Which do you prefer, mossberg or Remington?

I own (5) 870's and (3) Mossbergs and I enjoy them all. However, if I was forced to own just one shotgun, it would be an 870.

On several points alone...

With an 870, you have a far greater degree in flexibilty in barrel choises from 12.5" to 30". Can a Mossberg do that? No it can't.

For me, the ergonomics of the 870 fit me better out of the box. With my Mossbergs, the first thing I did was replace the OEM buttstock with a Magpul SGA so I could reach the trigger more comfortably.
 
Potato boy said:
Nuttinfancy broke a new mossy on camera, My buddy Johns wouldn't feed and jammed shells, i wore one out goose hunting, the plastic dogs that replace the 2nd pin on the trigger group wore from cleaning, my gunsmith said don't clean it so much, but that's hard to do when you're using it hard and its not only a range gun. I carried an old Wingmaster on the job for years and i had no doubt it would work. The mossy is more serviceable by the average joe and is a good piece. At the end of the day though there are more 870 shotguns in the hands of LEO, armed guards and soldiers than the Mossberg even though the Mossy passed the mil spec test and the 870 failed.The 870 is the all steel, the Mossberg is actually an alloy tank. I purchase, repair, restore and sell 870 as a hobby( there's no money in it but its fun) so i know the shortcomings of the 870, especially with the new ones but there easy to fix. One thing i know for sure, you don't see many Mossbergs from the 60's floating around but there are a ton of 870's. Can you beat a successful track record? I vote no.
Click to expand...

Ya, I see your point. But Remington is a MUCH larger company than Mossberg. Their flagship rifle the 700 is most popular rifle, the 870 most popular shotgun, they make pistols/1911's , manufacture premium ammunition, and much more.

I'm sure Remington 870 are in more use in LE, etc, etc.....but THEY HAVE A BUDGET, and when Remington fills an LE contract I'm sure they get a nice price. Every single of my 870's have given me an issue. My 14" M590A1 and other Mossies have not. Mechanically the 590A1 is better, sorry. Sure the receiver is aluminum, but all steel trigger group, controls, etc.

The dual extractors and heavy duty solid ejector V.S. Remington's single extractor and pinned springy ejector and not as tough or durable. When the action gets all gummy, the Remmy might have failures to extract a spent hull, while the Mossy kicks them out with authority a solid 5 feet away, and with force.

The Mossgerg M590A1 is priced so right. Your getting a $1,000 shotgun for $650-$750 NIB.

The finely tunned Remington 870 Police Max And Wilson Combat/Scattergun Tech 870's Are very good shotguns indeed, but on design principals the 590 is superior to the 870, especially any entry level Express. I own my grandfathers circa 1968 Wingmaster blued, polished chrome bolt, 30" bbl fixed full choke, gold bead sight, white mid bead.....I wasn't even born and my Nonno was bucking shots out of that Wingmaster with my 15 year old father and now it sits in my gun vault :) flawless operation...flawless. Just replaced the mag spring and extractor spring and it's like brand new. I'm taking it out this Sunday for Father Day with my pops at Silverdale to do some trap shooting clays :)


But any day of the week....I'll take a NIB Mossberg M590A1 14"/18"/20" with Ghost Ring sights and SpeedFeed Stock (4 rounds) over an 870 without thinking of it. I own a factory 14" but I'd take the full size 20" Ghost Ring sigh, 9-shot defender for general use
 
I say you can't go wrong with either. Just buy one and shoot the heck out of it. Leave all the debate for those who concern themselves with justifying their purchase.
 
I believe the 590A1 is better out of the box in recent years, but the 870 still makes for a better basis for a custom build.

I'd take an Ithaca 37 or maybe a Fabarm STF-12 over both though.
 
Last edited:
Grandpa's 870 sliced my thumb up on the loading gate when I was a kid, still have the scar. He ended up getting me an ithaca featherlight, which was just awesome to load, and from there I gravitated towards the 500's.

My uncle has that 870, but I ended up with Grandpa's Winchester model 12, that thing is sweet, but definitely a bit of a learning curve on the loading, no wonder he never let me try it. I almost should pick up an 870 just to get over my ingrained bias :)
 
Potato boy said:
Nuttinfancy broke a new mossy on camera, My buddy Johns wouldn't feed and jammed shells, i wore one out goose hunting, the plastic dogs that replace the 2nd pin on the trigger group wore from cleaning, my gunsmith said don't clean it so much, but that's hard to do when you're using it hard and its not only a range gun. I carried an old Wingmaster on the job for years and i had no doubt it would work. The mossy is more serviceable by the average joe and is a good piece. At the end of the day though there are more 870 shotguns in the hands of LEO, armed guards and soldiers than the Mossberg even though the Mossy passed the mil spec test and the 870 failed.The 870 is the all steel, the Mossberg is actually an alloy tank. I purchase, repair, restore and sell 870 as a hobby( there's no money in it but its fun) so i know the shortcomings of the 870, especially with the new ones but there easy to fix. One thing i know for sure, you don't see many Mossbergs from the 60's floating around but there are a ton of 870's. Can you beat a successful track record? I vote no.
Click to expand...

M37 Ithaca has at least an equal track record as the 870. And was operating at least two decades before this Remington shotgun came on scene.

And this forward thinking company produced a very acceptable smoothbore slug hunter in 1959. (and they did not need any shim stock either)
The 870 was only into 5 years of brand new production then.
 
Last edited:
I've had both, no problems really on either.

That said I've only got my Mossberg 590A1 now. For the cost, it couldn't be beat. Obviously I could whip up similar with an 870, but it'd end up being a couple hundred more that I don't need to spend.
 
Brutus said:
M37 Ithaca has at least an equal track record as the 870. And was operating at least two decades before this Remington shotgun came on scene.

And this forward thinking company produced a very acceptable smoothbore slug hunter in 1959. (and they did not need any shim stock either)
The 870 was only into 5 years of brand new production then.
Click to expand...

I wish the M37 were more available, would love to learn more about them
 
madashell said:
I wish the M37 were more available, would love to learn more about them
Click to expand...

They're great but definitely old school in both the good and bad senses of the word, they also vary wildly in quality unfortunately.

I like them for their light weight, slick action, shorter receiver {1.5-1.25" shorter than an 870 depending if its a 2.75" or 3" gun}, ease of loading and general JMB derived old school goodness. The "pump fire" feature on the older models is fun too!

The bad is that they've got some fiddly small components and they aren't as easy to fully take apart as more modern pumps. The lifter and shell latch assemblies must be in good shape or it'll drop live shells.

They aren't exactly hard to find, if nothing else you can give the Ithaca specialized Sharp's Guns of Dunnville Ontario a call, a few years ago they were willing to put together a riot setup out of used parts for me for pretty cheap.

I'd be all over a new production Defense model, if they only they made them with a removable barrel instead of the silly welded in barrel that they currently use.
 
870P said:
They're great but definitely old school in both the good and bad senses of the word, they also vary wildly in quality unfortunately.

I like them for their light weight, slick action, shorter receiver {1.5-1.25" shorter than an 870 depending if its a 2.75" or 3" gun}, ease of loading and general JMB derived old school goodness. The "pump fire" feature on the older models is fun too!

The bad is that they've got some fiddly small components and they aren't as easy to fully take apart as more modern pumps. The lifter and shell latch assemblies must be in good shape or it'll drop live shells.

They aren't exactly hard to find, if nothing else you can give the Ithaca specialized Sharp's Guns of Dunnville Ontario a call, a few years ago they were willing to put together a riot setup out of used parts for me for pretty cheap.

I'd be all over a new production Defense model, if they only they made them with a removable barrel instead of the silly welded in barrel that they currently use.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information 870P. That gives a great overview/starting point.
 
870P said:
They're great but definitely old school in both the good and bad senses of the word, they also vary wildly in quality unfortunately.

I like them for their light weight, slick action, shorter receiver {1.5-1.25" shorter than an 870 depending if its a 2.75" or 3" gun}, ease of loading and general JMB derived old school goodness. The "pump fire" feature on the older models is fun too!

The bad is that they've got some fiddly small components and they aren't as easy to fully take apart as more modern pumps. The lifter and shell latch assemblies must be in good shape or it'll drop live shells.

They aren't exactly hard to find, if nothing else you can give the Ithaca specialized Sharp's Guns of Dunnville Ontario a call, a few years ago they were willing to put together a riot setup out of used parts for me for pretty cheap.

I'd be all over a new production Defense model, if they only they made them with a removable barrel instead of the silly welded in barrel that they currently use.
Click to expand...

Good luck getting a hold of Ron. Last I heard this fine gentleman had cancer and was undergoing treatment.
 
madashell said:
Thanks for the information 870P. That gives a great overview/starting point.
Click to expand...

I forgot to add that they have probably the most positive extraction and ejection out of any repeating shotgun design.

I also prefer the controls over any other pump, the only real ergonomic downside is that they're not readily port loaded compared to a side eject gun, it can be done but its noticably slower.

The shorter receiver means a shorter reach to the forend, my 37 with its typical 14" LOP stock barely makes for a longer reach than my 870 with a 12" Hogue stock. This lets lets you get "down on the gun" a bit more without the downsides of going with a scrunchy short stock or oversized forend.
 
madashell said:
I wish the M37 were more available, would love to learn more about them
Click to expand...

Google is your best friend.
Some notable organizations that once utilized the M37:
-LAPD
-NYPD (Jim Cirillo of the Stakeout Squad)
-Chicago PD
-Louisianna State Police
-US military ordered trench guns during WW2
-Royal Marines during WW2 issued a 15inch M37
-SEALs during the Vietnam War (highly decorated frogman CWO Lee Watson)
 
870P said:
I forgot to add that they have probably the most positive extraction and ejection out of any repeating shotgun design.

I also prefer the controls over any other pump, the only real ergonomic downside is that they're not readily port loaded compared to a side eject gun, it can be done but its noticably slower.

The shorter receiver means a shorter reach to the forend, my 37 with its typical 14" LOP stock barely makes for a longer reach than my 870 with a 12" Hogue stock. This lets lets you get "down on the gun" a bit more without the downsides of going with a scrunchy short stock or oversized forend.
Click to expand...

More good info, thanks 870P.

The slower port loading makes sense.

I like the shorter reach to the forend aspect. I'm not short and don't have short arms but sometimes feel these pumps would be more workable if the reach were closer. If it bugs me from time to time it's really gotta bug people with smaller stature.
 
Brutus said:
Google is your best friend.
Some notable organizations that once utilized the M37:
-LAPD
-NYPD (Jim Cirillo of the Stakeout Squad)
-Chicago PD
-Louisianna State Police
-US military ordered trench guns during WW2
-Royal Marines during WW2 issued a 15inch M37
-SEALs during the Vietnam War (highly decorated frogman CWO Lee Watson)
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Brutus. Yes, lots to be found with google on the Ithaca's.

Was more referring to actually getting them into hand and checking them out.
 
Brutus said:
Good luck getting a hold of Ron. Last I heard this fine gentleman had cancer and was undergoing treatment.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry to hear that. :(

madashell said:
More good info, thanks 870P.

The slower port loading makes sense.

I like the shorter reach to the forend aspect. I'm not short and don't have short arms but sometimes feel these pumps would be more workable if the reach were closer. If it bugs me from time to time it's really gotta bug people with smaller stature.
Click to expand...

I'm a hobbit so reducing reach length is extra important in my case, but its beneficial to just about everyone. I'm starting to move towards semiautos partially for that reason.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom