New user - Jeff

[Wiseguy]

Hi folks. My father gave me a shotgun many decades ago when I was a young man and it disappeared during a house burglary. This was around the late '70s. I've never owned one since. I just attended the Austin Gun Show because my church is sponsoring a charity event - a free-style sporting clay shootout - and wanted to pick up a relatively inexpensive gun.

I happened upon a Remington 870 Express Magnum. I'm in the process of trying to decipher the age of the weapon but she looks like she's never been used. I was told by the vendor that she was indeed a used gun but the barrel appears pristine. I was impressed with the visual appearance and purchased her but now I'm reading some mixed reviews of the 870 Express with respect to the loading and/or ejection. I'll be taking her to a gun range next weekend with some 2.75" shells to give her a go.

Some of the additional things I've read are that she's susceptible to rust. I will store her in the house and away from humidity. I know enough about weapons to oil the barrel and frame.

If anyone on this forum can help me understand the history of these weapons, I would certainly appreciate it. I've read great reviews from law enforcement on how reliable the 870s are. What's the real story? Thanks!! Jeff

[bustos870]

Welcome to the forum.

[Synchronizor]

I was impressed with the visual appearance and purchased her but now I'm reading some mixed reviews of the 870 Express with respect to the loading and/or ejection. I'll be taking her to a gun range next weekend with some 2.75" shells to give her a go.

Since they're more budget-level models that get a little less inspection and polish at the factory than higher-end guns, Expresses can be more likely to have actual defects, but such problems are not nearly as common as a perusal of the internet tends to suggest. The 870 Express is the same reliable design as other 870s, the differences pretty much all relate to looks, finish quality, and the materials used for the furniture & one or two other small parts (which you can always upgrade if it'll make you feel better). There are a lot of other significant contributing factors toward the mixed reviews.

A biggie is that inexpensive Express models are common first shotguns, and a lot of the people buying them don't have much experience with them, or they only have experience with grandpa's well-worn old Wingmaster that's smooth as glass after thousands of rounds. Expresses aren't as nicely-finished as the more expensive models, so the actions tend to be rougher out of the box, and breaking the gun in is especially important to having making it 100% reliable. When folks take their new 870 shooting for the first time, they aren't aware that occasional ejection hang-ups or a rough-feeling action are not unusual before the gun has been broken in; or that a brand-new gun should be cleaned before its first trip to the range. Compounding this is the fact that pretty much all modern shotshells have steel bases (even if they're brass-colored), which doesn't behave as nicely as brass when it comes to sealing the chamber to keep it clean, or contracting after firing to ease extraction. The lower quality control on cheap, bulk-pack shotgun shells doesn't help either - Winchester Universal target loads from Wal-Mart are especially notorious for being unreliable in all different kinds of shotguns, and should be avoided.

In addition, remember that this is the Internet. People are going to be a lot more negatively vocal and active about seeking help & asking questions when a product is giving them trouble (whether the there's a real issue or not) than they will about a product that simply works as expected. It doesn't matter if you're talking about guns, cell phones, or electric toothbrushes, you'll find a lot more discussion about problems than you will about the lack of them. In the case of the 870, Remington sells a lot more Express models than anything else, so it's no surprise that most cases of 870 issues are with Expresses. And of course, you'll always have those sorry individuals who assume that a utilitarian finish correlates to a lack of quality control; or who own a different shotgun from a "competing" brand and have some misplaced compulsion to put down everything else.

Bottom line, I wouldn't worry too much about internet rumors. Clean and lube the gun, then take it out and run a bunch of inexpensive birdshot through it to start breaking it in (just skip the Winchester Universals). If something does goes wrong, the folks here or Remington's customer service department can help you address it. Odds are though, the gun will work just fine, or you'll only have minor hiccups like the pump feeling rough or a couple shells out of the first 100 or so sticking in the chamber - things that tend to work themselves out as the gun wears in.