Military contract, 870 to the new M590A1 why?

[Big Boomer]

Does anyone have any idea why the military contracts got canceled with Remington and their 870's and are now being made by Mossberg with their M590A1's?

I just picked up the mossy and have yet to fire it, was my birthday present. Seems like it's built like a tank, but wondered why the switch?

 

[wideym]

Mossbergs are cheaper and easier to fix at third shop. The top mounted safety is a plus when working with gloves.

 

[rodregier]

Mil-S-3443 standard for shotguns

http://www.mossberg.com/content.asp?ID=490&section=resources

Mossberg® pump shotguns are the only shotguns purchased by the United States government that meet or exceed Mil-S-3443 specifications.

http://www.selfdefenseforums.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-6116.html

...Milspec 3443D and 3443E jamming and torture tests. Mossberg was the only shotgun that could fire 3000 rounds without a jam, be filled with sand and still fire and function, etc.

 

[Fred Fuller]

It might have had something to do with Remington not submitting samples for the original contract competition that Mossberg won back in 1979 or so.

BTW, the mil standards are a bit different now than they were then- you can see them all in .pdf format at

http://www.assistdocs.com/search/do...1&PaginatorPageNumber=119&search_method=BASIC

Title: Shotgun, 12 Gage, Riot-Type
Scope: This specification covers the requirements, examinations and tests for three types and two classes, of manually operated, slide action, hammerless, 12 gage riot-type shotguns (see 6.1).

Media Document Part Description Part Date Pages Size

Revision G Notice - Inactivation 1 12-Dec-1995 1 16.7 KB
Revision G 04-Oct-1993 40 570.5 KB
Revision E 20-Mar-1989 36 1376.0 KB
Revision D 05-Nov-1975 25 875.8 KB

Feel free to put as much confidence in military purchasing officials as you like... having been through part of the course myself at one time as a DA civilian employee, I'd rather make up my own mind what to buy based on my own set of standards.

lpl/nc

 

[MAX100]

Remington probably didn't submitte a sample because they were not willing to compete with Mossberg price wise. It would have look bad and hurt sales for Remington if they had lost out to Mossberg.


GC

 

[dfariswheel]

The Mossberg advertising that only "They passed the grueling government test".

Truth is most any good American pump shotgun could pass the test.
The test was nothing more than a standard that had to be met, NOT a test to determine the BEST gun.
The test was a Pass/Fail, not a scored "who did better".

Since most any gun could and would pass, the deciding factor for who'd get the contract came down to simple COST.
The lowest price bidder would get the contract.

Since there is no way Remington with their forged and milled steel receiver and heavy duty internals gun could ever under price Mossberg's cast aluminum and stamped internals gun, Mossberg would get the contract no matter what.

Since Remington could not win the contract, there was no reason to spend the money and time submitting a gun for the test.
Neither did anyone else.

Since Remington didn't have a chance of getting a contract to make the comparatively small number of guns for the government, Remington continued to focus on it's police and OTHER military contracts.
Remington OWNS the police market with over 95% of all American police agencies using the 870, and those military units that are allowed to buy whatever they want, using the 870 also.
Remington makes just about TWICE the number of shotguns their nearest competitor (Mossberg) makes, so passing on the military bid was no loss to them.