questions on 870 Police Magnum

C

Chris17404

New member
Hi everyone,

My name is Chris and I'm a new member. This is my first post. I'm currently in the market for my first shotgun... used primarily for home defense and sporting practice, and possibly a little hunting. I've done a lot of research and I've come down to the Remington 870 Police Magnum 12 gauge with 18 inch beaded barrel and 4+1 shot capacity as my choice. I have a dealer near me who can order a new one for about $399.

I have a few questions:

1. I prefer the look of the walnut stock and foreend, but is wood more difficult to maintain? How would you suggest cleaning and maintaining it?

2. I like the idea of the parkerized finish, but is it too much of a hassel to have to soak it and wipe clean before using? How is maintaining this type of barrel different than a blued finish?

3. What do you suggest as an additional, longer, all-purpose barrel for hunting, and sport shooting? 28 inch? Do they make longer barrels in parkerized finish to match the rest of the shotgun? Would you recommend a rifle-sighted barrel for these purposes?

4. Is the difference in trigger pull weight (7lbs vs. 4lbs) a big deal? Is one preferable over the other?

Thanks, and I welcome your feedback. This forum has been an incredible source of information for me while reseearching my best choice.

Chris
 
answers

1. why do you need to "maintain" the wood?
it'll probably outlast you. its just not as durable as synthetic.
its a gun, not a dining rm table

2. soak it and wipe clean?
maybe wipe it after shooting.
its more durable than blued finish. rifle sights are great
for hunting, better than a bead

3. yep, longer bbl are available in park. but with the cost of a bbl
(usually over $100,) you could almost get another gun. i got an 870
mag at a pawn shop for $150
unless you get really lucky and find a deal

4. the stock trigger pull on my magnum is fine for anything i would use it for
yours is i believe even lighter, unless im wrong.
 
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Does anyone happen to have pictures of the 870 Police Magnum with the blued barrel finish? I'm curious to see what it looks like. I doubt it's as shiny as the Wingmaster's blued finish. Thanks.
 
The "blued" Remington 870P Police is actually more a satin black finish.

Just look at the shell lifter on most any 870 and that's what the entire gun looks like.

Remington only offers one blued Police model these days, since the parkerized finish is 60% more durable, according to Remington.

You still have to keep a coat of lube on the blued versions, but the rougher parkerized finish retains the lube better and it does out-wear any blued finish.

The Police guns have military-type oil finished American walnut wood.
To maintain, you can just rub on a thin coat of boiled linseed oil every once in a while.

If the Police gun's slightly heavier trigger really bothers you, it's a simple matter of a few minutes to replace the Police trigger-sear spring with a spring from a Wingmaster or Express gun, and you can do it yourself.
 
Thanks, Dfaris.

I'd also like to make sure that I can use any 870 barrel on the 870P. Is that correct? I was thinking something in the 28 inch range with a RemChoke and vent rib would be good. This replacement barrel would need to be parkerized also to match the rest of the gun. I haven't been able to find any online yet. They all come in "blued" finish rather than parkerized. I'm a stickler for having things "match". Do these exist anywhere?

Chris
 
The 870P is a great choice. Concerning a seperate barrel for hunting, keep an eye on EBay. This is your best bet. Sometimes people do not list their items as well as they should, and if you search closely you will find a bargain. I would think anything under $80 would be a great deal. Next, because you care about the finish, take your 870P and the new barrel and have the new barrel parkerized by a gunsmith. If it does not match, tell the guy he will have to repark the 870P for free as well! He may want to do this anyway?
A little more costly to go this route.
Personally, I'd just snatch up an older Wingmaster off of gunbroker. I just got a 1970 870 Wingmaster Magnum with a 30" full choke (I am going to have it drilled for Trulock chokes) for the low price of $201.00 plus $20 to ship, plus $25 for my friendly FFL. I have $246 into it, and maybe I'll put another $125 in it for chokes?
 
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Does anyone know if the 870P with the "blued" finish comes covered with cosmoline on it also? Or is it just the parkerized one? I am considering going with the blued one because I think I'll like how it looks better, and was wondering if I'd still need to drench it in RemOil or CLP and wipe off the cosmoline. If it does not come with cosmoline on it, what else should I do to get the gun ready to use? Thanks!

Chris
 
It's not actually cosmoline, and you won't need to wipe it off as such.
Give it a good coating inside & out with something like Break Free or Hornady's ONE SHOT cleaner & dry lube, dry off the excess, and shoot it.
Denis
 
The stuff Remington puts on them is a mostly dry storage preservative.
Cosmoline, if you've never seen it, is a thick and sticky grease & usually applied liberally on all metal (and frequently wood) parts of a military gun. It's a thorough mess to remove.
I can't see any signs of a wet or grease lube inside or out on the new PMAX I've got here.
Denis
 
Remington sprays ALL their Police guns inside and out with a thin coat of hot cosmoline.

This is to preserve the gun during shipping and storage.

This is NOT a thick, slathered-on coating, and most people never even know it's there, unless they wipe the gun with a light colored cloth and get a rusty looking stain off.

One man I know thought it was rust and sent his new Police back to the factory to be re-parkerized. After they refinished it, they again sprayed it with cosmoline, and he was outraged to find the newly refinished gun STILL rusty.

He was raging about Remington's quality, until I explained it to him.

Per the Remington LE web site, they recommend field stripping the gun, including the magazine assembly, then spraying it dripping wet, inside and out, with Rem-Oil or CLP Breakfree.

Allow to soak 30 minutes to dissolve the cosmoline and soak into the parkerized finish, then wipe down and put in service.

To read this, look under the FAQ's: http:www.remingtonle.com

I used CLP Breakfree, and every time I use the gun I re-apply CLP before putting it away.
Over time, this builds up a coating of Teflon on the gun, preventing rust.

You NEED to do this even on the blued Police gun, since cosmoline protects ONLY for storage.
It doesn't provide any protection while in use.
 
Thanks again, Dfaris.

Could you please explain what it means to "field strip" the gun? I looked in the 870 Owner's Manual, and it shows you how to disassemble it, but I don't think it goes quite as in-depth of disassembling as is required to get rid of all the cosmoline.

Chris
 
DFaris,
Didn't know there was such a thing as "hot" cosmoline, the only cosmoline I've ever encountered is the type I described & I think that's what most of us have in mind when we hear the word. I was trying to correct what I took as an impression of "cold" :D cosmoline having to be wiped off the gun. None of it's visible on mine here, bone dry inside & out.
I must have gotten an atypical one, there's no sign of anything that looks like rust on it that I can see anywhere, just clean steel inside and regular dark matte exterior like the Police Magnum I tried four or five years ago. I didn't doubt from the cosmoline references here that there was some type of a preservative involved, just saw no signs of traditional "cosmoline" on this thing.
Guess I'm doing something wrong. :)
Denis
 
Chris17404:
"Field strip" just means to disassemble the gun as in the owner's manual.

Remove the fore end, the bolt and slide, the trigger group, and disassemble the magazine tube exactly as the manual shows.

Then spray everything down.with Rem-Oil or CLP Breakfree.

I don't recommend soaking the stock or fore end if you have a wood stocked gun.

DPris:
Just going on past experience and Remington's recommendation.
I did get a little off mine.

Remington says they spray the Police guns with a spray of hot cosmoline, and I'll take them at their word since I had to pay for mine, myself.

The gooky, slathered military guns are usually done with cosmoline melted by sitting the can in a pot of hot water.

Cosmoline does melt to a thin consistency when warmed, and Remington says they use a hot cosmoline spray in their FAQ's under the "Service" tab.

I have seen a few rusty Police guns that the owner just took out of the box and started to use.
Remington doesn't include a word about this with the gun, so most people have no idea they might need to "pre-treat" the gun.

Of course, It's hard to tell if the rusty guns rusted due to not removing the cosmoline, or from simple neglect.
Considering some of the owner's you could flip a coin.
 
Please forgive my ignorance, Dfaris... but when you say "spray everything down", what does that include? I assume it's all the metal parts, but should I exclude any? Does that include inside the gun also? Is the cosmoline on both the inside and outside of the gun?

Disassembling the gun according to the owners manual looks relatively easy, but if I had to disassemble the receiver, I would not feel confident doing that, especially since this is my first shotgun.

So, if you could just list the parts that I'd need to spray down, that would be great. Thanks.
 
Oh... and what should I wipe the gun clean with after spraying and letting it sit for a while?

Also... is there a cleaning/maintenance kit you'd recommend for an 870?

Thanks.
 
DFaris,
Curiouser & curiouser.
Checked with my gunsmith of 21 years, Remington certified service center, able to get a couple parts ordinarily highly restricted, and so on. Knows nothing about cosmoline on the guns.
Just spent ten minutes on the phone with Remington. The gal said she'd specifically asked their armorer about cosmoline & he said Remington had not put cosmoline on their guns since the '70s. We were both talking specifically about the police models.
They do recommend spraying them down as you noted originally & letting them sit for about 20 minutes so the parkerizing can soak up the lube, but say there's no cosmoline on them. The spraying would be to essentially season the finish, more than to remove any cosmoline. You can get a brownish cleaning patch from going over a new phosphate finish, is that the "rust" your friend encountered?
That would fit with the nature of parkerizing, it's my understanding the finish is only superior to bluing if you keep it lubed, and the phosphate finish works better than bluing in that it retains lube better because of its "porousity".
The gal said the armorer told her if you soak it thoroughly up front it should be good for 12 months or so before you'd need to do it again.
She didn't know why the website mentions cosmoline, and if there's cosmoline on the one I've got here it's a totally different cosmoline from any I've ever seen.
Not trying to be argumentative, just trying to clear up what's actually going on with these guns. Did somebody at Remington tell you it's cosmoline?
Denis
 
Just spent ten minutes on the phone with Remington.
Click to expand...

That is probably the worst place to get info...Remington told me not long ago that there was NO difference between the express and the police except for the finish...which is BS. Everything that Dfaris has said about the police has been true in my experience.
 
Well, I did it... I placed an order for a new 870P model #4899. It should be here mid-week next week. Cost was $399 minus 2% for cash :) . I don't mind spending the extra money for a quality shotgun. The dealer just called up a distributor he knows, and didn't have any problem locating one. In fact, he had quite a few. I guess I'm lucky. Anyway, thanks for all the gret info and keep it coming!
 
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