That's a great deal. Generally I'd prefer to keep my wood furniture, but that's a great deal.Originally Posted by peterb
That's a great deal. Generally I'd prefer to keep my wood furniture, but that's a great deal.
For my needs, an 870 works just fine. I'm not going to make a 100y+ shot in a defensive scenario outside of a complete and total collapse of society, so being able to launch the equivalent of half a mag of subgun ammo with every press of the trigger at targets inside 50 yards is plenty good.
That said, the 870 (or any shotgun, really) is a unique manual of arms, and is very different from the ARs that most people today have time behind. For me, I grew up with an 870 in my hands, and have far more time with one than I do either ARs or AKs. I'm very comfortable with the platform, and confident in my ability to run it well under stress. That means a lot. If I'd spent time in the .mil running around with an M16 or M4, I might feel differently. But I spent a considerable amount of time running around in the woods blasting squirrels and sitch with an 870 growing up, plus the whole genetics thing.
In the end, I fall back on the wisdom of Super Dave: "The twelve-gauge combat shotgun is the Hammer of God. Its only limitations are range and carrying enough ammo to keep it in the fight."
The Express guns will occasionally have issues with the super cheap "Aluminum rim " brass that federal and some others offer in bulk packs sold at Walmart.
I have an Express 870 worked over by Scattergun Technologies into their "Border Patrol " model back when Roger Small owned 'em and the shop was in Nashville circa 1998. It had been fine with any ammo I had run through it..... but I made the mistake of buying that aluminum rimmed ammo (it was cheap) to run in Givens' 2 day shotgun class a few years ago. It worked, mostly , but I still had to occasionally sweep an empty out of the port that did not get ejected completely. On the other hand all the actual brass rimmed cases I ran through the gun that weekend cycled without a hitch and I won the class "shoot off" at the end. I just know now that for that gun I don't need to try to feed it aluminum rimmed cheapo ammo. Which really is not a big issue since there is so much brass rimmed cheap ammo available to use for practice.
So if you foresee having to shoot aluminum rimmed shells in your gun then the express 870 may not be the way to go, but I have never had any issues with actual brass rims. And as others mention, a Wingmaster or older Police Magnum can be found at a good price and can be upgraded if you prefer.
Last edited by Randy Harris; 04-01-2016 at 11:09 AM.
The only thing wrong with the new 870P's is the price. I'm sure a lemon gets out every now and then, but they're a whole different beast from the express guns.
A little polishing with a brake cylinder hone will take care of most of the sticky shell problems in an 870.
Does the M2 feed low recoil FliteControl ammunition reliably? I have a quite a bit of Federal #1 and 00 ammunition, but all of it is the low recoil variety. Also, how is your M2 set up? I have a Hans Vang 870 now, but have been toying with going to a semi auto for some time. I just don't want to have a ton of unreliable ammunition on hand and have to start over again.
Last edited by RichY; 04-01-2016 at 01:43 PM. Reason: misspelled word
The only problem with the M2 is really that I've not seen a way to reduce length of pull. 14.5" is really, really long indoors. Even the Mossberg 930, which has a recoil system in the butt stock, can be made shorter than that.
Ugh, that is likely a deal breaker. I was seriously thinking about snagging a Benelli M2 Entry Gun, and dropping an Aimpoint Micro on it.
A 12.5" LOP is perfect for me. The additional two inches would make it feel like marching down a hallway with a halberd.
Last edited by SeriousStudent; 04-01-2016 at 06:17 PM.
I suspect you could just remove the wood before sending the barreled action, and swap it back on when thevgun came back.
My 1980's vintage M1 works fine with it as well as the Winchester low recoil slugs we have at work.
Those Winchesters with steel heads are just as unreliable; and not just in 870 Express models.
I'm looking for another 870, and I damn sure am not buying a recent-production anything. I had a shot , two years ago, at a pristine OLD WingMaster Police (with real steel trigger group) when the Pennsylvania State Police dumped all of theirs and a local dealer grabbed a dozen of them. I'm still kicking myself for passing it by.
When I was at Quantico in 1993, the FTU had an 870 that was sort of their range mascot. It had been acquired in 1960, and had over 100K rounds through it with only an ejector and extractor change. Those older guns were built well. I cannot say the same for the newer ones… and not all of it can be blamed on the Freedom Group, especially the poor finish. We were seeing that well prior to the Freedom Group's take-over.
To tell you the truth, I wouldn't buy ANY new Remington product. The 700 recall was/is bleeding them white, and I'll wager they are cutting corners faster than S&W ever did during the MIM transition.
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