Opinion of Remmington 870 tactical shotgun

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I dont know the word tatical.

A remington 870 with the minimum necessary items to do your shoot effectively is a good thing to have.

You will want a short barrel, call it 18 inches.

Keep in mind the less you put on that gun in terms of weight and complicated stuff the better off you will be.

I have rail on mine out of necessity.
 
The Rem 870 & the Mossy 500 are the Pump Kings of Social Shotguns. I would wager in reputable training schools (Gunsite, Chapman Acadamy, etc.) there are more of those two than all the rest combined. Just don't go nuts with accessories. It's not the arrow...it's the INDIAN!
 
Keep in mind that the Remington 870 is made in Ilion New York, right here in the good old USA. Some shotguns in the 870 line are made by hand each day.
 
The little Moss 500 Bantam is right up there with the big dawg when it comes to have them guns eat. I dont see the Mossberg any less quality than the 870 IMHO. We own both and love em.

Now I would prefer to keep my dollars in the USA, not so much on China these days. Without getting political, I just feel strong that it's time to put the money where the mouth is when we got the guns recently.
 
My experience with an 870 is limited to renting one at a gun range. The action locked up solid TWICE while I was using the thing. I had to take it (loaded) to the counter twice to get them to unjam it. I asked if I was doing anything wrong and the answer was " it just happens sometimes ".
I am happy with my mossberg 500. The safety is easier to figure out, and it never jams, even when I tease the action (loaded with action proving dummies) to try to create a jam or problem.
 
Don't make your judgement on that rental. the 870 is a great all purpose gun no matter the price. This thread was started about the 870 tactical style gun. If I were to buy that style shotgun it would be an 870. IMHO the 870 is the most reliable SG ever made.
 
I am talking about a 870 Express Home Defense-Synthetic 12 ga. 18" barrel. Extended magazine.7+1. The Price is $349.00. My mistake from earlier. They only have 28. I guess I'll be lucky or God has better plans for the money if I get it. Thanks for all who responded:) to help me out. I had been looking at at Mossberg semi SPX Tactical for $669.00 but can't find one anywhere or under $900 or more.
 
I would not call it the most reliable but one of its in line with Mossberg 500's and a few others but yes a very good shotgun.
 
I just put the Knoxx Spec Ops Stock on my 870, i'd recommend the tactical one you're looking at because it comes with it most likely
 
Very common??? Did you see the poll? I wouldn't call 7.5% or so "very common". It's probably more than it should happen but I wonder how hard people tried to fix the problem too. I think the poll proved conclusively that it was not a "very common problem" though. It's a significant number but it's not like other shotguns don't have problems too. I'd like to see polls done on Mossberg 500's to see how often people have problems with those.

The truth is the number of reported issues in this poll would be considered statistically significant by someone who does statistics for a living. But it's an arbitrary number that they choose to represent standard deviation. So going by what the scientific comunity sees as significant, the Express does have a problem. But it doesn't come close to being a "very common problem" according to those same scientific standards. Very common would encompass majority numbers instead of one or two standard deviations based on an internet poll.
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You have people like me that didn't vote in the poll do to the fact I wasn't sure which option to put. You also have ones that just didn't vote in it or ones that aren't on this site that have problems with them. On most sites I'm going on including some motorcycle forums that aren't even gun forums guys are complaining of having issues with their 870 doing this.

I'd say it's very common. Way more common than it should be. I've never ever heard of a Browning having this problem. Have you? I've also never ever heard of a Benelli having this problem. Have you? To be honest I can't even say I've heard of a Mossberg having this problem although I'm thinking I might have read of it once. I can't recall and if I have heard of it with a Mossberg it's only been that one post not several of them. I've heard other complaints about the quality of the Mossbergs but this pump locking up is not usually one of them. You even admit that yours does it with Federal shells. Just so happened the one I had like Federals but hated Winchesters.

To be honest I've owned Remington guns and I've owned nicer guns like Browning. I often hear guys that own cheaper guns tell me theirs is just as good as the higher end ones like Browning for less money. I'd love that to be the case. Wouldn't everyone? Who wouldn't want a gun just as good for less money? That's why I've tried cheaper guns like the Remington. However, there is a clear difference in quality between the two. When you get to the higher end guns from Remington like the Wingmaster or 700 series rifles it's not as big of a difference but they are also up there in the same price range.

You can tell me all you want that a Pardner pump or 870 express is just as good of quality as a Browning or a Benelli but you will be lying to me and to yourself. I've owned Remington guns and Brownings and the Browning is by far better quality. Has a nicer finish, has way way nicer wood than any Remington I've owned, actually has working parts that don't need work to make them shoot this shell or that shell, if you hold them in your hand you can just tell they are a lot nicer. Like I said the higher end Remingtons are the only ones that come close to the quality and once again they are also around the same price.

I'd love to have a $350 gun be just as good as a $700 one and I bought one hoping that would be the case but it's not. Have you ever owned a nice gun like a Benelli, Beretta, or Browning to compare it to?
 
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homeheaterman:

You bring up good points, but I think you're missing a few as well. A $700-and-up "gentleman's gun" is not for everybody. While a Browning SG may have stellar fit and finish and shoot any ammo right out of the box, I'd be sick to my stomach knowing that my high dollar gun was rattling around behind the seat of my truck.

There are a lot of people who realize that there are a whole "family" of guns that represent an excellent value for the person willing to take the time to do what pretty much amounts to "finishing" the manufacturing process. The 870 Express SG & the Kel Tec line of pistols come to mind.

With either of the above examples, in almost EVERY case, a new gun can be polished, buffed, tweaked, and broken in to make for a 100% reliable weapon. To me (and I think there are many like me) this is half of the fun. The folks who get left out in the cold often are the ones who buy these "value priced" guns and don't take the time to get to know them. JMHO.
 
I agree 100% on the being sick about a gun like the Brownings being a truck gun. However, I was posting that to the above post saying that people just thought the 870's were not that great as they wanted to justify their high dollar guns. He made it sound like the "high dollar" guns are of no better quality and people just want to think they are due to the price paid. This is simply not true at all.

The reason I bought the 870 is like many I wanted a gun to hunt with. If it got beat up or whatever I didn't care as it was cheap. After all the issues it had I realized I'd rather pay for a nice gun like a Browning, Beretta, Benelli, etc and just have it get scratched and dinged up. That's what I did with my Browning rifle. Sure it cost a lot more and it ended up with several scratches it still looked pretty good and I never had any problems with it wanting to jam on anything. I realized it's worth it to just pay the extra for something nice and deal with it not being in 100% condition.
 
No, an 870 Express is not the same quality as a Browning SG. I DO believe it CAN be made to be just as RELIABLE as any other SG though, regardless of cost.

The main point I was trying to make is that every time i get a new (or new-to-me) 870 Express, I look at it as a "project gun" from the get-go (I'm a hopeless tinker-holic). With this mindset, I've yet to be disappointed.
 
Out of all the possible arms for QCB, I'd pick an 870 to defend my life with.

Why?

It's effective, reliable and rather well known to me.
 
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I agree 100% with your post. You can make these guns reliable or more reliable anyway. I just don't like having to modify a gun to get it to work properly.

Even with the votes in the poll that's way too many imo. Quite a few say it jams with certain ammo which is still a problem. It's not just the ones that say it jammed and couldn't be fixed. It's still bad to me to have to modify it to get it to work with any factory ammo.

Other than that I agree with a lot of what you are saying.
 
Like I said though have you ever owned or used a nice gun from a company like Browning, Benelli, Beretta, etc. There are several more? You seem to think the 870's can be just as good for cheaper and I just do not think that's the case at all. Or even close to it. After having shot a quality gun the cheaper ones like the 870's just feel like a piece of junk.
 
I've never used am expensive shotgun but would love to. I have both an 870 and several 500's and have zero problems with either. The 870 has always seemed to be of better quality to me but that could be price related.
 
Remington 870 & Mossberg Shotguns

I happen to own both and I would have to say that the Remington seems to cycle a little bit smoother, but both are effective guns. The Mossbergs that I own seem to hold tighter groups when shooting slugs, but both seem to pattern bird shot or 00 Buckshot equally well. As far as tactical goes, I bought a Mossberg 835 which chambers 2-3/4 to 3-1/2" shells in black synthetic for $269 and then I added an ATI collapsible stock for another $60. The stock installation took about 3 minutes. It has the shell holder mounted on the side as well. The pistol grip really made a much more stabile platform to throw slugs from; it holds roughly a 2 inch group at 100 yards. That's with a rifled slug barrel; it seemed to pattern best with Remington and Winchester ammunition. The so called high end Federal slugs shot the worst out of it. The best shotgun I have however is the cheapest gun I own: a Ted Williams 12 guage with a poly choke barrel. It holds the tightest pattern of all of them shooting rifled slugs and the adjustable poly choke is great for bird hunting. It also feeds and cycles the smoothest out of all the shotguns I own. It's quick to the shoulder and I can cycle that gun almost as fast as a semi-auto. I believe it was manufactured by Winchester and is essentially a Winchester 1300, but branded under Sears & Roebuck. Without a doubt my favorite. I would recommend it to anyone.
 
Like I said though have you ever owned or used a nice gun from a company like Browning, Benelli, Beretta, etc. There are several more? You seem to think the 870's can be just as good for cheaper and I just do not think that's the case at all. Or even close to it. After having shot a quality gun the cheaper ones like the 870's just feel like a piece of junk.
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Yea but your comparing apples and oranges! The 870 is a cheap shotgun at only $300 but you get a lot for the money. You want to spend $1300 on quality, great do that but compare the two's fit and finish? They both shoot the same ammo and in the right hands both will do the job.
 
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