I have heard that the early Remington 870 16 gauges were built on the 20 gauge action ? Is this correct or were they all built on the 12 gauge action?

My corncob 16 gauge is very light and slim. I'd say 20ga frame.

BTW, I'll be selling it soon. I can't use it anymore with my boogered left arm.

At introduction in 1950 ALL 3 gauges were produced on a single (12 Bore) frame Light weight variants in 20 and later 28 and .410 appeared 25+ years later.
The fit , finish, and choke boring of those early guns was very high quality, especially in light of the price.

Thank you

L2 does your 16 g. 870 have a rib and what is the choke.. I might be interested??

The lightness of the early 16 gauges is all in the barrels. The late model 16’s were pigs with 12ga steel rated (thicker) barrels bored to 16ga.

I Think a 20 GA. Frame.

All early ones (pre early 1970's I think) were on a 12 ga frame. The lighter feeling was the smaller barrels on the 20 and 16. I have a first year 20 ga and a first year 12 ga. Everything the same other than barrel. I think the early 20 ga guns are much smoother and better built. But you do have to look a lot harder to find replacement barrels since they are not interchangeable with the later 20 ga frame ones.

Hikerbum
I have a first year 12, 12mag, 20, and 16. Another buddy of mine has a very early serial numbered 12 with the corn cob and it is much lighter than mine.. I haven't been able to figure it out

Interesting thread. I was perusing a small gun shop a few years ago and spotted an old Remington shotgun barrel box. I picked it up and it held a barrel. I thought the box had to be 50-60's vintage it was not sealed so I opened it and carefully removed the barrel plain no rib 2 3/4" 28" full choke. It had the step around the chamber like all the early ones had
It looked new never used mirror bright bore. I put it back in the box. The shop owner came over and said plain barrel
,with a vent it would have been gone long time a go. He had $50 on it I pulled out 2 20's and said will this work he said yup and stuck them in his pocket. I took it home a bud wanted a plain barrel to saw back to 18.5" riot type duty. I was curious so I put it on my early 70 's vintage 870 field gun 2 3/4". Swung nice so I hauled it out to the trap range. 2 nights later and 4 rds of trap with a cumulative of 97/100 I figured out it did not need to be sawed off. Still have it, sometimes simple thing are still best. Mb

12 gauge magnum 870 came out in 1955 right? I picked up a 1960 the other day

That is correct.

The book says 1955 for the first magnums but I have one with a date code of 9/54.
IMO you can't go wrong with the early 870's.
I have 870ADL's in 12, 16 and 20 gauge and they handle a LOT better than guns made later.

Big fan of the early ones myself. I have them as early as 1951. Just picked up a 1963 16 gauge 870 yesterday

mine is from 1968, has a plain barrel 28' modified choke and it is perfectly balanced. If you are a Remington 870 fan I might suggest a book "The Gun Digest Book of the Remington 870 by Nick Hahn, a great read and a lot of information .According to the book Remington used the receiver from it's Model 11-48 auto and choosing the actual 16 gauge from to use for both the 12 and 16 ga guns.

I picked up a pretty nice shape m870 16 ga with plain barrel 28" full choke. Nice and light date code said November 1953. About the best 275 bucks I've spent in awhile. I can open the first shot pattern by manipulating the loads. So good to go...mb