Remmington 870 Questions

[mystikast]

Hello all,

I just purchased a brand new remington 870 tactical express, the black bottom loaded 6+1 pump shotgun exclusively for home defense. It was in my price range and popularly recommended. I have heard things on this forum about quality issues. I only fired it 15 times when I purchased it, with no problems. I've practiced loading and unloading it many times, even taught my fiancé how to use it. She probably loaded/unloaded about 100 shells before she was really comfortable with it. My question is: what problems should I look out for? How will I know if something is wrong? The only thing that seems weird to me is how you load the first shell, with it kind of floating in the chamber and pumped into place, other then that, I've seen and had no problems.

Also, this is the first time I've ever owned a firearm that is not semiautomatic. I am concerned that if there are multiple intruders, I will get tagged before I pump and get that 2nd shot off. Now in practice I can do it quickly, but in reality I wonder if it will be fast enough. Does anyone have any experience or opinion on that matter? Should that be a big concern?

Lastly, does anyone have any recommendations to 'upgrade' it? Anything I can do?

Thank you guys!

[Misery Loves Shotguns]

Do you have a picture of the gun? Does it have the one piece magazine or does it have the two round extension? Without knowing exactly how your gun is set up, I can only tell you what myself and other shotgun guys do to their 870s. Get a Remington Supercell recoil pad because the one on the gun feels like shit by comparison. Replace the plastic follower. I use a Nordic Components follower in my 870 and 930 but there are a lot of options. Stick with a hollow follower, don't get anything with a spring tail. Depending on which extension you have, you may want to replace the magazine spring as well. If you have the two piece extension with the magazine clamp, you shouldn't need to worry about the spring. Those are pretty strong but I hear the new model with the one piece tube has a pretty weak spring in it. Internally, you should upgrade your extractor with Remington part F16176 and polish the chamber. Here is a video I did explaining how to polish the chamber. This method seems to work well for a lot of people. http://youtu.be/si251YB_ZJI.

This is the difference between the Express extractor (left) and the Police Magnum F16176 (right).


Shotguns are slow to reload that's why you should always load the first round directly into the chamber. Don't be one of those guys who tries to fire his pump as fast as an autoloader. Shot placement is way more important than rate of fire.

[BrowningBoy]

Make your shots count. Accuracy first. With that being said, a pump shotgun can be fired very fast with practice. I don't have an express but the Wingmaster I have has served me well for 25 years. The police magnums we use at work have also served me well.

[jpkotor]

I was just about to start a thread on this, so maybe I'll pseudo-hijack this one instead so the 870 experts can clump advice together.

I just bought my first shotgun this week as well. It is a Remington 870 Wingmaster. When I bought it it was said to be a used police shotgun, but before the mid-80's the Wingmaster Police didn't actually say "police" on them. I think this one if from 1979.


So it being a Wingmaster I guess I don't have to worry about the plastic trigger group parts or what not. But anything anyone think I should know or do with it while we're on the topic of giving newbies 870 advice?

[Tull66]

Lastly, does anyone have any recommendations to 'upgrade' it? Anything I can do?

Load it!

[Misery Loves Shotguns]

I was just about to start a thread on this, so maybe I'll pseudo-hijack this one instead so the 870 experts can clump advice together.

I just bought my first shotgun this week as well. It is a Remington 870 Wingmaster. When I bought it it was said to be a used police shotgun, but before the mid-80's the Wingmaster Police didn't actually say "police" on them. I think this one if from 1979.


So it being a Wingmaster I guess I don't have to worry about the plastic trigger group parts or what not. But anything anyone think I should know or do with it while we're on the topic of giving newbies 870 advice?

Beautiful shotgun. You shouldn't have to do anything internally to a Wingmaster. It should already have all the good parts. Just go shoot it.

[BrowningBoy]

Don't short stroke them. Pump them hard all the way back and all the way forward. Pattern them with the load you plan on using. Other than that have fun.

[em2b96p]

Don't short stroke them. Pump them hard all the way back and all the way forward. Pattern them with the load you plan on using. Other than that have fun.

Building on to what browningboy said...

Practice short stroking it with spent shells or dummy rounds. Let the shotgun get jammed and practice clearing it.

[kel ruger man]

mine is going back to remington, they have a real problem with the express. mine wont feed right. when i talked to them on the phone today he wouldnt tell me why they are having problems, but it seemed like he knew what was wrong with mine and the 1000 other ones they probably have been getting. the qc over there is out of control, very disappointing. how can a company let these guns out of the factory knowing they have problems? makes me sick.

[mystikast]

What is the problem feeding? I've not had any problem feeding. I need to know what to keep an eye out for.

Also does anyone know, are there 3 different shotguns? A Remington 870 Tactical Express, a Remington 870 Tactical, & a Remington 870 Express? The internet seems to say so, so it is confusing me. Anyone have clarification?

My shotgun doesn't have that little tip (with the holes) on the edge of the barrel like in the picture in my original post, any idea why? Same exact gun, just no tip on the end of the barrel like that.