[Combat-wombat]

Okay, not that I'm going to get one anytime soon, but a good HD shotgun is on my list, and in case we are ever in a financial position that would allow us to purchase one, I want to get a good quality gun. Now, I've pretty much narrowed it out to a Remington 870 Police or a Mossberg 500 Persuader. However, there are some other options if you don't like either. What are your thoughts on these guns? Include reliability, etc.

[Dave McCracken]

Henry, it's a buckdancer's choice. All of these are darn good shotguns...

[rappa]

I had to make that decision myself recently. It ended up being made for me 'cos my dad gave me his 12ga 870 Wingmaster 26" barrel which I ended up converting for HD (mag ext, syn stocks, 18.5" barrel). Before I knew I'd get the 870 for free, I was set on the Mossy (due to price). Am very happy with the 870.

Didn't see the survey. Can't really go wrong with any. All depends on your budget and how they feel to you. My uncle has the Winchester (1300). I'm a tad envious b\c it's lighter than my 870. Then I realize, "When am I going to be toting this thing around for an extended period of time?" and all is well again!

[Darrin]

Mossberg 590 here.

Sunday, I'll be comparing heavily my 590 with cslingers 870. If I remember, I'll post some obervations afterwards.

[Nippy]

IMO, the 870 is the best close range defensive tool around, bar none.

[Kestryll]

The easiest way to determine the best is to test them. Take an 870 and a 500, duct tape the muzzles together perfectly straight, and fire simultaniously (sp?). Whichever one still fires afterwords is the winner, get a new version though........
























Disclaimer: Anyone silly enough to actually test in this manner is on thier own, I take no responsability for you removing yourself from the gene pool. I will claim 30% of any monies made from filming it or any subsequent Darwin award payoffhowever.:neener:

[Denny Hansen]

Pretty much a toss-up. Somtimes the chambers are a bit rough on the Mossy's causing extraction problems with high-base, heavy loads, but they can be polished up pretty cheap by any competent smith for a pittance.

Polished the chamber of my son's 590 and lengthened the forcing cone and now it shoots tighter buck patterns than all but one of my 870's.

Denny

[Carnitas]

Neither 590A1. I'm a lefty and a sucker for brick $hithouse construction.

Most important option IMHO is ghost ring sights. Although I realize some can do perfectly fine work with a bead, I prefer to really aim what ever I'm shooting.

[Smoke]

Remington 870
Winchester
Benelli Nova
Mossberg
Ithaca

In that order.

I've recently gotten to spend some quality time with the Benelli and it is moving up the list. This isn't knocking anything off the others, I'd feel well equipped with any of them.

[glocksman]

Winchester 1300 Defender with Robar NP3 plating.

http://glocksman.webhobbit.net/defender2.jpg
http://glocksman.webhobbit.net/defender.jpg

:evil:

[redneck2]

I have worked in a gun shop

the guys there that I consider very knowledgable nearly always go to the 870. Less problems, smoother action, more reliable. I know there may be individual differences, but this is the general trend. If it's not going to see a lot of hunting use, probably either would be fine.

I've seen a number of Win 1300's. IMO, they're lighter because they're cheaper made. Rack the slide on a 1300, then an 870 and you'll see what I mean. YMMV.

Go to a gun show and you'll typically see a lot more used Mossbergs than 870. It's usually hard to get someone to part with an 870.

As for Benelli...I have a friend who's father owns a ranch in South America. They dove shoot, and may go thru 1,200-1,500 rounds a day. Benelli 20 gauge autos are all they use (recoil). Remington, Winchester, Browning, etc are trashed in the first few days. Won't take the heat from constant firing

[Black92LX]

i persoanly for home defense. like something with a pistol grip. like the FABARMS FP6. something that is easy to grip especially when your hands are sweaty.

it may just be me but i can guess if i am about to use my HD gun that means someone is in my house that is not supposed to be. so 1 i would be somewhat nervous. so my palms would be fairly sweaty. and i know how slippery my Mossberg 500 gets when my palms are sweaty, so i like something that bites. but that is just a personal opinion.

[dav]

I can't afford a full stable of shotguns, so I started out with the Mossberg Combo. 18" barrel and 28" barrel both come with it. Also, pistol grip comes with it. And three chokes.

I took it to a shotgun class recently. Mine was the only gun there that didn't malfunction in some way (admittedly, most malfunctions were weaponlights working loose, or ammo caused... the autos all seemed to be especially ammo sensitive).

I would take any of those shotguns. I would probably have gone with an 870 (steel receiver), but the combo fit my needs of the moment so much better. HD and games.

Oh, and it had to be a pump for me. Pump shotguns are just so fun to operate! :D

[natedog]

Can someone tell me how the 870 is vastly superior to anything out their? :confused:

[Preacherman]

Nate, I don't think that the Remington is "vastly superior" to anything else out there, in terms of features: I think it scores heavily on reliability and durability.

I have owned several other brands of shotgun, but have "standardized" on the 870 (with a few Mossbergs still in inventory) after several years experience, simply because the darn things keep on going forever! I've had (or personally seen) problems with Mossbergs, Winchesters and Ithaca's, and I've seen so many semi-auto shotguns malfunction that I don't trust them except for sports where my life doesn't depend on their reliability: but I've never, ever seen an 870 malfunction except for operator error (i.e. defective handloaded ammunition, short-stroking, wrong ammunition insertion leading to double-feeding, etc.).

I've also personally seen 870's with over a quarter of a million rounds through them, and they're still running smoothly. One range near here has a 1950's production 870 that they bought (used) in 1962 as a rental gun. After who knows how many thousands of rounds of trap, skeet and sporting clays, they still have not had to do anything to it except clean it once a month, whether it needs it or not! The woodwork has been replaced three times, and the blueing is completely worn away, but it just keeps on shooting...

Remington has sold somewhere between 7 and 8 million 870's since the model's introduction. I rather suspect that the other "big 3" have probably not sold that many of their pump-action models combined! There's a reason for such market dominance, and I personally think it's the reliability and longevity factor.

EDITED TO ADD: I was thinking about that rental 870 I mentioned above. If one assumes it was bought late in 1962, and calculates that it has been rented to customers on average twice per week for ensuing years, it must have had something like 4,624 rentals. At an average of 25 rounds per rental, that means it's gone through at least 106,000 rounds of ammunition - and that assumes a VERY low rental use, and low ammo counts (a sporting clays round might consume as much as 60-80 rounds). I've been there on some days when that same shotgun was rented out four times in one day! At the (probable) higher tempo of use, I'd say it may be approaching half a million rounds. Admittedly, all of them would have been low-base, light recoil loads, but still - impressive, no?

[Dave McCracken]

Natedog, it's not a case of vast superiority. Any of the listed shotguns is a fine life saving tool. Any of these are good for decades of use if cared for and maintained.The 870 may be good for generations.The key term here is "Overbuilt".

A trained, cool hand with a shotgun, given ANY of the list, will be quite effective.

Preacher, anecdotes about high mileage, glitchless 870s keep coming. Some AFBs have 870s for loaners at base trap ranges. Hundreds of rounds every week for decades, no probs.

[natedog]

Thank you, Preacherman and Dave.

[Hkmp5sd]

I have both and think the 870 is the better of the two. The 500 is still reliable and does exactly what it was designed to do. It is just my personal preference leans toward the Remington.

[Darrin]

Did some side-by-side comparison shooting today with my 590 and cslinger's 870. There are likes and dislikes about both.

590 holds 8+1 if capacity is your thing. 870 is 6+1.

590 has a small forearm. Either replace forearm or get a heat shield. 870 is just right.

590 requires more 'reaching' when shooting. It is about 2-3" longer over all. The 870 goes right to my shoulder and ready to shoot no problems. The 590 has me reaching a little more to clear my shirt when bringing the gun up to shoot. (That also tends to have me slightly off balance when shooting.)

Loading the 590 is easier (to me) because nothing is blocking the tube. The 870 has (whatever it's really called) a 'door' you have to push out of the way when reloading. That slowed me down. However, cslinger can load it faster than my 590. YMMV.

Groups with slugs @ 25 yards were very similar.

Oh, the 870 almost shucks itself. Very smooth.

I'm keeping my 590, but I can see an 870 in the future.

A pic of the 590 and 870: (The two on the left in marine finish. Left marine finish is the 590, right marine finish is the 870.)
http://mywpages.comcast.net/darrinw/thr/4_shotguns.JPG

[Ala Dan]

Remington 870 Marine Magnum!

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member

[Ian11]

My vote goes for the Remington 870 Police Magnum. I've tried Mossberg and Winchester; both good shotguns but they just didn't feel as solid as the Remington Police.

[clubsoda22]

I like my winchester defender. High viz sights, less than $300, light, excellent action (speed pump really works). My 1300 feeds anything from 3" magnums to the aguila minishells (11+1 capacity, a nice feature that mossberg and remmington cant do without mods) flawlessly

[NIGHTWATCH]

870. :cool:


http://forums.allaboutguns.com/albums/nightwatch/870mm_mult.sized.jpg

[foghornl]

I happen to prefer the Mossy, in terms of personal "fit & feel". My next choice though is the Remmy 870.

My Maverick 88 by Mossy is set up with the 18-1/2" barrel, and the slighly shorter "Bantam" stock.

No pistol grips for me, thanks. Had a shooting buddy that has his HD shotty set up with both the pistol-grip stock and forend. Wasn't too bad untill I tried one of my favorite "Goblin Repellant" loads....the 3" Mag #4 Buckshot. I though the forend had sheared off my thumb. It was about 2 weeks before I could fully grip stuff left-handed again.

[ruger357]

870:D

[benewton]

Thinking on replacing the A-5, and the current AR, in the HD slot(s), and so read most of the GP shottie threads for info. No rush for me; there are the bucks to allocate from someplace I've not found yet, no doubt a common problem.

Looks like the 870 to me, given the difference in cost is less than $100 or so for a newbie.

Ghost ring'll probably be a special order too...

[wunderkind]

Love the idea of twin ejectors for ultra-positive functioning.

The 'up' position of the the follower with the action closed makes 'shoot one, load one' a snap.

Like the safety better, too. Towards the target for "on", back towards yourself for "off". Mossy safety uses gross motor skills instead of pressing a button.

[RandyB]

I'd be happy with the 870 or the Ithaca. I've had both and kept both types. A 'neat' trick you can do with the Ithacas is when you eject a shell, aim it towards the sky and wuickly close the pump and shoot the empty hull before it can land.