As others have said here and elsewhere, between the 870, Win 1300 Defender, Benelli M1, Mossberg... they're all great shotguns... each fully capable of doing the job.. pretty much comes down to user preference.
I went looking to buy an 870 or 1300 Defender today and after checking them all out, I preferred and came home with a Mossberg 18.5" Persuader.... really slick action, felt great, looked great and I've heard nothing but good things about them. I like the tang safety and easy to access pump release lever. I bought the Tru-Glo sight to put on it also. The great price was just a bonus on top of what's a very nice shotgun. I have a friend who has had one for years and has probably put a couple of thousand shells through it without one failure to fire or jam of any kind... nice record!
Perhaps one day I'll add a Winchester 1300 Marine Defender and a Benelli M1 Tactical as well, but this Mossberg is a keeper... kind of like a Toyota... good quality without any pretense or frills.
My second choice would have been the Winchester 1300 Defender. I like it's one piece long magazine... (no extensions which could, ever so possibly, create a problem at some point.) The aluminum receiver on the Winchester Defender didn't bother me, but if the gun crashed into a rock or something, a steel receiver would undoubedtly take more of a beating.
Interesting that the salesman, who has sold a ton of all these brands, said he's seen a number of "broken" Remington 870's come back to the store. They sell a lot of them, but also see quite a few problems with them. I'm sure it's a great shotgun, though. But he feels that the 870 quality, which was once stellar, has been slipping lately.
