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All-Purpose Express Shotgun

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PlayMaker

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Hi, I'm looking for an all-purpose express shotgun. I would like to use it for everything from home-defense, waterfowl, gamebirds, turkey, hog to large game. Sounds funny since I've never hunted a day in my life since I live in the city but I'm really into the outdoors and love the shotgun for it's versatility and my goal is to bag every game on this planet from tiny critters to something as large as a water buffalo with one. I would like to do it all with one gun and one barrel. I don't know much about shotguns and if they're really capable of what I'm asking but from what I gathered it's possible. I'd prefer a smoothbore 12 gauge pump that cycles both 2 3/4" and 3" shells with extra magazine capacity for dangerous game and screw-in interchangeable chokes but like I said I don't know what I'm talking about so forgive me if I sound like a newb. I'm also partial towards wood grain stock. Again I'm looking for an all-purpose shotgun, a jack of all trades and master of none so I understand the need to compromise performance. Does such a gun exist?
 
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Remington, 870. There are several models, so make sure you look at them closely. Get one that will allow you to change barrels and mag tubes. Your search will be fun!

Mark.

ps...good thing is, they come in right and left hand...for those of us that shoot from the "port side".
 
870 Express Combo comes with:
-Wood furniture
-Two barrels, one being 26" or 28" and one Rifle sighted smoothbore barrel.

This will come with one modified screw in choke, I recommend a Improved and Skeet Choke, adding sling studs and the simplest sling, which for now would be left off, except to carry into and out of hunting areas ( wading in duck hunting for example).

Long barrel takes care of hunting, clays and the learning the gun
Shorter one allows for deer, turkey and serious use.

This is all this gun needs, except the fit tweaked to you, lessons/training, light loads to learn on, and lots of quality practice, and patterning the gun.

Too many folks have used this set up for too many years. Proven.

Dangerous Game?
I for darn sure want reliable, and for me, bone stock mag capacity is reliable.
Less is More.
 
I was going to suggest an 870 too, then I read Steve's message and learned something new. I'd not known about the Express Combo. Good message section. Every day there are things to learn here.
 
http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/premier_dealer_exclusives/model_870_express_combo.asp

They gooped that up since I last checked Big Greens site!

I did not see the wooden one. Find and older wood stocked one not so damn goopy.

Wood allows one to adjust the stock for fit, and wood being denser has less felt recoil, with the recoil curve.

<cuss, I hate what they have done!>

Next Option, screw Big Green. :)

OLDER 1300s came in a Combo too, these are fine guns.
FN's offering of the 1300 (I can live with that syn stock, they might have a wood one ??)

Forget the short barrel all together and find a good used Ithaca 37, Win 1300, 1200, and even consider a Semi such as Older Beretta 303 and 390.

Big Green just keeps on working at pissing me off...:)
 
Well since you can hunt birds rabbits and squirrels with a shotgun and I've read hunters using slugs with carefully placed shots on water buffalo with some success I just figured you can hunt anything in between.

Let's say if I was hunting gamebirds in bear country and wanted to load my shotgun with a mixture of birdshot and slugs. How much performance will I be giving up with the slug or will it even fire effectively?
 
Unless you're dead-set on a brand-spanking-new gun, I'd be on the lookout for a used Wingmaster, and then just buy the 20" smoothbore rifle-sighted barrel.

The 870 Express is a good gun. The Wingmaster is just a bit better.

BTW, Playmaker...

You're enthusiasm for getting out and hunting is admirable. However, it's unrealistic to think that you can (or should) try to bag every type of legal game with a single gun. Shotguns are great for birds, great for deer and probably for hogs as well. They can, and do, serve well as a last-ditch defense against bears in certain areas. But, there are plenty of animals for which a rifle is simply a far better tool, either because of the increased range, the higher velocities (and energy) or both. Trust me... if you have the money to ante-up for a trip to hunt in Africa, even a couple of several-thousand-dollar rifles would be the cheap part of the trip.

If you're brand-new to hunting, then I'd set a simple goal at first. Something along the lines of "Next year, I'm going to go <FILL IN THE BLANK> hunting." Take a hunter's safety course, and give it a try. Heck, all I do is some bird and deer hunting, and that keeps me busy all season long.
 
For another option, you could go with the 870 Express Turkey Camo. It comes with a 21" barrel, short enough for in home use yet with the screw in chokes can be used for anything else as well. Waterfowl would be the possible exception and there are other lenght barrels availavle pretty inexpensively.

m870_exp_tky_camo[1a].jpg
 
Striker,

Yes! Thank you for finding that.
I must have hit the "Any" key when I was checking the site. ;)


PlayMaker,

I prefer a wood stock for many reasons, biggest one is wood allows the gun to be fitted to shooter and recoil pads put back on easier.

Shotguns are pointed, not aimed.
Exceptions, are Deer or Turkey and Marshall shared another Excellent idea with his post.

Everything.
TrapperReady posted some great advice, and his post brings to mind additional considerations.

Shotguns are pointed, not aimed. This means the shooter HAS to be as one with the gun.

Go shoot "everything" on a Sporting Clays course with target loads and this quickly becomes evident.

"Game" is everything from Rabbits, Rising Teal, Flushing Quail, Crossing Ducks, Doves coming in fast and hard, Pheasants...

One shoots without the gun mounted, from "Low Gun", and doubles are thrown.
Running Rabbit and Rising Teal for example.


Serious Use. Again the gun has to fit shooter.
Many trainers will access fit to shooter and then suggest a shorter LOP (length of pull).
These shorter barrels with rifle sights work fine for Defensive Shotgun Classes, shorter LOP works great.

Now shooting 100 rds of target ammo with the same gun for Sporting Clays, while it can be done, is not the correct tool for the task.

Hence the Reason we suggest getting a bone stock shotgun, getting Lessons, including gun fit, learn correct basic fundamentals first.

Lessons will transition to other tasks with a shotgun, just one has to have the basics, and these are best learned with a Simple Shotgun that fits.


We have members that actually hunt Dangerous Game. They use Double Rifles, DG will hunt YOU , pretty serious when you realize you are not at the top of the food chain anymore.

Same members that have felled DG, have shared how a running rabbit, or rising teal on Sporting Clays, kicked their butts.
 
Could it be that PlayMaker used the term 'express shotgun' in the same sense of the word as express rifle? Viz-

http://www.yourdictionary.com/express-rifle
express rifle
noun
a hunting rifle using a large charge and a light bullet of large caliber, discharged with a high initial velocity; used to kill large game at short range

I don't know- just wondering if that's a possibility here.

No matter what, IMHO the best option for what he describes is a Remington 870. A Magnum Wingmaster would probably make the best starting platform, or one of the SP (Special Purpose) guns if one could be located. They are/were available with a factory 23" barrel and RemChokes, which should be a good one-barrel-for-everything length. I have an older 870 Express turkey gun with a factory 21" vent rib barrel, twin beads and factory Remchokes (3" chamber)- it too is a good candidate for this sort of task list.

hth,

lpl/nc
 
Playmaker said:
sm,

what is a bone stock shotgun? And can a rem 870 shoot 2 3/4 & 3" shells?

Bone stock is a term meaning "no modifications", used in the automotive world a lot. If you buy a car off the showroom floor it is "bone stock". You add nitrous injection, a tunnel ram, dual Holleys, etc. etc. it is no longer "bone stock". Same with that Combo he's talking about. If you hang a bayonet, three flashlights, a telestock, etc. etc. on it it won't be any more effective as a hunting weapon than when it was sitting in the box untouched. Spend that money on training and you'll be much better off. After doing that then you may find a modification here or there that actually works for you, as opposed to one that just seems like a good idea to the inexperienced.

Yes, a Rem. 870 (and _almost_ every other new shotgun nowadays) can shoot 2-3/4" and 3" shells. If you look at the information stamped on a given shotgun (typically on the barrel or top of the chamber) they usually list what size shells fit.


Good luck,

GP911
 
Thanks for all the input guys. I read an article about this guy who carries a shotgun around in his truck which he uses for whatever he comes upon whether it be pheasant, coyotes or deer and he refered to it as his express rifle - I guess since it was rifled - I'd prefer a smoothbore. I just thought it was common verbiage. I must apologize, I know I said my goal was to bag every critter on this planet but I guess it was more of a fantasy since I kind of believe in hunting what I like to eat...and I don't like eating predators. What I was really looking for was a shotgun that if I was ever hunting rabbit, gamebirds, duck, turkey, hogs, deer, caribou or elk and came upon a bear or lion in a survival situation would be capable of taking it down. Sorry if I caused any confusion.

I guess I'll go with the 870 express with the 28" vent rib smoothebore barrel.
I know I'll be giving up range and accuracy when it comes to longer shots with slugs but I don't think I can call timeout during a lion/bear charge to change barrels when I'm hunting rabbits.
 
I know I'll be giving up range and accuracy when it comes to longer shots with slugs but I don't think I can call timeout during a lion/bear charge to change barrels when I'm hunting rabbits.
Click to expand...

Are lion and bear attacks common where you plan to hunt rabbits? No offense, but you seem to have some grandiose vision of rabbit hunting that involves much peril. Unless you were rabbit hunting on the Serengeti, I wouldn't select your shotgun based on needing a rapid change to dangerous game gun.

As far as hunting every edible critter on the planet, there are some animals for which a rifle is better choice by an order of magnitude.
 
Maybe I'm just paranoid but I thought I heard somewhere that the MAJORITY of bear attacks happen to hunters when they were hunting other game. I'd rather be safe then another stat. Or maybe I'm just satisying my curiousity, after all it's just a 'what if' question.
 
I ditto one poster's recommendation of the 870 Express Turkey that comes with a 21 inch barrel. That barrel seems short to some of us, but the total lenght of the Express Turkey is the same as the total length of my over-unders with 26 inch barrels. I just bought one to use as a backup/spare shot gun and am quite pleased with it. The new wood-stocked Express models come with attractively stained laminated stocks - much better looking than the older birch stocked models.

There really isn't anything you can't do with this gun. Put in an improved cylinder choke and you have a quick handling quail, dove, or rabbit gun. Use the same choke and put Hi-Viz sights that clamp on to the rib and you have a perfect slug gun. Put in a full choke tube and you have a great waterfowl and turkey gun. The barrel is also short enough to serve you well as a defense gun.

How can you lose??
 
marshall said:

For another option, you could go with the 870 Express Turkey Camo. It comes with a 21" barrel, short enough for in home use yet with the screw in chokes can be used for anything else as well. Waterfowl would be the possible exception

why would waterfowl be the possible exception?
 
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