New 870 Express

[breckenridge]

Nothing fancy, just a new 870 Express in 3" 12ga. 28" vent rib barrel with mod choke. Sunday paper ad with a sale and rebate at Dick's was enough to sway me, these were always a favorite of mine. Never bought a firearm there, overall not a bad experience but certainly not your LGS. An IC choke and 20" smooth bore deer barrel is on the list as well. Can't wait to get to the range and see how it patterns, and then some slugs for a hurting.

[Junk Yard Dog]

[Gsragtop]

I have a magnum, but I love the wood stock VS the synthetic I have on mine !!

[ponycarman]

I love the 870's. Good looking shotgun

[A J]

I love the wood stock on your new gun. Really nice wood grain. Seeing this is making me wonder if I made the right move by getting a synthetic stock on my latest 870. Congrats on your latest purchase. You're going to like it.

The Remington 870 is the only pump shotgun I've ever owned. I was just speaking to a guy at work about shotguns and I told him I don't get excited about fancy $2,000 shotguns, but plain-Jane 870s are just beautiful to me. Here's what we own:

12 gauge synthetic stock / 26" bbl (Only 6 months old. Has a few slightly different parts than old guns but is every bit as good. Great shooter.)
12 gauge wood stock / 26" bbl (double bead on the barrel) (Just bought it from my buddy's widowed mother-in-law. Old but in Excellent shape.)
20 gauge wood stock / 26" bbl (My "go to" shotgun for 90% of my varmit shooting. Very light, accurate and maneuverable. Light recoil.)
12 gauge tacticool stock with pistol grip / 18" bbl (My wife's HD gun. It's all rigged up with shell holders and an energy-absorbing stock with a pistol grip. Looks like the sort of thing Han Solo would be proud to carry. Don't blame me. That's what she wanted!)

Although I like 870s, I can forsee a day where a Winchester 1300 or a Mossberg 500 "follow me home.

[Ironnewt]

Very nice looking stock

[A J]

Yup. I should've got the wood stock. :(

[breckenridge]

Got the factory Remington 18.5" barrel in today from Midway. $113 shipped, smooth bore, fixed IC choke, single front bead. I got so used to it with the 28" barrel this seems a bit ridiculous. And awesome

Still haven't been to the range, was on vaca last week. Hopefully have a report soon.

[Brake Weight]

Love the wood stocks. I got mine secondhand for pennies on the dollar. Guy had dropped it muzzle first and bent the barrel and lodging the choke in it. He alao had wrapped the entire thing in camo tape. i attempted to clean it up and refinish it, but ruined the wood. I got a rifled barrel while waiting on the smith to cut 1" and rethread the old barrel. Paw in law gave me a set of Hogue stocks so I kept them. Later on I reblued the whole setup, big chore smoothing out the worn spots on the old finish. Picked up an 18.5" threaded barrel last week. All Remington except the stocks.

Never mind the shell extension or wheel. The extension is useless at this time. Just a pic for a buddy.


Slug barrel.


Speedfeed grip and short barrel with door breacher choke. Choke came with it and I intend to swap it out when I find my bag of chokes. The extension is now functional and turned into a nightmare. I didn't wanna drill the tube, so I opted to beat a socket into it. DO NOT recommend this technique. If I had paid more for the gun, I wouldn't have do it this way. Or at all. But it works flawlessly.


Right at double the money in Remington accessories than a new 870 prices for. I'll get a set of wood stocks when I happen across some in good shape.

[breckenridge]

Looks like a cool shotgun! You may want to consider the mag tube-barrel brace as I've heard you can whack that and ruin the threads on your receiver mag tube, which would be a big problem as its factory soldered in.

I just took the Timney trigger pull gauge to the shortened 870. Good news - factory trigger pull is 3.6lbs. Bad news, in short form is 6.7lbs total. With 1oz slugs at 1600fps that would be 38ftlb of recoil. Or, more than double your average Mosin. Yikes, those may be saved for need to use situations. I've shot many a .30-06 and I find that just 'ok', and those come in around 20ftlbs.

[ponycarman]

Does it have the remington supercell recoil pad? My newer express does. It makes loads of difference. My mosins bruise me being so skinny. With the pad it reduces recoil to more of a push that a hit. Very effective pad. I'm going to have to put one on my older 870 wingmaster.

[breckenridge]

Unfortunately it has the hockey puck hard rubber one. I ordered the supercell for it and it seems really nice, only problem is it doesn't fit right. I made sure to get the one for wood stocked 870s and its 1/4" too narrow and 1/4" too tall.

I think I'm going to try a grind to fit Pachmayr.

[ponycarman]

Thats interesting. I guess there is different sizes or something. I've heard good stuff about pachmayr. A good recoil pab makes the 12ga alot easier to deal with.

[breckenridge]

Got to shoot a few rounds with the 870 last weekend, just on a break from helping a friend on his new cabin. Never did widowmaker removal with birdshot before. Worked surprisingly well, even with the 18" barrel. I wouldnt use it to trim my own trees, but for dangerous hangers in the woods, pretty fun

[Mike]

NIce! My wife has the same gun in 20 gauge, she found my 12 gauge to be a bit much when shooting 100 rounds at sporting clays.

[wolfstein]

Nice 870 Express Really like the stock.

[hoshow]

I don't want to sound like a parrot, but great looking stock

[breckenridge]

Thanks guys, for an inexpensive new-Remington shotgun, I'm really happy with it.

Finally got some range time in with the 18" single bead barrel, I wasn't sure how accurate I could be with it at longer distances, but it works really well.

50 yds offhand with 1oz 1600fps Winchester foster slugs (NRA 50yd smallbore rifle target):


25 ft with Winchester Ranger 00 9-pellet buck (big holes were from the wads):

[Junk Yard Dog]

[Mike]

Slugs make nice big holes don't they?