Remington 870P Blued

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Dariaki92x

Dariaki92x

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Hi guys, I need to know something about an 870 Police in like new condition that I've just found at a local dealer but I ain't sure what year or time frame it was produced or sold.

It's a blued 870 Police with walnut stock and forend but it doesn't make sense to me because it looks like a pretty recent version and as far as I know, Police 870's are all parkerized since decades, right? so, why the bluing? could it be one of those special runs?

The serial number stamped on the receiver is AB4283something as far as I can see.

A few pictures attached, maybe it helps.
 

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Here's a possible explanation... For years and years (before Remington ever marketed one as a "police" model...) every department that used basic Remington 870 shotguns in riot configuration (bead sight, blued finish, four shot magazine, 18 or 20" barrel) only had ones marked as "Wingmaster" with no police designation at all. Since I was in law enforcement ( my era was 1973 to 1995...) and preferred a Wingmaster it was all I ever wanted on the street when I was expecting any kind of armed trouble coming my way. At some point during the 1980's (I believe) they began designating a "police" model with the appropriate markings on the receiver - but still with a blued finish. That's what it looks like in the photos you've provided - but it's still just a basic Wingmaster in my opinion.... although with the magnum designation it's able to run 3" shells... All of the old Wingmasters that I ever handled were only meant to be used with 2 3/4" shells. That 2 3/4" inch standard 12 gage round with 00 buck or a rifled slug is a very capable round - and all I was ever issued or trained with - all those years ago.

They're still, through all the changes my absolutely most preferred weapon for close quarters work (under 15 meters) when it's all on the line and you really need a one shot fight ender... I'm pretty certain you can determine the year it was made if you have the serial number and I'd be proud to own the one you're showing...
 
lemaymiami said:
Here's a possible explanation... For years and years (before Remington ever marketed one as a "police" model...) every department that used basic Remington 870 shotguns in riot configuration (bead sight, blued finish, four shot magazine, 18 or 20" barrel) only had ones marked as "Wingmaster" with no police designation at all. Since I was in law enforcement ( my era was 1973 to 1995...) and preferred a Wingmaster it was all I ever wanted on the street when I was expecting any kind of armed trouble coming my way. At some point during the 1980's (I believe) they began designating a "police" model with the appropriate markings on the receiver - but still with a blued finish. That's what it looks like in the photos you've provided - but it's still just a basic Wingmaster in my opinion.... although with the magnum designation it's able to run 3" shells... All of the old Wingmasters that I ever handled were only meant to be used with 2 3/4" shells. That 2 3/4" inch standard 12 gage round with 00 buck or a rifled slug is a very capable round - and all I was ever issued or trained with - all those years ago.

They're still, through all the changes my absolutely most preferred weapon for close quarters work (under 15 meters) when it's all on the line and you really need a one shot fight ender... I'm pretty certain you can determine the year it was made if you have the serial number and I'd be proud to own the one you're showing...
Click to expand...
You're saying basically that this is an 80's shotgun...but the furniture looks like pretty new imho, like it's one of the new ones, not the kind that they used to mount back then!
So, to recap, the first Police model were just Wingmasters with different markings? No stiffer springs and whatnot?
 
Like I said in my career (22 years worth) I never saw a department Remington 870 with any "police" markings on it at all. All of the ones we had (all of them, purchased in the late sixties into the seventies.... ) were simply Wingmasters since that's all they produced back then... I'm sure they improved this or that minor part over the years but the basic design and it's simple utility - never varied...

I'm sure there are folks reading this with more info than I have but those old Wingmasters were very solid and long lasting in hard, rough service over the years... and every one of them utterly reliable when you needed one...
 
Here in Florida (don't know about other states...) purchasing guidelines were much more in line with whatever was on the current state contract for vehicles and other needed items. Since I was never involved in purchasing decisions I'm only guessing that all those blued shotguns (we had a mix of Remington and Mossberg) were what my agency could get for the least money.... Our first issue sidearm for instance (I still have mine all these years later... ) was a standard S & W model 10, 4" heavy barrel. I was issued mine the last week of 1973 -before my Academy class started... new in the factory box.
Many years later, with a really sharp and ambitious Chief, things changed dramatically... we were all equipped with Sig Sauer P229 pistols in 40 caliber.. Wonder of wonders we were actually allowed to do a bit of research and recommend them before any purchasing decision was ever arrived at...
 
I have a couple 870 police guns that are blued. They are Wingmasters that have 20” barrels with rifle sights. They only take 2.75” shells if memory serves correctly. I don’t think they are labeled as 870P.
 
I'm going off my "dim" memory; thinking back to the old LCAction.com (San Jose, CA) and RemingtonLE.com websites of the early 2000 years, the 870P models came in Parkerized or blued versions.

The exact configurations may have varied, e.g., sights, mag extensions, barrel lengths, and furniture; i.e., a blued version may have come only with bead sights, while a Parkerized version may have had stock numbers for models with ghost ring, bead, or rifle sights, along with synthetic furniture for Parkerized finishes. As with any company, Remington probably specified certain standard 870P configurations based on someone's marketing judgement (e.g. blued, wood, bead, 20"). If you wanted something different, you'd have to speak with the LE/Mil sales department to see what they could/would do. Also, it seemed not all distributors would carry the police-line of shotguns, and that would flow down to some FFLs not selling, carrying, or know-how-to-get the 870P, 11-87P, or 700 police models.

I personally bought an 870P "Max" and an 11-87P, both were Parkerized with ghost ring sights. The P-Max also came assembled with a Speedfeed "IV-S" short-length pistol grip stock and a Surefire weapon-light fore-end. At the time, I found the P-Max to be a good deal (~$1K) as Scattergun Technology and later, Wilson-Combat 870 models sold for several hundreds of dollars more when similarly configured.
 
The original police guns were wingmasters in 2 3/4. Next they made police guns as 870 magnums, the furniture differentiated them. Once they started making police magnums they usually were parkerized but sometimes made them in blued. That looks like a nice late model police as already stated about 2005.
 
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Rshooter said:
The original police guns were wingmasters in 2 3/4. Next they made police guns as 870 magnums, the furniture differentiated them. Once they started making police magnums they usually were parkerized but sometimes made them in blued. That looks like a nice late model police as already stated about 2005.
Click to expand...
Yes, I could date it around that period. I bought it, now I have two Police magnums, one parkerized and this latter addition :)
 
lemaymiami said:
Like I said in my career (22 years worth) I never saw a department Remington 870 with any "police" markings on it at all. All of the ones we had (all of them, purchased in the late sixties into the seventies.... ) were simply Wingmasters since that's all they produced back then... I'm sure they improved this or that minor part over the years but the basic design and it's simple utility - never varied...

I'm sure there are folks reading this with more info than I have but those old Wingmasters were very solid and long lasting in hard, rough service over the years... and every one of them utterly reliable when you needed one...
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm pretty certain you are correct. I believe there was very lil difference between a wingmaster and Police 870P. One of them was a stronger carrier latch spring (shell lifter spring) and the other was a stronger mag tube spring (don't quote me on that). But like the wingmasters, the police had a machined extractor (not mim) and some polished internals.

From what I understand though, there wasn't a whole lot that need be done to an Express in terms of a lil polish and buff action to de-bur and slick up the action, polished chamber, a couple few bucks for a machined extractor and a spring or two and you'd have what is essentially an 870P without paying almost double. Although the express might have had a cheaper matte finish vs higher quality parkerizing that I believe the 870P had.

I would still take a Wingmaster over any of em because not only were the internals slicked up but they were beautifully blued and had good wood and I prefer that look. Once you cycle a Wingmaster and empty a few mag tubes full of shells through it, every other pump just feels like a used Trojan in comparison, especially mossbergs.....even though the mossberg is a fantastic shotgun, it ain't a wingmaster.
 
[QUOTE="DustyGmt, post: 12306563, member: 242904" ...........
I would still take a Wingmaster over any of em because not only were the internals slicked up but they were beautifully blued and had good wood and I prefer that look. Once you cycle a Wingmaster and empty a few mag tubes full of shells through it, every other pump just feels like a used Trojan in comparison, especially mossbergs.....even though the mossberg is a fantastic shotgun, it ain't a wingmaster.[/QUOTE]
Here is what you can do with a Wingmaster to convert it to a home defense/bug-out shotgun: Slug barrel, day-glo front sight, Choate's 8 round extension and sling.
870.jpg
 
Last edited:
epags said:
[QUOTE="DustyGmt, post: 12306563, member: 242904" ...........
I would still take a Wingmaster over any of em because not only were the internals slicked up but they were beautifully blued and had good wood and I prefer that look. Once you cycle a Wingmaster and empty a few mag tubes full of shells through it, every other pump just feels like a used Trojan in comparison, especially mossbergs.....even though the mossberg is a fantastic shotgun, it ain't a wingmaster.
Click to expand...
Here is what you can do with a Wingmaster to convert it to a home defense/bug-out shotgun: Slug barrel, day-glo front sight, Choate's 8 round extension and sling.
View attachment 1080707[/QUOTE]
I'm actually well aware of the versatility of a 870 Wingmaster, I shoot trap 2x a week with my 30" FC target bbl and I've got a 21" IC bbl w/ +3 ext. It's an excellent trap gun but it doubles as a combat shotgun. I call it the combat Cadillac........ IMG_20210730_155414.jpg IMG_20210427_151242.jpg
 
DustyGmt said:
Here is what you can do with a Wingmaster to convert it to a home defense/bug-out shotgun: Slug barrel, day-glo front sight, Choate's 8 round extension and sling.
View attachment 1080707
Click to expand...
I'm actually well aware of the versatility of a 870 Wingmaster, I shoot trap 2x a week with my 30" FC target bbl and I've got a 21" IC bbl w/ +3 ext. It's an excellent trap gun but it doubles as a combat shotgun. I call it the combat Cadillac........View attachment 1080725View attachment 1080726[/QUOTE]
Nice wood!
 
The old Wingmaster marked police guns were satin blued with American Walnut oil finished stocks.
Beginning sometime in the late 70's Remington began using a parkerized finish as standard unless special ordered with bluing and hardwood stocks with a walnut stained oil finish.
About that time they began adding the "POLICE" stamp.
Stamps varied widely over the years.

Then in the early 2000's Remington began again using Walnut stocks and offering a standard option of blued finishes or parkerized.
Your's is likely one of these 2000's guns.
 
dfariswheel said:
The old Wingmaster marked police guns were satin blued with American Walnut oil finished stocks.
Beginning sometime in the late 70's Remington began using a parkerized finish as standard unless special ordered with bluing and hardwood stocks with a walnut stained oil finish.
About that time they began adding the "POLICE" stamp.
Stamps varied widely over the years.

Then in the early 2000's Remington began again using Walnut stocks and offering a standard option of blued finishes or parkerized.
Your's is likely one of these 2000's guns.
Click to expand...
I've even heard of some police guns and Nat'l Guard 870's with "TB" marked on the recievers that came from Remington that way. Apparently they would use whatever recievers they had on hand whether they were stamped "TB" or "TC", etc...

Is the older oil finished stocks you mentioned what some people refer to as the "bowling pin" finish or whatever. Whatever it is it is beautiful and adds a nice shiny-ness but is rugged as can be..... I wish companies wouldn't chintz out on those lil touches, like a high polish before bluing and finishing the stocks urethane or whatever.
 
dfariswheel said:
The old Wingmaster marked police guns were satin blued with American Walnut oil finished stocks.
Beginning sometime in the late 70's Remington began using a parkerized finish as standard unless special ordered with bluing and hardwood stocks with a walnut stained oil finish.
About that time they began adding the "POLICE" stamp.
Stamps varied widely over the years.

Then in the early 2000's Remington began again using Walnut stocks and offering a standard option of blued finishes or parkerized.
Your's is likely one of these 2000's guns.
Click to expand...

Neato.

I wonder if any depts. actually adopted the reintroduced blue guns. Seems they’d be more expensive.
 
For most outfits... cost rules, period. At least that was my experience, the few times I had anything to do with budgeting/ purchasing... for my outfit... Just the way it was unless we could justify an increased cost for a particular purpose. Institutions are rarely careful about anything - but money is always the first consideration....
 
Some departments used to let the police or deputies purchase their own guns. I picked up a beautiful wingmaster in high blue with a folding stock and corncob foreend from a deputy that was his personal duty weapon. He had to part with it due to economic reasons. If that is still a practice some of the blued guns could have been purchased by individual law enforcement peoples.
 
The old Remington "Bowling pin" finish is a high gloss or satin finish that's very smooth and totally fills the grain.
The surface has an almost plastic coated look.

The oil finish Police wood appears to have no finish at all since it's just a wood oil that soaks in the wood and protects it, just like military stocks.
It was either boiled Linseed oil or Tung oil.

The Police blued finish was some times called a Sulfide finish. It was a satin black color, not polished blue.
The original Wingmaster guns had pretty much the same better polished blue as the commercial guns.
 
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