Best "marine" shotgun

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Davesnothereman

Inactive
Hi, I'm thinking of getting one of the marine shotguns for HD. Which do you all find the best of the bunch and why- the Mossberg Mariner, Remington MM, the Benelli Nova H20, or the Winchester Coastal? So far I've picked up the Remington and the Mossberg. The Remington felt better made but I much preferred the Mossberg safety location. What else is there to know about these? Thanks in advance!
 
Very happy with the 870 Marine. Tough finish, simply wipe off shooting
residue with an oiled rag/Q-tips, easy to assemble/disassemble.
Put on the Spec Ops recoil reducer to customize LoP and you're gtg.

870.jpg
 
Winchester's plant is out of business, so any 1300 marine is going to be used, and probably very expensive due to the lower production.

Between the Mossberg 500 and the Remington 870 MM, the Remington is the better gun and the better buy.

The Mossberg has a cast aluminum receiver and a lot of plastic parts, including the safety.
The safety has a reputation for breaking.

Due to the method of attaching the Mossberg 500 extended barrel, you're limited on changing to a different barrel.
Since the extended gun's barrels only come in short lengths, you won't really be able to find a longer sporting barrel if you want.
If you buy the standard length magazine model, you can't later change to an extended magazine.

The Remington has the same forged and milled steel receiver as the Wingmaster and the Police models.
The only plastic in the gun is the trigger group, and if this bugs you, any aluminum trigger group made in the last 50 years will drop in.

Due to Remington's barrel mounting system, just about any barrel made in the last 50 years will fit, and you can change back and forth from the extended magazine and the standard magazine easily.

And finally, due to Remington's unequaled reputation for durability, strength, and reliability over the last 50 years, the 870 is the pump gun all others are judged by.
 
But a problem with the M870 that the Mossberg doesn't share is the solid shell lifter that rides in the lower postion. If a round slips past the right shell catch, it gets bound between the carrier and bolt which ties up the gun until you disassemble it to get the shell out. Another issue is the shell latches and ejector are also staked in place on the reciever whereas the Mossberg shell latches are loose and held in place by the trigger goup and the ejector is secured to the receiver by a screw. While I haven't seen many of our M870s with problems on the ejector's staking, there are a few guns that have been restaked over the years to the point that there's no more material left to stake. They are near the end of their life and the next time they come back in for repair, they are going back to depot for disposal. If these shell latches aren't staked firmly in the receiver, you are going to have feeding problems including the dreaded shell on top of the carrier with the bolt closed problem I mentioned earlier. I still think the M870 is a fine shotgun but having worked with both the M870 and M590, the Mossberg is the better gun. True, the plastic safety can break but that's also about a $10 or so fix with a steel one from Brownells.
 
I can only speak for my 870 MM. So far, i have been very happy with mine. I haven't experianced what USMCgrunt has stated. I'll post it here if ever i get a malfunction. I've seen a mariner model of mossberg in a gun show and didn't like the way the finish was done. It looked rough compare to the 870 MM.
Here's my nephew's first time in the range and firing my 870 MM. Flawless so far.
552b7f28.jpg
 
"If a round slips past the right shell catch, it gets bound between the carrier and bolt which ties up the gun until you disassemble it to get the shell out".

All 870's made in the past 15 years or more have a "Flex-Tab" conversion that allows this type of jam to be cleared by simply pulling harder on the fore arm.

These guns are recognized by the "U"-shaped cut in the bottom of the lifter.
Since this type of stoppage is really an operator error, the real "fix" is training.

Newer 870's seem to have heavier staking on the shell releases which eliminates most shell release problems.
 
Yeah, I've seen the flex-tab but both of my M870s are older and the ones in service in the armories I've been in (with the exception of the XM26) have been older models too. I think one we had in CATM school at Lackland was dated back to 1957 or so. My solution for my personal shotguns is to cut a slot about 3/4th the length of the carrier with the dremel so when that problem does happen, I can shove them back into the magazine magazine with a cuff key or knife blade. I think Uncle Sam would frown on me trying to modify a government gun so our only solution here is to make sure the shell latches are securely staked on in the first place and if one does jump the latch, remove the magazine spring and follower to relieve the spring tension and try to bang the front end on a wood block and hope it will knock it out. Another trick is to pull out the trigger group and see if you can get the shell out this way.
 
+1 on the slot cut with a dremel tool.I haven't bought a newer 870 with the flex-tab yet.As far as Marine coated shotguns,I're handled Remmington and Mossberg's offerings and will be purchasing one or the other.YMMV.tom.:D
 
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