Marine magnum ammo selection

[EZTundra77]

I am interested in buying a Marine Magnum 870 (item # 5012). It's the nickel plated one. I am wondering if I can shoot slugs and/or rifled slugs through it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Vitaly]

Yes, of course you can shoot slugs and rifled slugs through it. Remington 870 Marine Magnum 870 has smoothbore barrel.

There are different slugs designed to be fired from rifled barrels.

[EZTundra77]

That makes sense to me. A guy aho worked at a gun shop told me that you can't fire slugs or rifled slugs through the lower end 870 (express, etc). he seemed to think that it was due to lower quality steel. I am referring to the matte black barrels. Is that accurate info?

[jpfrog]

That is not correct- I've put many a slug down the barrel of 870 Express shotguns in the past. The Express was originally designed to be a low cost affordable option for hunters who used shotguns and needed versatility and toughness...to not be able to put a slug down them would have meant failure for the Express. Often times you'll find that guys who work at gun shops only know about 1 or 2 specific guns, and they are very good at spreading opinion or false information about other guns that they know nothing about. My advice is to try out several gun shops until you find one that not only has the prices you like, but knowledgeable, courteous employees as well.

[EZTundra77]

Thanks. His info seemed off base to me. What do you think about the difference between a sawed off 870 (i.e. 81991) vs. the 870 marine magnum? Some people say that buttstock helps controlability. I like the compactness of the sawed off.

[jpfrog]

If by "sawed off" you mean pistol grip only, and no butt stock, then there are some options for you. The pistol grip only is going to be pretty tough to handle, especially in a 12 gauge, but there are some companies like Hogue that make good grips for that..."Tamer" I think is what Hogue calls theirs. These options can be pretty roung on your wrists though.

There are also folding stocks available, which give you the same compact size for storage as a pistol grip, but the stock can be folded to full length to allow for shouldering the shotgun and helping to control it. These don't help with recoil as much as a fixed stock, but they do offer a compromise to allow for compact size and still have a butt stock option.

[EZTundra77]

Yeah. those were my thoughts as well. pistol grip alone doesn't seem wise. And the folding stocks I've seen look pretty flimsy. I installed a nice ACE folding stock w/ a Bonesteel hinge on my Saiga .308. I like that, but I don't know if they make a set-up for an 870. The Marine Mag seems compact enough for home defense. And I could probably shoot out to about 75 yards with slugs. That would put off having to buy a second shotgun for hunting for a while. I don't plan on hunting fowl, so I don't really need a long barrel. I'm sure I will get into one at some point. But for now, the Mar. mag seems like a pretty solid compromise. I'm guessing I could remove the buttstock and put on a more tactical grip/stock at some point. I really like the idea of the nickel plating. I'm sure that the matte black coating on the cheaper guns would be fine, but with stuff like this, I like to think of passing this stuff on to my grandkids.

[Mifune326]

The Marine Magnums are nice EZ. The coating was designed to stand up to salt water/air environments a little better.

As far as stocks go, I prefer a short length of pull stock like the Speedfeed Youth stock (13" LOP). They make the gun a little more compact and help you shoot with a more "squared up" stance like most "tactical" schools are teaching these days. Quite a few companied make the collapsable M4 style stocks for the 870 too like Blackhawk etc. if that's what you prefer. Vitaly has put a few reviews of these stocks on the Rem870 blog.

[EZTundra77]

Thanks. I'll look into those stocks.