NOVA vs 870 vs 1300 vs 835 vs BPS
- Thread starter nova
- Start date
Will Beararms
New member
The BPS is very fast. I have slammed many a phesant with a BPS. The 870 is tought but mine is not as smooth as the BPS. I can't comment on the Benelli or Mossberg.
Al Thompson
Staff Alumnus
Practically speaking, the difference(s) is one of taste. If your a lefty, the BPS rules.
Giz
Giz
I would avoid the mossberg and winchester..reason is trade in value is zero if you ever decide to trade them off....at some point we all seem to trade for something....i love the BPS...the nova I never could get used to for some reason and I personally like to hunt with wood stocks and deep rich blueing...my preference...I can not say enuff about benelli semis..there is no comparison in my opinion.....if you want to add accy's..then the rem 870 is the way to go.....if I had to chose a pump it would be the BPS...
Let me state that I have 2 tactical shotguns, both 870's. The last 2 day tactical class that I attended had Mossbergs, Benellis, another 870 and some Remington autos. After it was over my buddy shooting a Benelli mentioned that he thought my 870 was the only gun that ran clean for the two days.
The drawbacks to my 870: too daxx heavy to hold at low ready and shoot for two days, safety is difficult to get to even with a big head replacement, the primary and secondary shell stops are difficult to reach to unload the tube w/o working the ammo through the chamber, and loading the first round with the slide forward is not as easy as the Benelli or Rem autos.
Advantages Mossberg: the 590 can be had with decent ghost ring sights, and extended mag at a very reasonable price and is reportedly a very tough gun now (includes report from a friend who is the main s/g instructor at Frontsight and shoots his Mossberg a little faster than his Benelli in matches). Standard is a tang safety which is easy to put on/off in tactical situations, aluminum receiver that makes the gun much lighter and easier for us old guys to handle for a couple of days at a time, easy to use shell stop to unload. It is rumored that it is better to use double sided tape to attach sidesaddle on alum frames as the screw holes can elongate and eventually pull out(?).
I can't really comment on the autos although both Rem and Benelli have their champions. There was some discussion and trading of guns to test shoot following our monthly tactical s/g shoot and the the feeling seemed to be that the Remingtons may cycle a little faster.
The drawbacks to my 870: too daxx heavy to hold at low ready and shoot for two days, safety is difficult to get to even with a big head replacement, the primary and secondary shell stops are difficult to reach to unload the tube w/o working the ammo through the chamber, and loading the first round with the slide forward is not as easy as the Benelli or Rem autos.
Advantages Mossberg: the 590 can be had with decent ghost ring sights, and extended mag at a very reasonable price and is reportedly a very tough gun now (includes report from a friend who is the main s/g instructor at Frontsight and shoots his Mossberg a little faster than his Benelli in matches). Standard is a tang safety which is easy to put on/off in tactical situations, aluminum receiver that makes the gun much lighter and easier for us old guys to handle for a couple of days at a time, easy to use shell stop to unload. It is rumored that it is better to use double sided tape to attach sidesaddle on alum frames as the screw holes can elongate and eventually pull out(?).
I can't really comment on the autos although both Rem and Benelli have their champions. There was some discussion and trading of guns to test shoot following our monthly tactical s/g shoot and the the feeling seemed to be that the Remingtons may cycle a little faster.
pumps
The other day I tried the Nova, the 870, and the BPS. I liked the nova and the 870. I liked the Bps but I don't like the fact that it is bottom ejection. They all felt great with the 870 having the narrowest stock and the nova having the fattest stock. The nova was the lightest, but I liked them all. Scince I don't like bottom ejection in general that crosses out the BPS. And scince the 1300 isn't chambered for 3 1/2 it crosses that out. So now I am down to the mossberg, benelli and the remington. I am nearly 98% on the nova, the 870 and 835 are still there but not much. I hear some people swear by the 870, while others say it's just an expensive boat paddle. I hear some complaints about it jamming. I hear very little about the 835 jamming. Does any of these guns jam on you guys. Also what shells do they jam on? Thanks for the help!
The other day I tried the Nova, the 870, and the BPS. I liked the nova and the 870. I liked the Bps but I don't like the fact that it is bottom ejection. They all felt great with the 870 having the narrowest stock and the nova having the fattest stock. The nova was the lightest, but I liked them all. Scince I don't like bottom ejection in general that crosses out the BPS. And scince the 1300 isn't chambered for 3 1/2 it crosses that out. So now I am down to the mossberg, benelli and the remington. I am nearly 98% on the nova, the 870 and 835 are still there but not much. I hear some people swear by the 870, while others say it's just an expensive boat paddle. I hear some complaints about it jamming. I hear very little about the 835 jamming. Does any of these guns jam on you guys. Also what shells do they jam on? Thanks for the help!
Nova, in over 40 years of personal and professional use of 870s, I've never had a glitch that was not deliberately induced. My oldest 870 has had 8-10,000 rounds through it, and my 870 TB trap gun about 3-4K. Mine have been used for hunting, personal defense, competition from Trap to the shotgun leg of 3 gun and slug matches, and may keep on going well into the next century.
Whoever told you 870s jam will probably lie to you about other things.
The worst thing I can say about 835s, in my limited experience, is they rattle when shaken. Hardly critical.....
Whoever told you 870s jam will probably lie to you about other things.
The worst thing I can say about 835s, in my limited experience, is they rattle when shaken. Hardly critical.....
Nova - the 870 has about a 50 year head start on the Nova. So when I say that the 870 has taken more punishment than the nova, please keep in mind that it has the significant advantage of age (and being used in several wars, police actions, riots, camping trips, etc).
I've had two different 870's jam on several different trap loads. The solution is to hold down down the slide release and slam the butt onto the pavement, hard.
To prevent it from happening, you must work the slide forcefully. Once I learned that, I had no problems.
Point towards the Nova - much easier to fit with a recoil reducer, and available from the factory with ghost rings.
I've had two different 870's jam on several different trap loads. The solution is to hold down down the slide release and slam the butt onto the pavement, hard.
To prevent it from happening, you must work the slide forcefully. Once I learned that, I had no problems.
Point towards the Nova - much easier to fit with a recoil reducer, and available from the factory with ghost rings.
No jams, Nova. Heaven only knows how many rounds I've fired from the 870, including abused and neglected Correctional weapons.
Ben, what you're describing is the clearance drill for when a shell is not pushed into the mag far enough and it comes back behind the carrier. Pushing the shell in until it "Clicks" means the shellcatcher is, uh, catching it.
Once just for my own information, I used a range day to test out some equipment back when I instructed. Ammo was 00 rotated from the towers, some shells had been pumped in and out so many times the rims were bent.Other rounds were telescoped from compression in the mag, or leaking buffer material, or otherwise not fit for service.I selected the most pitiful, roached out 870 in the armory, checked the bbl for spiderwebs, and headed out.
During the classroom phase of inservice training, I let a Sgt give the segment and took the stuff out to the line. I loaded up 4 of the ragged rounds and noted the dry squeal when the first was chambered. Using a tombstone target at 25 yards, I ran the 4 rounds as fast as possible. I "Combat" loaded the 5th through the ejection port and fired that off, duplicating our qualifier. I did it again until I ran out of junker rounds. The 870 squealed each time, it was that dry and unlubed. I racked it hard( The way it was meant to) and all rounds functioned.
I then placed a few drops of CLP on each action bar, racked it a couple times, and used up a couple light AA loads to see what happened. The squeal stopped,still no glitches.
I know nothing about the Nova, but the 870s' ability to work despite bad maintenance, bad weather, or bad training is well nigh supernatural...
Ben, what you're describing is the clearance drill for when a shell is not pushed into the mag far enough and it comes back behind the carrier. Pushing the shell in until it "Clicks" means the shellcatcher is, uh, catching it.
Once just for my own information, I used a range day to test out some equipment back when I instructed. Ammo was 00 rotated from the towers, some shells had been pumped in and out so many times the rims were bent.Other rounds were telescoped from compression in the mag, or leaking buffer material, or otherwise not fit for service.I selected the most pitiful, roached out 870 in the armory, checked the bbl for spiderwebs, and headed out.
During the classroom phase of inservice training, I let a Sgt give the segment and took the stuff out to the line. I loaded up 4 of the ragged rounds and noted the dry squeal when the first was chambered. Using a tombstone target at 25 yards, I ran the 4 rounds as fast as possible. I "Combat" loaded the 5th through the ejection port and fired that off, duplicating our qualifier. I did it again until I ran out of junker rounds. The 870 squealed each time, it was that dry and unlubed. I racked it hard( The way it was meant to) and all rounds functioned.
I then placed a few drops of CLP on each action bar, racked it a couple times, and used up a couple light AA loads to see what happened. The squeal stopped,still no glitches.
I know nothing about the Nova, but the 870s' ability to work despite bad maintenance, bad weather, or bad training is well nigh supernatural...
I have a Benelli Nova and Remington 870. While I have yet to shoot the Nova, I have owned and fired 870s before, and agree with the comments above. The 870 can be customized a lot more, and there are more aftermarket accessories available for it. I hear that trying to get spare barrels out of Benelli is not an easy task, but 870 barrels are abundant. While the Nova can shoot 3.5" shells, I doubt I ever will. The Nova receiver is longer than the 870's, which means that it is longer overall. Because the Nova's stock cannot be modified (easily), I suggest that you fondle each of them, and if possible, fire a few shells, to make a better decision.
In the end, you cannot go wrong with either choice. It depends on what you plan to do with it.
In the end, you cannot go wrong with either choice. It depends on what you plan to do with it.