thing is true, but tends to be over-exaggerated. After being broken in, my Express is slicker than any new Wingmaster I've ever handled; I can point the thing at the ceiling, hit the slide release, and the action will slide open by itself.

The Express finish will stand up just fine for any HD application, and with proper care, it'll take on most outdoor conditions too. You can also always have it parkerized (or plated, coated, whatever) in the future if you want for less than it would probably cost to upgrade to a Police 870. Pick up a 28" vent-rib barrel threaded for chokes (very easy to find used), and toss on your choice of accessories, and you'll have exactly what you say you're looking for.


-- Wow, wall of text... Anyway, hope some of it's helpful to you.
Synchronizor, thanks for the very informative post!
http://www.Rem870.com - Blog about the Remington 870 Shotgun

tactical870
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Re: Help with starting my 870

Post by tactical870 » Thu Jan 03, 2013 6:42 am

I have owned 3 Remington 887 nitro mag tacticals. They are great guns and very reliable, they will eat just about anything all the way up to 3 1/2 express magnum buckshot. Plus the gun is encased in a polymer armor called armor lokt. You cant go wrong with either the 870, 870 wing master or the 887 tac.
Practical is Tactical

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