Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How Old is Your Model 870

Dad bought a 12 ga., 870 Wingmaster, 3" magnum, 30" ribbed full choke barrel, in '73 and I took it hunting one time.... and had to have one. Bought mine, just like it, in '74. Couple years later I paid $120 for a used 3" magnum, 30" plain barrel, with a modified choke. Still got all 3 and they still do the job..

Have a minty .410, thinking it was maybe a 66 or 68, cant remember....its a skeet with the mid bead....been afraid to take it afield as i'm clutzy these days !

Bought mine in 1963 in a pawn shop. I have run the serial # and it was made in 1957.

Yep just like mine, MOD, no rib, I've bought other barrels but prefer the original plain one for hunting, just swings right.

Kent

Now your talk'n!!!!!

1 is about 35 yrs old and another is 15 yrs old

Probably around 88. My wife bought it for me for Christmas back in the days when you could cash and carry a long gun in California.

I bought my oldest son an 870LW Special for Christmas 1987. Top shelf everyday quail gun IMHBAO. Of course he will hand it down to his son some day.





Later, bought my younger son an 870 Wingmaster in .410. Another beautiful gun he will hand down to his son some day.

I have an 870 that doesn't have the date codes on the barrel. I think it might be 20 or so years old. It's a Wild Turkey Federation version that came with some kind of cheap looking hardwood stock and a dull black finish that will rust in about ten minutes. I bought it when the gun shop owner said that he would sell it to me about $100 cheaper than a new barrel for my Browning pump shotgun. I think he just wanted it out of his shop because it was so ugly. Probably could have gotten a better price. All I wanted was a gun I could use to hunt turkeys with. I killed a turkey the morning after I bought it. I ordered a replacement walnut butt stock and fore end, that had a subdued finish, and was made for the Remington riot gun. It has been a good gun and worth the $225.

Bought my 870 brand new back in 1970.

Around 1973.

Gosh, what a bunch of old guys.....ad me to that list. Bought mine in 1975. Has accounted for many a waterfowl around the U.S. Bought a buck bbl. for it late 70’s. MTG

1990. Thirty years ago this month. Best shotgun I ever owned.

Mine is a 77 I think. My dad purchased it new and gave it to me in the late 90s when I was in high school. It’s a wingmaster fixed choke modified 2 3/4 only. It’s my go to gun. I have another buts an express and I have the 18inch cylinder defense barrel and a 28” vent rib...also added a machined extractor. That’s my defense gun...stays next to the bed loaded with 00 buck. I use the 28 inch barrel as a loner gun when friends join me duck hunting from out of state etc. Both are fantastic guns.

Funny someone mentioned a 37 16 gauge. I have a early 50s version that’s a fixed choke mod that was given to me by grandmother. It was her pheasant gun. Has to be 99% condition. I use it all the time for upland hunting. Great gun!

My old 870 from the late 70s sure is a lot smoother than the junk they sell today .

It ain’t mine, it’s Dads. It’s an old 16 gauge with a pretty tight full choke. He bought it used in 1946 when he returned from Germany. IIRC, he give $30 for it and a couple boxes of shells.
It’s the only scattergun I can recall him using for bunnies and squirrels up until he died in 010.
Dad wasn’t a gun nut like me and my brother Dave. To him a gun was a tool, used for hunting. Dad used to bitch about us buying new guns for this and that!
That said, Dad wasn’t really very anal about taking care of it. It set on the wall in the garage, with some number 6s handy for varmints, and my brother painted cars in there.
When Dad left for the big briar patch, i took it home with me.
It’s a helluva looking thing, but it works fine. I gotta 16 gauge Mec that I use to load for it and a couple other 16s I got.
I’m planning on getting it re-blued and getting the stock refinished so I can stick it in the cabinet for Big Hunter when I join the “Old Man”.
Between that 870 and that 788 in .308 that he used the last 1/4 century of his life, they’re worth as much as all my other guns combined.
7mm

Bought my first used when I was 15, around 1968. 12 ga 26" I/C plain barrel. Used it enough on quail and backyard clays that it was kicking shells out of the magazine onto the ground every time I shucked it. Traded it it sometime after 1978 on an 1100. It was the worst trade of my life, hated that shotgun.
Bought a 20 ga standard model in about 1980, built on a 16 ga frame, it was heavier than the LT model. Killed a lot of quail with that one, still have it but it doesn't get used much anymore.

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.

Mine is an early 90s Special Purpose 12ga 3" Magnum with 26" bbl. I exchanged the tupperware stock for a walnut police stock with ribbed forend and no checkering butt. No other changes. Still have the original box.

IMHO ..... The SPs were the best versions of the 870 offered.

I have one of those too. It’s my Sandhill Crane gun.