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There are some plastic pieces in the Express trigger group. I have never seen one fail there.


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I would avoid 870s recently manufactured. Older 870s are excellent shotguns. I had a recent production and it would continually lick up, I traded it off. My friends, who guide geese hunting trips, have witnessed numerous problems with 870s produced in the last ten years. My favorite gun smith advises folks looking for an 870 to find an older one. I now avoid anything Remington like the plague.


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Originally Posted by BC3
Okay. I see there are lots of 870 Express haters. What are the specific issues that everyone seems to have with the Express models?



They are not as slick as the old guns.
And it has nothing to do with the operator, it is the in the
manufacturing of the gun.

I have two Expresses One of the first, 28" barrel came with a modified
tube. And one of the first 21" Turkey Express models. They have always
worked, but rough. I tore therm down, and polished everything that rubs when it moves.
Helped a lot.


Also, that finish, it rusts like crazy.
If you are diligent, it can mostly be avoided.
But, hunting turkeys, I tend to somewhat neglect a shotgun.
It lives in the truck, and gets used for several weeks, usually
getting wet. They won't stand for that. They will actually show rust
in one day. Have to baby the ugly things.


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Originally Posted by Lennie
I would avoid 870s recently manufactured. Older 870s are excellent shotguns. I had a recent production and it would continually lick up, I traded it off. My friends, who guide geese hunting trips, have witnessed numerous problems with 870s produced in the last ten years. My favorite gun smith advises folks looking for an 870 to find an older one. I now avoid anything Remington like the plague.


And there is the real problem, honestly stated...


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Originally Posted by Dillonbuck
Originally Posted by BC3
Okay. I see there are lots of 870 Express haters. What are the specific issues that everyone seems to have with the Express models?



They are not as slick as the old guns.
And it has nothing to do with the operator, it is the in the
manufacturing of the gun.

I have two Expresses One of the first, 28" barrel came with a modified
tube. And one of the first 21" Turkey Express models. They have always
worked, but rough. I tore therm down, and polished everything that rubs when it moves.
Helped a lot.


Also, that finish, it rusts like crazy.
If you are diligent, it can mostly be avoided.
But, hunting turkeys, I tend to somewhat neglect a shotgun.
It lives in the truck, and gets used for several weeks, usually
getting wet. They won't stand for that. They will actually show rust
in one day. Have to baby the ugly things.


Two words...

Kry and Lon!
wink


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I have come to the conclusion that 99.9% of those bashing Remington's have never owned one, and it's the same way with any other product. Are there Remington firearms that don't meet expectations...........of course, but given the fact that they make so many, there are bound to be unsatisfied customers.

I worked in public long enough to know that there are some customers that you can never please, no matter how hard you try. Then there are others that will practically accept anything and be happy. The firearms industry is no different. Some customers expect a $500 factory gun to be equal to a $5000 custom one, and then there are those that are completely happy with anything that goes bang when you pull the trigger.

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I've got an 870 here that doesn't eject worth a damn. It's been back to Remington 3 times and still won't eject dependably with any brand of ammuntition. They've replaced the barrel, extractor, complete bolt assembly and "tuned" the ejector spring and still it chokes about one out of every 15-25 shots and the rest barely clear the ejection port like a baby dribbling pureed peas down it's chin. After the third time back to Remington and still no joy, I asked for a refund and was told "we don't do refunds". The useless POS sits in the back of the safe to this day. Brand new, less than 200 rounds fired through it and I won't sell it because I won't pawn such a worthless POS off on somebody else. No, I'll never buy another Remington of any model. I don't need anymore useless junk peddled by slobs who won't stand behind it. Maybe I'll make a lamp out of this one.

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I think there are better choices.

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I can't honestly recommend the Remington 870 or their 1100. My now ex-wife's 1100, 20 ga. broke first the extractor, then, later, the ejector failed. And that was a gun made in the 90's. My favorite 870, a 28 ga., has also gone down the road. Why ? As it came from the factory, it wouldn't feed the rounds from the magazine reliably. Later, I found out the barrel was slightly bent. That jammed a choke tube in it. Both fixed at a factory repair station free of charge. Then a couple of years later, on the trap range, the barrel came off as I worked the action. With it came the bolt, and internal parts. When the gunsmith, again a factory authorized repair station, couldn't explain why it happened. Told me not to disassemble it for cleaning. He had to tighten the forend nut with a wrench.... That broke my confidence in the shotgun. I sold it. E

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Originally Posted by BC3
Okay. I see there are lots of 870 Express haters. What are the specific issues that everyone seems to have with the Express models?


I have had an 870 Express Super Mag since the early 2000's. It has been used as a push pole, boat paddle, nutria club, and bounced around in the bottom of a boat ALLOT. I even knocked out one of the pins from the trigger assembly once to use as a shear pin in an outboard motor to get us back to the ramp. The only complaint I have ever had is that the finish on it did rust pretty easily. It was a little rough back when I first got it but it smoothed up with use pretty quickly. It has a better recoil pad on it now and a rattle can paint job fixed the rusting issue. I guess I got a good one as I have never had a problem with mine.

I purchased the Express as I wanted a rough duty waterfowl piece that I did not worry about getting dinged up and would work in nasty conditions. It has fit that purpose well for me.

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Originally Posted by Mohawk
Originally Posted by BC3
Okay. I see there are lots of 870 Express haters. What are the specific issues that everyone seems to have with the Express models?


I have had an 870 Express Super Mag since the early 2000's. It has been used as a push pole, boat paddle, nutria club, and bounced around in the bottom of a boat ALLOT. I even knocked out one of the pins from the trigger assembly once to use as a shear pin in an outboard motor to get us back to the ramp. The only complaint I have ever had is that the finish on it did rust pretty easily. It was a little rough back when I first got it but it smoothed up with use pretty quickly. It has a better recoil pad on it now and a rattle can paint job fixed the rusting issue. I guess I got a good one as I have never had a problem with mine.

I purchased the Express as I wanted a rough duty waterfowl piece that I did not worry about getting dinged up and would work in nasty conditions. It has fit that purpose well for me.


Classic Southern ingenuity there! Laughing!


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Two words...

Kry and Lon!
wink[/quote]


I just can't!


Have considered Ceracote.
Pretty hard to put a $200 finish on a $189 gun.
I keep it oiled, and it is a cheapie.


Now as to the Weatherby Vanguard I bought in 1984, with saved lunch money and
money from mowing lawns all day for $5? The F'n thing cost $320. And it will rust
almost as fast as the Express. And I am still bitter!


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Duracoat works very well if you don't want to spend all that much.


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Originally Posted by Dillonbuck


Two words...

Kry and Lon!
wink



I just can't!


Have considered Ceracote.
Pretty hard to put a $200 finish on a $189 gun.
I keep it oiled, and it is a cheapie.


Now as to the Weatherby Vanguard I bought in 1984, with saved lunch money and
money from mowing lawns all day for $5? The F'n thing cost $320. And it will rust
almost as fast as the Express. And I am still bitter![/quote]



Put me in the camp of the completely unimpressed with Cerakote. I have seen significant wear on rifle on just one Kodiak bear hunt... I have seen hard corners showing color in less than a year of light duty... both applied by a name smith with lots of Cerakote experience.

Last edited by Sitka deer; 01/11/19.

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Not sure what happened to drop the quote box?


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Might have been my fault.

I was deleting unnecessary material, and deleted too much.
Then I was too lazy to start again, and figgured screw it, it'll be ok. whistle blush


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The design of the 870 is sound. For the price it is a work horse.
It also has many outside suppliers making cool add on or upgrade parts.
If your into a fine polish and deep blue an older one might be your best bet. (look very carefully at the Staking of the spring steel inserts inside any 870 Action you buy used)
But most of my uses for the pump don't need fancy blue. As stated before a good wipe with corrosion x or whatever won the, "best of the cans test on rusting" should keep your Rem express pump in the game.
If you really want some happiness spend the dollars on the trigger upgrade kit. Even better, the older full machined Timney Trigger assemblies are very nice for trap targets. But will cost you nearly the price of the Express to get one.
A Bill Davis Enterprises stock set is also a nice upgrade if your trying to get your flying targets to intersect where your eye is looking.
So many choices.
Still working after all these years, even with the changes at the factory build table.
Also a fan of the rattle can modifications on job specific units where necessary for your hunt.


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Originally Posted by 10gaugemag
Supposedly not as smooth, not as good of parts. I am sure that they are same parts with a different finish. I have had em both although in older models and can't tell a nickles difference.

Express has a cheap wood stock and the rough matte finish, kind of a BDL to Sportsman difference but you don't see anybody complain that the Sportsman 78 was a POS.

THE Express and older Special Purpose models were the same it was just that the Special Purpose had a nicer matte finish Walnut stock, I even saw a few Expresses in the late 90s with Walnut stock/forearms.



My son's SP Synthetic has a good quality plastic stock, and the finish is far and away better than any of the three Express models we bought later. It's a brownish gray, appears to be Parkerized, and is a smooth matte, not that sandpapery mess. Been a good gun from day-one (1997). The lammy stocks on the Express models seemed soft, not the usual rock-hard birch or whatever I see on other stocks. Bean-counters hard at work, no doubt.

870s are a great design, fallen on hard times. Doubt I'll be buying any more shotguns, but a nice one from days gone by is well worth having. Wish I had my 70-ish slug gun back. Ithacas are lighter, and fit and point better for me, and the old design is a clever machined steel wonder. I'd like to see a new one, but even their "dealers" apparently don't stock them, just place orders.


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Get yourself a new 870 Express and a Wal-Mart bulk pack of Winchester shells and spend the afternoon knocking out empties with a cleaning rod. Woo-Hoo!

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I was weened on Wingmasters from the 1960's and early 1970's and agree they're of better quality than the Wingmasters of today and far better than the Express and SP models. For me it's not a functional thing, but rather a fit/finish thing. The wood on the older Wingmasters was a lot better. I liked the looks better when they had the white line spacers for the recoil pad and grip cap. The ribs on the older ones were fit better and the wood/metal fit was better at the receiver. The Express and SP models are made more toa price point and I get that so I don't knock them for the tupperware furniture.

Still own two vintage Wingmasters, one being 20ga which was my first repeating shotgun and the other being my dad's 12ga 870TB which i Inherited. In 1998 I purchased a new 870 SP that never gave me any issues in the 8-9 years that I had it. In 2011 I purchased a 12ga 870 Synthetic 7-Round for home defense and it runs just fine and has never given me any trouble. The newer "cheaper" guns aren't as slick and smooth out of the box as the older ones, but they're far from terrible and once you get a flat or two through them they start to break in and cycle more smoothly.

On the other hand, the 870 American Classic 20ga I purchased in 2014 is every bit as smooth and slick as my older Wingmasters, though it's not quite as "loose" as it hasn't had thousands of shells through it like they have. Wood is still a little more proud than I would like around the receiver, but that's really my only nit-pick on it.


As long as there's still lead in the air, there's still hope!


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