Got mine brand new in 1987. It's a "Special Purpose Deer" model according to the right side of the receiver, Left side says "Remington 870 Magnum" so it's good for 3" shells. It was Remington's dedicated slug gun before rifled chokes and rifled barrels really caught on. Came with a smooth bore slug barrel, ( cyl. choke ? ) and rifle sights on the barrel. The barrel and receiver aren't blued but it's more of a parkerized finish and I forgot what Remington called it. Was a heckuva good slug gun back in the smoothbore slug gun & Foster style slug era. Put a 2.5x Leupold compact on it with one of those saddle mounts about 1988 or 89. Had the receiver drilled & tapped and a weaver rail put atop the receiver in the mid 1990's. Got a fully rifled Remington replacement barrel in 2000. Local gunsmith gave it a trigger job around 2012 or so. Got myself a lifetime supply of 2 & 3/4" Winchester / BRI sabot slugs about 2013, ( Always had better accuracy with 2 & 3/4" vs. 3" shells and deer can't tell the difference so why not ? ). It's been through a lot of bad weather but never let me down. Only reason I'd ever give it up is if I get too old for the recoil of a 12 ga. slug gun, then I'd try a 20 ga. Savage 220 slug gun but I just turned 70 and still going strong so hopefully I can harvest a few more whitetails with it before I'm done. P.S. Still running the same Leupold 2.5x compact that's been on there since 1988 or 89 and it's been flawless even after me & the 870 fell out of a tree about 1992.
Last edited by 22250rem; 03/31/20.
