I will never buy another new Remington product.
How anyone can take great designs like the 870 pump shotgun and the 700 bolt action rifle and
screw them up as much as Remington is doing now is beyond my comprehension.
I quit buying new 700 rifles right before the J-lock design came out. I prefer to buy an older used 700, re barrel, and re stock it if necessary. I get a better quality semi-custom rifle at the same price range as I would have to pay for a new off the shelf rifle.
For a while I was thinking maybe I'm just growing persnickety in my old age.
Last year, I decided to start hunting waterfowl again. Since I had given my 12 gauge 870 to my oldest son, I was in need of a new pump shotgun. I bought a new 870 Express with the plastic stock. The gun looked like a good one to drag out to a duck blind and it
did not have that cussed J-lock on it.
I shot a few clays and a box of AA's through it before the season opened. The action seamed very stiff to me and the gun did not clear the fired shells. It acted just like it had one of those shell catchers that trap shooters use. When I took the gun apart I found two places on the ejection port that had serious "burrs" left from the machining. I say they were burrs, but they were actually very sharp projections. One was nearly 1/4 inch long and was catching on each fired hull. I took some needle files and corrected that problem. While I was at it, I worked the action and smoothed it up considerably. Now the gun is shooting like it should and I was happy again.
So what am I bitching for?
Because I just took out my 1960's era 20 gauge 870 and shot it. And I took a real close look at the last new 700 BDL I bought in 1985. And I realized I have never needed to turn a screw on either gun. The earlier guns were smooth and functioned perfectly right out of the box. No DIY gun smithing necessary to make those guns work.
So I know that I have not grown persnickety. Rather, the idiots at Remington have succeeded in taking perfectly designed,
time tested, simple to build actions such as the 870 pump shotgun and the 700 bolt action rifle and screwed up the manufacturing process to a point of dis-belief.
Thank goodness there are
plenty of used 870 and 700 guns that
actually work available, because I will not purchase another new item bearing the word Remington.
OK, I done bitchin' now.