Most have had one show up. A couple of times new in the box. One unfortunate fellow had a brand new 930 and 590 still in the cardboard. When the 930 shat the bed he switched to the 590...which locked up tighter than Hunter Biden holding a crack pipe. The 930 went back in with a shell stuck in the chamber I'd ripped the rim off of, and the 590 went back in with the gun empty but the action seized up.
He bought a Beretta after that.
3/15/2016
Forgive me if I have missed it, but I have not seen much talk about the Winchester 1200/1300 shotguns. I know they are not nearly as popular in LE circles as the 870's were, but I've owned two ( a bird gun, and a Defender) most of my life, and other than a crappy weld on the action bar on the bird gun letting go after a lot of magnum waterfowl loads (factory sent out a replacement quickly) I've never seen much reason to replace them or trade them for something new.
I'm curious if anyone has seen any particular issues crop up with the Winchester guns, and how they fared compared to the 870/590's etc... I know the newest FN/Winchester guns are hit and miss quality wise. I think someone said they were now being made in Turkey?
I'd love to get a 1301 and trick it out with a short LOP stock ala Magpul/Aridus, but for my uses, the pump seems sufficient, as I've never had much trouble with short stroking the 1200/1300 "speedpump" action. That might have something to do with growing up hunting with the guns, and having put a lot of rounds through them over the years. I freely admit I don't grab a shotgun as my primary defense tool, but I do keep one handy.
I've no experience (never even touched one) with the Winchester shotguns. My main experiences have been with the Mossberg 590A1 (issued shotgun from where I retired and personally-own a 590A1); secondarily the Remington 870 (used in the police academy and own two).
Both have been reliable for a few thousand rounds through each make & model. I did have the Mossberg get locked up with a small piece of gravel (unknown where it was in the action, but came out during a detail strip once home).
I've had two problems with my semi-auto Remington 11-87P: a broken shell latch; and something worn in the trigger group making it necessary to depress the carrier-release after cycling the bolt to chamber the first round. Otherwise, it cycles fine after this first round is chambered in this 2-step fashion. When it was new, I only had to cycle the bolt without using the carrier-release to load the first round. I substituted in a friend's trigger group to narrow the problem to the trigger group, but didn't want to order a new trigger group assembly as it was going to cost ~$150, delivered.
Here's a photo of the piece of gravel on the 3.45" blade of my Benchmade "Griptilian" pocket knife. It seems the photo shows up about 3x the actual/real-life size of the blade and gravel.
So it sounds like you all are say the LTT 1301 is the best bargain out there right now. That’s what I heard anyway.
“If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything." - Miyamoto Musashi
When I buy a new shotgun, polishing the chamber with 0000 steel wool is my first step. The observations about cheap ammo being reliable are correct. When I went to work for the Texas prison system in 1981, there were two ranges that conducted 100% of training for the entire system. The 870 was the shotgun. A typical life span was 100,000 rds. Factory trained armorers maintained them.
Dan Lehr can comment on 870 and Mossberg maintenance and longevity.
Thanks for the informative posts and please do carbines also.
I've had a 1300 Defender not go belly up in two shotgun classes (Moses and Givens) and in matches. It seems worth the $239 I paid for it many years ago. It sits in the rack with the other long arms waiting for crazed bears, insurrections, aliens, home invaders and Cthulhu. Seriously, I like the gun.