Bugger,
I have owned at least one 870 since 1979, when I ordered a 12-gauge 3" magnum with two barrels choked IC and Full from the local J.C. Penney store. (Yes, they used to carry firearms--and yes, that was before Remington started using screw-in chokes.) It has not only been used to take plenty of birds in several states and Canadian provinces, along with over 1000 doves in Argentina, but with a rifled slug barrel, deer and my biggest black bear and, in Eileen's hands, a cow moose. In all that time I've never had any trouble with it, and it's one of the last hunting guns I'd ever part with.
Your question about me preferring a Stevens double may have been intended as a joke, but isn't very funny. I am NOT talking about Stevens doubles, partly because I've shot a couple so much they started coming apart within a few years, both an older gun and a newer one. But they were what I could afford back then.
Instead I'm taking about very fine doubles costing several thousand dollars, which CAN be harmed by dry-firing--but if not abused by pulling the trigger(s) without snap-caps in the chambers will last just as long as any 870. Some of mine have, including a W.W. Greener boxlock ejector. The action is not only still tight, but the ejectors work perfectly. It was made in 1895.
