I've noticed a lot of love for the 870 on here....

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I do not hate the 870. But From what I've seen the Mossberg 500 series are also good shotguns. My reason for not going with the 870 is due to the Remington pump not being field repairable with just an exchange of parts (In the case of extractor/ejector breakage) like the Mossberg 500.

Now I'm not saying that the 500 is without it's fault. But those faults could be easily fixed by going with a complete switch to the Mossberg 590 and an expansion of that line to include rifled slug barrels,sporting barrels (Accu-choke compatible) and keeping the defensive use barrels as well as adding a 20 gauge and a .410 bore offering.

What are your thoughts on the Mossberg and the Remington scatterguns?

Re: I've noticed a lot of love for the 870 on here....

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I like the 870 over the benneli nova and mossbergs solely for the location of the safety in back of the trigger. I could live with the mossberg safety but not the benneli. What the 870 also has going for it is it has far less forearm play/wiggle than the other two big players. There are occasionally times where you hold the gun by only the forearm and I want the best grip possible. Additionally as a savvy turkey hunter, I think there is potential for a turkey to hear the forearm rattle. Perhaps this is unfounded, but my belief nonetheless.

The new 870s are certainly not without flaw. The express has been made with some stamped parts and the past decade has seen the quality of those stamped parts cheapen. I would personally rather have a nice used wingmaster or Ithica than the new express - the price difference is minimal.

Re: I've noticed a lot of love for the 870 on here....

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The chances of a well made gun breaking down are really small. My Remington is an 1148 that is 60 years old. It just keeps going. Never broken a part, and it has been well exercised in the field and at the clay range.
If it would break while hunting, 1) I don't carry parts, and 2) it's easier to just pull another gun out of the bag and use it.
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Re: I've noticed a lot of love for the 870 on here....

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dougb wrote:The chances of a well made gun breaking down are really small.
To the OP's point, the new 870 parts such as the forearm release is very prone to bending. The other side of that piece sits in a grove and (if bent) will pop out of the grove and hit the rim of a shell. Loading is not normally a problem, but I've had the pump get stuck and not pump out the old shells before. That's a trip back to Remington. Again, another reason for a Wingmaster or for Remington to fix the problem with a 50 cent piece. Of course Remington has demonstrated in the past they aren't going to fix a major problem... :thumbdown:

Re: I've noticed a lot of love for the 870 on here....

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I've not noticed a whole lot of issues with the forearm rattle of the 500 when hunting. But I can understand that being a reason to go with the 870, or other pump action.Yes the forearm release is an issue for me with the 870 as well as the placement of the safety. I like the overall layout of the Mossberg 500 but I really do wish they would apply the same barrel and gauge options to the 590 series.

I've thought about picking up a Remington 870 in 12 gauge for an additional defensive tool all the same. But I find myself leaning more toward the Mossberg 590.

The thing that I keep in mind that although parts breakage in a good design like the 870 is rare......anything man made can and will break,that's just the nature of the beast.

Re: I've noticed a lot of love for the 870 on here....

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Pfletch83 wrote:I've not noticed a whole lot of issues with the forearm rattle of the 500 when hunting. But I can understand that being a reason to go with the 870, or other pump action.Yes the forearm release is an issue for me with the 870 as well as the placement of the safety. I like the overall layout of the Mossberg 500 but I really do wish they would apply the same barrel and gauge options to the 590 series.

I've thought about picking up a Remington 870 in 12 gauge for an additional defensive tool all the same. But I find myself leaning more toward the Mossberg 590.

The thing that I keep in mind that although parts breakage in a good design like the 870 is rare......anything man made can and will break,that's just the nature of the beast.
One of the main reasons not to get a new production 870 is the established fact of Remington's degraded quality control. It mostly results in rusting at astronomical rates.

Hence "Rustington"

Re: I've noticed a lot of love for the 870 on here....

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I'm going to opine that for a pump gun, it doesn't get much better than a Model 12. There's at least a few million Winchester Model 12s out there just waiting to be put back to work.

If you want to save a buck, Ithacas are a little cheaper than Model 12s and made of solid milled steel, too. I don't mean to disparage Remington 870 fans, but for a smidge more, you can step up from stamped steel to milled steel. And to be blunt (and at the risk of offending) the Remington 'advantage' is, and has mostly always was just about lower price.
Hell is where:
The British are the chefs
The Swiss are the lovers
The French are the mechanics
The Italians make everything run on time
And the Germans are the police

Re: I've noticed a lot of love for the 870 on here....

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I'm pretty tough on my 870 Express. It's got a couple thousand rounds of #7 and #8 through it and I haven't had a single problem with it other than the action getting a bit sticky when blazing through a bunch of skeet on 100 degree day. I think the same could be said for almost any other pump action in the same conditions.

It's affordable and durable for my purposes.
LGC Texas - Vice President

Re: I've noticed a lot of love for the 870 on here....

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beaurrr wrote:I'm going to opine that for a pump gun, it doesn't get much better than a Model 12. There's at least a few million Winchester Model 12s out there just waiting to be put back to work.

If you want to save a buck, Ithacas are a little cheaper than Model 12s and made of solid milled steel, too. I don't mean to disparage Remington 870 fans, but for a smidge more, you can step up from stamped steel to milled steel. And to be blunt (and at the risk of offending) the Remington 'advantage' is, and has mostly always was just about lower price.
If the safety location is a non issue, the model 12 is a hell of a gun

Re: I've noticed a lot of love for the 870 on here....

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Marlene wrote:I have a lot of love for the model 12, but I think the Ithaca is slicker. I don't know if it's mechanical leverage or less weight of parts to move around, but the slide feels much lighter in my fingers. I feel like I can cycle the action with just a wrist movement rather than elbow and shoulder.
The 37 is slick, no doubt. Could be too because the wood pump is small and grooved for a nice tight grip.

Re: I've noticed a lot of love for the 870 on here....

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As always, it depends what you want to do with it.

A modern mass production shotgun (and this would apply to both the M 500 and the R 870) can be endlessly configured with aftermarket barrels, chokes, and other gee-gaws. Not so much the classic older models.

I've had great luck with my (reconfigured) 870 Express, also with 1000s of rounds with no issues. I have no direct experience with the 500, but lots of people swear by them.
"To initiate a war of aggression...is the supreme international crime" - Nuremberg prosecutor Robert Jackson, 1946

Re: I've noticed a lot of love for the 870 on here....

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curtism1234 wrote:
Marlene wrote:I have a lot of love for the model 12, but I think the Ithaca is slicker. I don't know if it's mechanical leverage or less weight of parts to move around, but the slide feels much lighter in my fingers. I feel like I can cycle the action with just a wrist movement rather than elbow and shoulder.
The 37 is slick, no doubt. Could be too because the wood pump is small and grooved for a nice tight grip.
I own and shoot both, and I love them both. What's most noticeable to me is how the Model 12 manages to be both bank-vault solid and silky smooth at the same time. You can only get that with carefully fitted parts. But I will concede that the Ithaca does have a short, smooth stroke. You just don't get the bank-vault effect, that's all. But it doesn't really matter because they're both great guns. I just wish more folks would consider them...
Hell is where:
The British are the chefs
The Swiss are the lovers
The French are the mechanics
The Italians make everything run on time
And the Germans are the police

Re: I've noticed a lot of love for the 870 on here....

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Oh I love a good Winchester don't get me wrong. I still have the Model 1300 that I got as a B-day gift and it has taken more than a few bushy tails. But I keep it in the safe these days because I don't want to risk wearing it out and not being able to find the part needed.

The main reason I went with the Mossberg is due to the forearm release being in a familiar spot,plus all of the other reasons I mentioned earlier.

I've done more than a bit of work with the 500 E series .410's and have thought about picking up the 510-mini in .410 just to swap out the forearm on the Model 50455 Cruiser.

I figure the shorter forearm throw will only aid in speeding up shots and if possible I'll do the same with a 510-mini in 20 gauge.

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