14-18" Pump Shotguns

Like many of you fellow gunnutz I love good short shotguns.

Mine are all 870 Police or Wingmasters and 590a1's.

I had some Chinese copy and the Turkish offerings. The Chinese stuff I'm simply over with the exception of the compact DA 20ga. Put a fortune into that as an HD gun for my wife. But I lost complete interest in the 12 gauge DA, finish, some part fitting issues etc. Yes, I know the are basically solid and reliable however.

The Turkish stuff is decent for the money (although I don't like the longer receiver on many of them). Bottom line though, is parts availability for the Turkish guns. Forget it.

If you can't get parts easily I have little interest these days. Gotta keep it running.

It's a toss up between the 870's and 590a1's. Both are great. Boomer makes excellent points.

The difference in safety location and action release between the two doesn't bother me either way. There's something about the solid feeling the 870 has that the 590 doesn't. It's a perception thing really though. There's no doubt the ease of parts swapping goes to the 590a1. (one thing Boomer didn't mention is the Mossberg's are known to have issues with their safeties jam up..... keep em maintained and parts on hand).

So my bottom line for work or HD guns is skip the toys, get a good 870 or 590/590a1. The rest are fine fun guns imo.
 
God damn it DILLIGAF, every time you post that 870 makes me wanna build same and I'm not into wood stocks/forends. You did a great job on that one. Must be the oil finish.

DILLIGAF said:
Don't ever buy a new 870 or 500 they are shyte.

Find an old 870 wingmaster or 500 ATP

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Any idea who can do the thread on my defender barrel so I can mount a choke? I prefer a GTA gunsmith.

Al Bear said:
So far as I can see, the “defender” type barrels come with fixed cylinder bores. I would go for a gun that offers the shortest barrel and removable chokes. BPS has An upland model with a 22” barrel. No doubt there are other brands with similar products.
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Get a mid '80's Wingmaster because it'll shoot 3 inch shells with no issues and the quality is still decent. There's no need to replace the extractor on older Wingmasters because the "police" extractor is simply the extractor that was in use before Remington designed a cheaper one to save costs, these guns don't have any cheap parts. You'll also save money on action work, because they don't need any, it was done by Remington before it left the factory. So, what do they need? A safety - either Simon's (S&J) or Vang Comp's, a follower - ditto, sometimes (rarely) new springs, and a 14 inch barrel with a pedestal bead to which you can mount an XS Big Dot tritium bead. If you want an extra round, a 1 shot extension (no dimples to remove on these guns, unlike the HD express guns). As far as the shell latches go, if you're a "belt and suspenders" kind of guy, you can get the staking tool from Brownells for about $40 and double stake the shell latches. I have a 1952 Wingmaster that was clearly used an enormous amount, that is the only one of six of these things that I've had to replace the shell latches on - it took 10 minutes.
 
medvedqc said:
another question.

will it fit on a extended magazine like a police frame?
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A standard 870 barrel will fit on regular length mag tubes, to get more shell capacity you need a mag tube extension, the factory extended mag tube on some Police and tactical models uses a dedicated barrel. The mag tube ring on the barrels are in different locations, a gunsmith could move the ring and rebraze or solder it though.
 
Boomer said:
A sideline I have is a local gun cleaning business, and I take in a couple of dozen 870s each year to clean, probably half as many Mossberg 500/590s and a sprinkling of 1200 Winchesters. These are usually company guns that are used in a harsh environment and see little love, so if a gun is going to fail, these are the circumstances in which it will. My comments will be directed to the 870s and 500/590s.

Both Remington and Mossberg guns are good quality and reliable. Both Remington and Mossberg guns have a wide assortment of after market accessories available for them. That said, my preference is for the Mossberg line. My preference is the 500/590 Mossberg which can be had in 18" length.

Common maladies for the 870 include broken ejectors, lost extractors, and unpinned shell stops which tie up the actions. The Mossbergs have ejectors that are held by a screw and are easily replaced, the Remington ejector is a thin metal strip riveted in place, and is easily broken when the barrel is jammed into the receiver without taking care to index the ejector, and it requires a gunsmith to repair. Mossberg shell stops sit loosely in groves in the receiver, and are absolutely reliable. The Remington shell stops are staked in shallow recesses, and should those stakes fail, the loose shell stops tie up the gun. The 870 relies on a single extractor, the Mossberg has two. I prefer a magazine that is open at both ends, and for this reason I think the 870 and the 590 have the advantage over the 500. That said, a 500 magazine tube can be threaded for cleaning, which allows the removal of the follower and spring. The factory metal followers for the Mossbergs should be replaced with nylon followers if the gun is exposed to wet conditions.

In shooting both guns, the action release for the 870 is forward of the trigger guard requiring the shooter to break his firing grip to reach it, where the 500/590 action release is conveniently located behind the trigger guard. The 870 uses a cross bolt safety behind the trigger guard, where the tang safety of the 500/590 is again more conveniently located. Triggers between both brands are acceptable. Given a chance to smooth up, both actions can become fairly slick, where with a cocked gun, and the action release depressed, a light bump on the butt will fully open the action. I prefer the elevator of the Mossberg compared to the "flicking" action of the Remington, but both are fully reliable. Both allow easy indexing of the shell from the face of the t rigger guard to the magazine when loading at the shoulder. Both guns can be easily unloaded by depressing the shell stops allowing the shells to exit the magazine.

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Heck of a write up Boomer !
Leavenworth
 
Get the Canuck Commander. I own one. Solid shotty. I also have a cut down 870 Wingmaster from the 1970's all Magpul stock options on it. I've owned a Defender. Got bored with it fast, and sold it. The Canuck will serve you well. I've put near a thousand rounds through mine. Not a single issue to date. Try that with other shotguns. You'll get issues. For what you get and how it operates, I think you can't go wrong with the Commander.
 
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