Which Remington 870's are the good ones?

[Patton]

I found a used remington 870 express magnum with a 20" barrel and rifle sights. Is this one of the good ones?

[JeffL]

I don't know a whole lot about 870's, but the Express is their lower end. I'd like to find an old Wingmaster riot gun.

[Erik88]

The old ones... At least that's what I hear.

 

I have no issues with mine but it doesn't even compare to my old Winchester Defender. The difference in quality is pretty obvious to me.

[cj0e]

I've not had a lick of trouble out of my 20" express magnum, paid $200 used, in excellent condition.

 

that said, I always use 2 3/4" shells, and I just love my old wingmaster much much more (Paid $200 used, in good condition, with magazine extension)

 

If the price was right, I wouldn't pass on it if I didn't already have one.

[nightrunner]

Any 870 isn't bad but the best ones are the older wing masters or any Police Magnum. These were all metal whereas the express models have some polymer parts. Similar to the differences between the mossberg 500 and 590.

I'm not sure your intended purpose but a 20" barrel with rifle sights most likely has a rifled bore for slugs Edited February 4, 2015 by nightrunner

[AECS]

I have an old express, and it is all metal,  I think it is from 1986 0r 87.  The guard is cast aluminum (plastic on the new ones) But the wingmasters are steel.  It is parkerized not blued, and the wood is oiled, not shiny finish.

[10-Ring]

I have an Express that was manufactured around 1994.  It seems to be of much better quality than the newer models.

[gl19gobang]

yes, if its an 870 it will be fine. the only difference between the wingmasters are the finish and the wood. mechanically the same.

[gl19gobang]

I have an 870 express magnum made around 1992 and no problems.

[et45]

The Express models made today have MIM extractors and plastic trigger guards.The Police models have stronger carrier and trigger springs,other than finish and furniture all 870s are the same.I have 2,a Magnum model made in 88 with a 20 in.barrel parkerized finish and a oil finished wood furniture.The other is a Express made in 93.

[K191145]

Bought my 870 Express in the early 90's, works great except for a mag extention I bought for it. I had to gring out those dimples in the mag tube, don't know why they put them there but the long spring for the extention will hang up after cycling a couple of shells. It was a cheapo 7-round extention, cheapo probably being the problem because the dimples are smoothed out completly. No problems with the original spring and no extention though.

[Guest Broomhead]

I picked up a filthy, rust bucket of an 870 express magnum from my local pawn shop for 100 bucks. That's what they told it was anyway. It functioned flawlessly in every aspect though.
Turned out that it was dirty, but the rust was only surface rust and hadn't even damaged the blueing. The internals only needed a little scrub, too. I hosed it down, cleaned the exterior, oiled it up, and now it's my absolute favorite long gun.

[K191145]

Does anyone know why Remington put those dimples in the mag tube of some of the Express 870s? Been wondering that. I wonder if it was because of some state laws that may forbid extentions on shotguns, anyway, it seems like a usless thing to do.

[Oh Shoot]

Does anyone know why Remington put those dimples in the mag tube of some of the Express 870s? Been wondering that. I wonder if it was because of some state laws that may forbid extentions on shotguns, anyway, it seems like a usless thing to do.

 

People (yeah, them), say it's because Remington doesn't want you to add an extension, but the real reason is that the dimples hold the newer style  magazine spring retainer. The retainer is not even really needed for operation but allows you to carry the shotgun broken down without the spring coming out each time you unscrew the end cap.

 

New style retainer (tube has dimples):

 

Old style retainer (no dimples, just friction fit):

 

 

- OS

Edited February 11, 2015 by Oh Shoot

[K191145]

People (yeah, them), say it's because Remington doesn't want you to add an extension, but the real reason is that the dimples hold the newer style  magazine spring retainer. The retainer is not even really needed for operation but allows you to carry the shotgun broken down without the spring coming out each time you unscrew the end cap.

 

New style retainer (tube has dimples):

 

Old style retainer (no dimples, just friction fit):

 

 

- OS

 

Well thanks, I feel like a dummy now. Since you posted the reason I now remember having to turn the retainer to get it out of the tube. Since I ground down the dimples it just pops out now so I forgot about that.  :)

[Guest Broomhead]

Yeah, I ground the dimple out of mine too so I could add an extension to make it 7+1. It didn't take more than a minute or two with a Dremel though, so no (time) loss on my part.

[K191145]

Yeah, I ground the dimple out of mine too so I could add an extension to make it 7+1. It didn't take more than a minute or two with a Dremel though, so no (time) loss on my part.

 

I've heard of people drilling them out if you don't mind two holes in the tube, of course there's a potential for rusting issues I guess.

[Oh Shoot]

Some press them out pushing right size socket or iron bar or whatever down in there,  but I believe some have split the mag tube doing that too!

 

- OS

Edited February 12, 2015 by Oh Shoot

[K191145]

Funny story, when I first installed that cheapo extention I bought I took it behind the shop where I worked at the time to test it, I didn't have a barrell clamp then. A friend was with me and the first shot the extention tube detached from the bushing so I saw the spring fly out, I lowered the shotgun wondering what that was all about and my remaining loads dumped out on the ground. My friend had to sit on the ground because he was laughing so hard.
Anyway, I actually sauldered the tube to the bushing and bought a barrell clamp. It worked for a while but I started having hangups and loads would not advance through the tube. I just took it off and setteled with 4 loads instead of seven. Maybe some day I will buy a decent one.

[Oh Shoot]

Funny story, when I first installed that cheapo extention I bought I took it behind the shop where I worked at the time to test it, I didn't have a barrell clamp then. A friend was with me and the first shot the extention tube detached from the bushing so I saw the spring fly out, I lowered the shotgun wondering what that was all about and my remaining loads dumped out on the ground. My friend had to sit on the ground because he was laughing so hard....

 

Made me laugh too, just visualizing it. :)

 

- OS

[K191145]

Made me laugh too, just visualizing it. :)
 
- OS

What was worse is that I was bragging about my new mag extion that I paid less the $20 for. Had about the same thing happen once with a cheap $4 surplus 1911 mag, the floor plate detached after the first shot and dumped all my rounds out the bottom, that would be a major bummer in a gun fight. Lesson learned, don't go too cheap.

[zgunbear]

The way we removed the dimples at Scattergun Technologies was with a mandrel and an auto body hammer. It worked very well. The mandrel would be inserted into the tube then the dimples would be hit with the hammer the dimples would start to be forced out. When it was done you couldn't tell there had ever been a dimple.

[K191145]

The way we removed the dimples at Scattergun Technologies was with a mandrel and an auto body hammer. It worked very well. The mandrel would be inserted into the tube then the dimples would be hit with the hammer the dimples would start to be forced out. When it was done you couldn't tell there had ever been a dimple.

I checked online how to remove the tube completly from the reciever, it would be very difficule for the average person to do. It seems that they are silver sauldered into the reciever and should be done at the factory which might cost close to a new reciever to do. Anyway, if it was easier, screw in, I would think they would make a whole mag tube for 7 or 8 rounds instead of an extention.
So I would advise anyone wanting to grind or mold out the dimples to be careful not to damage the tube.