Remington Worth Buying

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357smallbore

357smallbore

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I am looking at a Remington Wingmaster Magnum. It is 12ga. Has a 30in bbl and a full fixed choke.
Will use for Pheasant and Turkey. Gun is from 1983-85. Gun is close to new. seller is asking $450
 
If you want it you can't buy a new one for that money. To me, a 30" fixed full choke is probably the least valuble configuration.
 
One can always have chokes installed if deemed absolutely necessary.................Not a bad price, especially for a Wingmaster. What condition is it in?
 
Jump on it. Repeat: JUMP! Now I have a sentimental attachment to my 1100 of the same era with its super stained and glossy to hide the plain walnut stock but the new ones have, believe it or not, even uglier checkering. That and they’re around $700 these days. If you must have chokes then buy another barrel.
 
For like new? Probably pretty close to that price. Pheasant & turkey can both be shot at long range, so the choke should work. Trap, too.
 
Your profile shows that you live in AZ as I do. All my shotguns are older guns with fixed choke. The shotguns I use for hunting and sporting clays have modified chokes. I moved to AZ in '82 and have never hunted turkey or pheasants in the state. Turkey season is short, the hunting areas have limited number of tags that need to be applied for and are distributed by lottery. As far as I know there is no wild pheasant in the state and all pheasant hunting available are on game farms where you buy the number of pen raised birds you want to shoot. I just hunted Quail and Dove they where plentiful in the 80's and early 90's but haven't done that in the last 20 years as the drought and urban spread has depleted the bird populations so badly that the last time I hunted the only bird I saw was a solitary quail running for the hills at 300 yards or more away. Now that there has been an increase in the rain the last year or two and they say the drought is over the bird populations should be back but I'm old now and will probably just stick to trap and sporting clays.

A full choke is great for trap shooting and long distance waterfowl but to hunt with in AZ I suggest you get a shotgun with a modified choke or interchangable choke tubes. If you decide to buy this 870 just plan on getting another barrel, modifying the existing barrel to take interchangeable chokes or have the full choke opened up to modified.
 
Bought one used just like that in '86 in like new condition for $300. Smoked all my buddies in Trap with it. Can't remember why I sold or traded it....wish I hadn't.
 
I have a 12ga wingmaster magnum with the 30" full choke that I bought new in 1971. It is a excellent Turkey gun with the 30" full choke....I've bagged over 40 Toms with it.....I also have a 26" improved cylinder barrel that turns it into a great grouse and skeet gun, and then I have a slug barrel and turn it into a great deer and bear gun. I wish I woulda kept track of all the kills it has....two Toms in 2020 already.....I say buy it or regret it.

mingo
 
Very reasonable price, and extra barrels are plentiful and not painfully expensive. I've killed a bunch of deer with a smootbore slug barrel and open sights on one. Didn't mention if the 30" barrel is vent rib or not? For using it doesn't matter, for investing, there's a big price difference.
 
Love my old 870 from the late 60s, action smooth as butter. I bought a recent magnum for turkeys and it is not nearly as smooth.
Extra barrels or a remchoke barrel are available. I used a 30" full for ducks, pheasant and trap back in the day. I later found a remchoke *Target* barrel at Bass Pro outlet store and that's what it wears today.
 
I have bought 5 new ones in the past few years. 4 had to go back for defects out if the box. I would stick to mossberg. Last year it ruined my small game hunt because my shotgun was at Remington.

The shotguns that were defective were, 870 tactical 12 gauge, (2) 870 express compacts 20 gauge, one pink camo and the other was a wood stock one. and an remington 11-87 compact 20 gauge (which i am still fighting with)

only one i did not have problems with was a 870 sportsmen 12 gauge with a 28" barrel.

Always have a back up for any hunt.
 
Robbins290 said:
I have bought 5 new ones in the past few years. 4 had to go back for defects out if the box. I would stick to mossberg. Last year it ruined my small game hunt because my shotgun was at Remington.

The shotguns that were defective were, 870 tactical 12 gauge, (2) 870 express compacts 20 gauge, one pink camo and the other was a wood stock one. and an remington 11-87 compact 20 gauge (which i am still fighting with)

only one i did not have problems with was a 870 sportsmen 12 gauge with a 28" barrel.

Always have a back up for any hunt.
Click to expand...
All the shotguns you mentioned are the newer stuff. The OP is looking at one over 35 years old. Nothing in common but the name on the receiver basically.
 
An 870 in that vintage is worth buying whether you need it or not. Quit looking and start buying. You'll never find like quality in any pump gun made today. The older 870's are dead nuts reliable. if you don't like the choke or barrel length, you can rebarrel it relatively reasonably, or you can have the current barrel cut and choked. I'd go for a replacement, myself.
 
I just bought a Wingmaster magnum made in 1988 a couple weeks ago for $325. It was sent to Colonial Choke and Tool by the previous owner and fitted to allow for choke tubes. It is a fantastic shooter and is probably a 75% gun.
They had a regular Wingmaster with a fixed choke for $250.

I don't know what the market is in your area.
With the gun being "nearly new", it's probably worth it.
You could offer $375 and plan on meeting in the middle.
 
Those older fixed choke barrels have thinner steel and are harder to thread for choke tubes. Unless someone has come up with something different in recent years you won't be able to get it threaded for Remington factory tubes. They used to make a special thin tube to be used for those barrels. You can check into it, because some things may have changed, but I had one done a few years back and had to go that route.

$450 is a good price if you like it as is. I'd not have much use for a 30" full choke barrel and would have to invest in another barrel with choke tubes before I'd be interested. You can find spare Express barrels cheap, but replacement Wingmaster barrels are around $350.

At that price you're into new 870 Wingmaster prices. And I'd rather have a newer gun simply because of the God awful reverse stamped checkering they put on those older guns.
 
jmr40 said:
Those older fixed choke barrels have thinner steel and are harder to thread for choke tubes. Unless someone has come up with something different in recent years you won't be able to get it threaded for Remington factory tubes. They used to make a special thin tube to be used for those barrels. You can check into it, because some things may have changed, but I had one done a few years back and had to go that route.

$450 is a good price if you like it as is. I'd not have much use for a 30" full choke barrel and would have to invest in another barrel with choke tubes before I'd be interested. You can find spare Express barrels cheap, but replacement Wingmaster barrels are around $350.

At that price you're into new 870 Wingmaster prices. And I'd rather have a newer gun simply because of the God awful reverse stamped checkering they put on those older guns.
Click to expand...

Briley has a thinwall choke system that has been installed in many a thin English game gun
 
At $450, jump on it. If you don't jump on it, please send me the seller's contact info.

If the 30" barrel doesn't suit your needs, new replacement barrels are pretty affordable and used ones can be downright cheap.
 
Steve C said:
Your profile shows that you live in AZ as I do. All my shotguns are older guns with fixed choke. The shotguns I use for hunting and sporting clays have modified chokes. I moved to AZ in '82 and have never hunted turkey or pheasants in the state. Turkey season is short, the hunting areas have limited number of tags that need to be applied for and are distributed by lottery. As far as I know there is no wild pheasant in the state and all pheasant hunting available are on game farms where you buy the number of pen raised birds you want to shoot. I just hunted Quail and Dove they where plentiful in the 80's and early 90's but haven't done that in the last 20 years as the drought and urban spread has depleted the bird populations so badly that the last time I hunted the only bird I saw was a solitary quail running for the hills at 300 yards or more away. Now that there has been an increase in the rain the last year or two and they say the drought is over the bird populations should be back but I'm old now and will probably just stick to trap and sporting clays.

A full choke is great for trap shooting and long distance waterfowl but to hunt with in AZ I suggest you get a shotgun with a modified choke or interchangable choke tubes. If you decide to buy this 870 just plan on getting another barrel, modifying the existing barrel to take interchangeable chokes or have the full choke opened up to modified.
Click to expand...
Live outside Flag. I hunt turkey in the Coconinio and pheasant on my wife's cousins farm in KS. He has 2000 acres of Milo/wheat fields.
 
Steve C said:
Your profile shows that you live in AZ as I do. All my shotguns are older guns with fixed choke. The shotguns I use for hunting and sporting clays have modified chokes. I moved to AZ in '82 and have never hunted turkey or pheasants in the state. Turkey season is short, the hunting areas have limited number of tags that need to be applied for and are distributed by lottery. As far as I know there is no wild pheasant in the state and all pheasant hunting available are on game farms where you buy the number of pen raised birds you want to shoot. I just hunted Quail and Dove they where plentiful in the 80's and early 90's but haven't done that in the last 20 years as the drought and urban spread has depleted the bird populations so badly that the last time I hunted the only bird I saw was a solitary quail running for the hills at 300 yards or more away. Now that there has been an increase in the rain the last year or two and they say the drought is over the bird populations should be back but I'm old now and will probably just stick to trap and sporting clays.

A full choke is great for trap shooting and long distance waterfowl but to hunt with in AZ I suggest you get a shotgun with a modified choke or interchangable choke tubes. If you decide to buy this 870 just plan on getting another barrel, modifying the existing barrel to take interchangeable chokes or have the full choke opened up to modified.
Click to expand...
A full choke is not OK for long distance waterfowl! It was when lead shot was legal, but it blows out patterns at best and can damage the gun with steel shot. The price is not bad. I'd buy it and pickup an Express barrel for hunting, and shoot Trap with the 30" Full.
 
Unless you have patterned YOUR shotgun you don't know exactly what will work or how. As long as you have steel rated choke tubes, full can work fine. I have always preferred tight chokes for waterfowl. You can always wait for them to get further away, but if they ain't coming closer I want to be able to reach out and take them. But, I can and do practice fire discipline. Steel and tungsten behave exactly like lead in a choke. I find the with shot sizes of #4 or larger I actually get tighter patterns with IM than full. With #5 it was basically a tie. I have a 28" RemChoke barrel on my 1100, but I still prefer the feel of a 30" LC RemChoke barrel on my Wingmaster Magnum.
 
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