H& R 1871 Pardner pump 12 GA any good?

borrowedtime69

I believe the H&R 1871 Pardner pump shotgun was built by Hawk Industries (Norinco?), in China quite some years back. It is basically a copy of the Remington Model 870 featuring a machined steel receiver and a polymer stock and forearm. Some parts are interchangeable between the two shotguns, except for the barrels. Should make for a decent HD shotgun.

They are excellent shotguns. Bannock is correct. These are Hawk shotguns rebranded by H&R. Extremly robust clones of the 870. IMO the are a steal at the prices being sold compared to other pump shotguns. I dont think you can go wrong with them. My Hawks are all parkerized so they are more a utilitarian type pump. People like to use these as base guns for going crazy with tactical stuff but mine are just small mods to make more user friendly. The stocks are so solid I didnt see a need to even change them. For $180 I think you are in good shape and will be happy with it. There are even innexpensive aftermarket barrel adapters out there for Remington barrels if you want to make it multi use (slug or longer barrels). Some people say they need a better magazine tube spring and follower but mine have been fine so far (maybe 700 rounds).

They aren't pretty, and they are heavier than need be, but they are very reliable, and many, though not all aftermarket options for 870s will work with the Pardner.

entropy said:

They aren't pretty, and they are heavier than need be, but they are very reliable, and many, though not all aftermarket options for 870s will work with the Pardner.

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Yup...heavy. I guess thats a good thing when you are actually shooting it though. My hawks all have wider 2" slings. I think the 870 stocks need an adapter or slight fitting and some of the trigger parts need fitting. Never messed with it because everything has held up. I shortened the rear of the forearm a bit (its a little long) . Put on a polymer heat shield, and installed an old 870 convertamount bracket. Outside of that its stock from the factory.

My Mossberg 500 is definitly lighter. Almost feels cheap compared to the Hawk. Mossberg action is a little smoother but I still prefer the Hawk/pardner pump/H&R.

The finish is what it is. Put a coat of Eezox on it and I doubt you will have any rust issues. It soakes up the oil well. Any dings or scratches Brownells Oxphoblue does a good job. Mine still look good but I dont abuse stuff...shoot a lot yes but not abuse. No feeding or extraction issues on mine.

Another Pardner Pump owner here (a.k.a. Hawk, Norinco, Blue Line Solutions). Reliable so far, over 1k rounds through it. Had seven shooters using it last weekend (informal clay games). Found out mine has all the parts for the flexitab kit sans the carrier ($25 from Numrich). Needed a bit of dremel work to fit the roll pin.
With the 28" barrel & synthetic furniture it weighs 8.6# empty.

I have 2 with 18" barrels. Wally world was selling them for $140 a few years ago. I keep them as truck guns. I haven't fired them much, but they worked just fine for the 20-0 rounds of various types I have thru them both.

I have both the short and long barrel partners, they accept Rem chokes, the stock feels good for a plastic one, great for the woods and HD, my 28" came extremely dirty and took a while to clean off all the goop, I have polished the chamber and use the 28" one at local turkey shoots with a 6" .625 chokes, the other is a defense gun stored by an entrance. I would buy another if anything happened to either one

My old man has one of those hawk industries china guns. His is branded as a new england rather than H&R. It has a shorter barrel than my 870 Wingmaster but somehow feels twice as heavy. Reliable and durable gun

Appalachiannative said:

My old man has one of those hawk industries china guns. His is branded as a new england rather than H&R. It has a shorter barrel than my 870 Wingmaster but somehow feels twice as heavy. Reliable and durable gun

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They are a heavy feeling shotgun for sure. There have been times I have picked mine up and tought... Am I just tired or do I need to pump some more iron? My seven shot Mossberg 500 seems to balance a bit better. I think its just the steel receiver on the Hawk which I am will to accept the weight/balance difference for. The factory stocks on the Hawk/H&R are also very dense and thicker.

Mossberg might be a better choice for someone planning to go crazy and "tactify" as once you start adding all the extra stuff on the weight tends to really add up. The Hawk/Pardner is still pretty handy in stock form. Sling and polymer heat shield dont really add any weight.

And heavy as lead. My B-I-L had one in 20 ga.. Due to weight, uglyness and ergonomics I wouldn't have given him $20 for it.

Grab it! Good heavy duty shotgun. Heavy walled barrel. Still has machined extractor instead of a brittle MIM. Stock is unbreakable. 5+1 capacity. I like the square back receiver. Allows more precise aiming with the bead unlike the sloped receiver on standard 870. Best thing is cycles as smooth as my mid 70s Wingmaster. Way smoother than the Exspress models. Best bargain shotgun IMO. Yes it's on the heavy side but mine is for HD so I,m not lugging it far. It has 15 rounds onboard. I have a "light" weight 18" Mav88 if I want one to toss and twirl.

They were one of the better built guns coming out of China. Not a bad buy. Might be a little harder to find parts since they stopped coming in though.

I gave one to my brother, and I miss it. I love the ol' pard. I felt like since it was his 18th birthday I wanted to mark the occasion in the young man's life, I'm almost twice his age but still remember when I was his age and would have loved being gifted a long gun by someone close to me.

It's a Chinese copy of a much loved and revered American gun so I understand people being a lil reserved about giving it any praise but I can tell you that it's dead reliable and will handle all loads and honestly, I like the ejection strength on it better than either of the 870's I've had. It slings empty hulls 2-3ft out and the action is a lil rough at first but 300-500 rds later it's pretty smooth.

You won't regret buying that pard. It punches above it's weight in terms of price, if I was on a strict budget and needed a good defensive shotgun I'd buy another for $180. The only problem is, at least a while ago you could easily find Mossbergs and Remingtons for $200-$250 so.....but all that aside, it's a good pump

If you insist on calling it a shotty, even a China gun would cringe.
I’ve had a couple Chinese guns, one an Ithaca 37 copy at 2X the weight and the other a Partner.
Both were heavy enough that I didn’t notice recoil. Both were ugly and rough enough that I sold them and bought beat up 870s. They will work.

I have the Pardner Protector, which is simply a shorter-barreled (18") version. It's a beast, every bit as heavy as the others have mentioned. Funny, my other Chinese shotgun, a JW-2000 double coach, is also real heavy. I guess that's just the way they think Americans like 'em.

As someone above noted, I was advised on the interweb to oil the heck out of the exposed surfaces until it couldn't take any more. I did as instructed, and -- as promised by that now-forgotten advisor -- the finish took on a velvety texture that seemed relatively impervious to the elements.

In terms of compatibility with the Remington 870, my Pardner took a Knoxx SpecOps stock just fine... In fact, it took a Knoxx stock better than my Mossberg 500, which required a spacer to achieve the correct "fit."

Forgot to mention instead of shortening the factory stock I got a Hogue 12" set. Fits fine. Shortened and made it lighter. Nice mod. Just be careful shooting from your shoulder or your thumb knuckle may hit your nose if your face is down on the stock. No problem for what it's set up for. I,d still grab another for a good price.