(I started this thread on glocktalk after someone was bashing the 870 design after bad luck with an EXPRESS model, thought it'd be interesting to see what the THR folks thought)
Too many people believe that you can pay $175 for a Remington 870 express and get a quality well made gun. The 870 reputation was built on the wingmaster and police models, not the crappy express line. The express line is cheap and unfinished and use second rate parts. You can't expect the 870 reputation built on their police level guns to carry over to the $175 HD model you bought from walmart. This is way too overlooked.
To get a good Remington 870, you need to spend the $450 or so and get a Police model. I had an 870 express HD, what a piece of crap. The chamber was not polished, nothing was fitted properly, and the finish was almost as bad as my Romanina SAR-1 AK 47 clone. I bought a Police model from Hoplite Inc. two weeks later and have been very happy with it. Everything is fitted and finished properly and it is tough as nails. Also been 100% reliable with slugs, buck, birdshot, you name it. Now I have a matching 870 Wingmaster from the '70s to keep my police model company. Never again will an 870 express be in my house.
The express models were made to compete against cheapo trash shotguns like the Mossy 500 and others.
Please, everyone, stop saying how you got "screwed" by Remington and that 870s are crap based on the second-rate express models. To get an 870 worthy of it's reputation you need to pay the money for a good shotgun and get a Police or Wingmaster model
Too many people believe that you can pay $175 for a Remington 870 express and get a quality well made gun. The 870 reputation was built on the wingmaster and police models, not the crappy express line. The express line is cheap and unfinished and use second rate parts. You can't expect the 870 reputation built on their police level guns to carry over to the $175 HD model you bought from walmart. This is way too overlooked.
To get a good Remington 870, you need to spend the $450 or so and get a Police model. I had an 870 express HD, what a piece of crap. The chamber was not polished, nothing was fitted properly, and the finish was almost as bad as my Romanina SAR-1 AK 47 clone. I bought a Police model from Hoplite Inc. two weeks later and have been very happy with it. Everything is fitted and finished properly and it is tough as nails. Also been 100% reliable with slugs, buck, birdshot, you name it. Now I have a matching 870 Wingmaster from the '70s to keep my police model company. Never again will an 870 express be in my house.
The express models were made to compete against cheapo trash shotguns like the Mossy 500 and others.
Please, everyone, stop saying how you got "screwed" by Remington and that 870s are crap based on the second-rate express models. To get an 870 worthy of it's reputation you need to pay the money for a good shotgun and get a Police or Wingmaster model