Remington 870 and Mossberg 500 durability

[George P]

well when you shoot 250-300 rounds a week, week in week out will soon show you what lasts. and those numbers are low for some shooters at the clays games.

True, Olympic Champ Kim Rhode, before she recently switched to Beretta (more sponsor money), used a Perazzi. Her practice regimen involved shooting flats of shells every day, 6 days a week; her Perazzi had over 1,000,000 rounds through it............

 

[NuJudge]

I have a very early 20-gauge Mossberg pump, actually marked Western Auto, but made in USA. It only has one action bar. I shot a lot of Skeet with it for several years. Round count was probably low thousands. The end of the action bar came off. A gunsmith cut one bar off of a double bar, and installed it, and no further trouble.

 

[mnrivrat]

defariswheel wrote : "then Mossberg's cast aluminum gun",
I have to correct this as Mossberg does not use cast aluminum. They use an aluminum billet that is extruded. Much more durable than a cast part. just so happened I was at an extrusion plant on other business when I watched the process.

 

[Riomouse911]

My 870 is an older Wingmaster from the 1960’s. The only thing that’s failed on it was the shell interrupter, which came unstaked and fell out of the receiver last year.

Fortunately the armorer I was sitting in class with had the “C” shaped staking tool in his kit, so the part was restaked and the gun was back in action in a couple of minutes.

While my shotgun doesn’t get anywhere near the action a rental does, it’s still seen a lot of use without a hiccup other than the shell interrupter.

Stay safe.

 

[dfariswheel]

defariswheel wrote : "then Mossberg's cast aluminum gun",
I have to correct this as Mossberg does not use cast aluminum. They use an aluminum billet that is extruded. Much more durable than a cast part. just so happened I was at an extrusion plant on other business when I watched the process.

That's good info to add to the data base.
I though I'd read some years ago that they cast their receivers.
Makes better sense to use an extruded part.

 

[Old Dog]

I spent 15 years as the gun repair, and gun cleaning person for a local shop. I have also maintained both a Remington 870 and a Mossberg 500 for my entire life since adulthood. I am 72 now. The only thing I will say abought that 2 to 4 weeks is that I don't buy it. From my experience it is BS.
If you think a bit abought it a 2 to 4 week breakdown would have the shooting world in a stage of not buying either of those guns and yet they are the most popular pump guns available and have been for decades..

Yep, total BS. Aside from the fact that most rental ranges are notorious for never cleaning nor maintaining their weapons, they're also notorious for the egregious lack of knowledgeable staff they hire.

Having used both 870s and 500s for years in the military, then having been a law enforcement firearms instructor (for academy classes and line officers) for fifteen years (both 870 Police Magnums and 590/590A1s), I can't say I've seen anything that would make me question the durability of these shotguns. Even the Mossbergs.

The gun that did stand up was Remington's Model 870.
Remington got this one right, using a forged steel receiver with heavy duty fabricated internal parts.
The 870 won about 95% of the American law enforcement market, which it still maintains today, because it does stand up.
Virtually every local, state, and Federal agency uses the 870, and it isn't because they get a cheaper price then other brands.
It's because since 1950 the 870 has proven itself reliable and tough enough to last under heavy use.

Mossberg made a try for the police market with the Model 500, but like the other aluminum and stamped internals guns it too failed and they had to do a major re-work to the Model 590 series to get any traction in the LE market.
Mossberg advertised that "Only the Mossberg was able to pass the grueling US Government 3,000 round test" to win the contract to supply guns to the military and some Federal LE agencies.
The truth was ONLY Mossberg submitted a gun to the test.
The test was a simple pass-fail test, which if the gun passed the company could submit a bid to supply guns.
Since no American maker was able to make a shotgun cheaper then Mossberg's cast aluminum gun, there was no chance anyone else was going to get the contract, so no one submitted a gun.

Do you write ad copy for Remington? Or just snipped this from its website? Pretty sure that Mossberg has achieved more than a 5% share of the LE market, and it's got a huge share of the military market.