How is the Remington 870?

OP, before you buy NIB from WalMart I encourage you to at least look on gunbroker to see what vintage 870s are going for currently.
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^this, or gun show.

Older ones are light years better than current production.
 
My one and only 870 was bought sometime, I think, in the 90’s. The version is called Special Purpose having walnut stocks, Parkerized finished something, vented recoil pad, quick release sling swivels and a camouflaged sling. Chambered for 2.75 and 3-inch shells. Comes with three choke tubes, a barrel length, I think, of 26” and the trigger guard is metal/aluminum not plastic.

I wouldn’t call stroking/pumping the action smooth but it’s not rough either. Can’t recall ever having an issue, no feed, ejection mishaps. No breakin period, went from box to field with oiling at the action without disassembly.

Ammo is/was largely Federal 1oz lead high brass shells, bought by the 500 round case. All shot shells used have been name brand high brass only.
 
There was a old Dove hunter that would bring his 870 into a Gun Shop I use to work at each season to get it cleaned and checked out . The last time I saw him He brought it in and said it fired its 1000,000th round today . That old shot gunned was ruff and beat up but never needed repaired . We seldom had to repair 870's once in a great while a broke extractor I think 1 broke fireing pin , We use to get a request for after market safty but thats replacement not repair . Very reliable firearm .
 
I've looked over a few recent production Express' and was surprised at the fit and finish--particularly on the inside of the receiver--seemed much better than what I've seen in the past 10 years or so.

Maybe Remington is catching a clue from the forums.
 
Just purchased a Remington express couple of months ago and it's been great so far. I did read many negative reviews from three or four years ago. Hopefully that was then and this is now.
 
MO; before you start training for HD or tactical training, you need to learn how to proficiently handle a shotgun, any of them from a single shot to a drum feed Siaga. Shooting a shot gun is not anything like shooting a rifle with sights. Simply put it is like instinctively pointing your finger at a target and being able to hit it. That all comes with experience and practice. This comes from shooting trap, skeet and sporting clays. The real test and proof in the pudding is hunting game birds, ducks, pheasant, geese, ruffed grouse, wood cock, hungarian partridge, chuckars,and dove. I know people who can shoot a hundred straight in trap and skeet, but get them in the field and they have a lot of trouble bagging a game bird. The reason this happens is that when shooting at clay pigeons the are pretty much in constant zone, and there are no surprises.
The whole game changes when you are in the field and the bird erupts from m a totally unknown location. In front of you, behind you, even right out from under your feet. There are plenty of surprises, maybe one bird or several.
The experience you get from hunting game birds is knowledge that you get from the unknown surprise event and you learn how to handle it and hit the target. This is a very good thing to know in a HD situation. not all HD situations have only one perp, some times they are multiple perps and in low light conditions where sights are rendered useless. Shotgun do have sights/beads but they are more for what is called "sight picture orientation" , and not any thing like a rifle sight. Theres a lot to learn about shooting a shotgun, to cover it all would make this post a novel. But I hope that you understand a little bit of what the handling of a shotgun involves. ;)
Take that single shot gun of yours, get a box of trap loads for it and go to the trap range and give it a try. I think you will be quite surprised at how much you like it.:D
 
How would I find a trap range? My shotgun recoils pretty swiftly, but I'm going to put a recoil pad on it. Also, if I can't find a trap range, what should I do? What's a good brand of 12 gage trap loads to buy? Walmart usually has a bunch of Shotgun Shells.
 
I'm somewhat partial to the Remington Model 870 - I currently have five of them.;) I have a 12 ga. and 20 ga. Wingmaster, a 12 ga. Special Purpose with a camo stock, a 12 ga. Special Purpose with the rifled barrel and cantilever scope mount for deer hunting here in Iowa, and a 12 ga. Express with the extended magazine tube for home defense (inside or outside.) I wouldn't argue that any 870 is superior to a BPS but my experience with the gun (40+ years) convinces me the model is a very reliable, well-made pump shotgun.
 
For trap the 7.5 or 8 shells from WalMart will work fine, but some experience problems with the Winchester shells sold in valu paks. I am confused. If you got a new 870 it already has a recoil pad. Do you mean you want a better one? If so, you can buy a Remington SuperCell for about $22. It is made to fit your 870 without any grinding or gunsmithing. Just be sure you get one for a synthetic stock if that is what you have. Once you get used to how to properly hold the stock against your shoulder you may find that the recoil isn't a problem - that is unless it doesn't fit you. You described yourself as a scrawny teenager. What is your height and weight? If you are really scrawny you might need to get a junior size stock. The standard has a 14" LOP.
 
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Do not shoot anything in that gun until you know what you have. Not all 12 gauges are the same and while I doubt you have one designed for black powder, you might. What is more likely is that your gun may not be chambered for 2-3/4" ammunition.

Modern 2-3/4 may seem to fit, but what is important is whether or not the chamber is cut to accept a shell after it opens up upon firing. (The given lenth of a shell is its fired lenght, which is roughtly 1/4" longer than unfired. Hence a 3" shell is only 2-3/4" long before it is fired and will fit 2-3/4" chamber. However, the petals will unfold into the forcing comb of the barrel with a resultant increase in barrel pressure. Same is true if you drop a modern 2-3/4 shell into a 2-1/2' chamber.) At a minimum you need to tell us exactly what model Ivar Johnson and when it was manufactured. A picture of the gun and any stampings would be helpful.

Before I got into guns, I inherited a Model 1905 Harrington & Richardson ( a single barrel 12 gauge made around 1908) and the idiot at a gun store sold me modern magnum 00 buck for it. Fortunately, I never tried to fire it through the old gun, as I determined that it was otherwise unsafe to fire.

Even if you have the correct ammunition, you may want to have it checked out by a competent gun smith before shooting it. Note that the guy behind the counter at a local gun store very likely is not a competent gun smith and may not know his arse from a hole in the ground.
 
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It's an Iver Johnson Champion Single Barrel Shotgun. That's really all i know about it. We've fired 2 3/4" out of it with no difficulty. It has an exposed hammer and a extractor that pulls the brass part of the shell out and from there you just pick it out.
 
Buy a used one. There were some issues with the extractor in some of the newer ones. Issue was that they put a MIM (Metal Injection Molding) Extractor in them instead of the Non-MIM (Machined) which came in the tactical models. A buddy of mine has one and he had to call Remington and they finally sent him the machined extractor.

If you go with the wood stock....they just aren't the same quality as they were 20 years ago. Neither are the wood stocks on the Mossbergs either though.

Can't go wrong with the Remington 870 though. I have had one for almost 20 years now and it is a great gun.
 
The best way to find a trap range is to a trap range search on your computer and specify by what town you are close to. Ask at your local gun shop, they should be able to tell you. And stay out of Wal- fart, every time you go in there you IQ drops several points.
 
Well your pretty lucky then, I've never found Hoppes there for 2 bucks. They certainly don't carry shooters choice which is superior to Hoppes IMO.
If I may offer a word of advice. We need to support out LGS, It is is important that we keep them around and that we build a relationship with them. Make them your friend, get too know them. They can order you specialty items that you want/need and Wal- mart can't. Also don't count on Walmart to stay in the shooting sports business. I know of several Wal- Mart stores that don't carry any shooting supply's. They don't even sell hunting licenses .
 
My mistake, $3 for a 4 oz bottle of Hoppes #9. And as long as my LGS(s) keep price gouging through the roof ($100 for a $50 Anderson Lower, $25 for 30 round of .30 Carbine Ammo, $36 for Whinchester Whitebox 54R, and $10 for 20 Surplus 54R and $118/180 rounds of red army standard 7.62x39 are some of the most absurd I've seen.) The only support they'll be getting from me is if I need to buy a used gun. I refuse to be cheated out of my money.
 
I have owned two 870's over the last 35 years, one was a 70's vintage Wingmaster 20ga that I loved but sold for some dumb reason. The other is my current 20ga Express Mag that I have set up as a dedicated slug gun. I put the Rem Canti/rifled barrel on it with a Nikon Omega scope and synthetic stocks. I use it for deer and with sabot's it will hold a 1.5" group at 100yds:D

My 20ga 1187 does all of my field and clays work now

The 870 is a great shotgun.
 
Easy enough to replace an MIM extractor with a forged one for $14. A good MIM part is fine; only issue is it may not be a good one. If you already have several thousand rounds thru it, you're likely fine.
 
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