870 Express or 870 Wingmaster

thor7742

thor7742

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Can someone explain to me what the biggest differences between these two guns are?

I would like a gun I can use for occasional bird hunting, as well as some clay pigeon shooting. I don't have a lot of money to be spending on a gun right now, so would I be better off trying to find a used Wingmaster or buy a new Express?
 
If you're looking for something for upland birds and clays, I'd suggest a used Wingmaster.

If you want to shoot steel, go Express or Stoeger P350.

The Wingmaster has beautiful action. Express and Stoeger are unfinished.
 
Finish is the big differance. The express is a fine gun, very rugged. I took a new magnum express , and put aftermarket trap wood from the remmy shop on it , mega fancy wood with 20 lpi checkering , 1 inch deluxe pad. It out shines the wingmaster in looks:D And has a matte finish:)
Frank
 
A new Wingmasters barrel is different than an Express.

And as previously mentioned, finish is the main difference. Express has stained birch wood. Wingmaster has higher glossed or satin finish walnut.

Wingmasters are blued, compared to the beadblasted Express. Expresses are not parkerized.

Trigger group in the Express contains some or more plastic then a wingmaster.

Front bead is different.

Action on a wingmaster is quite a bit smoother off the shelf.

Lots of differences.

The Express is a great working gun though, no doubt about it.
 
Waterfowler wrote:

Action on a wingmaster is quite a bit smoother off the shelf.
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I heard that from many people.

Most owners love their 870 Express. I was not very lucky with mine. It used to jam all the time. I sold it eventually.

I believe that the Wingmaster is the better made version not only in exterior finish but also in mechanism/action etc.
 
The two trigger groups are the same. Only difference is the Wingmaster has a smooth finished and annodized housing with a polished chromed follower, while the Express housing is sandblasted and anodized with a sandblasted and blued follower.

Neither has more plastic than the other.
 
Having owned both types of Remington I would recommend a used Wingmaster over a new Express.

The finish on the Express is crap. It is some type of porous sprayed on paint, and if you hunt near salt water it WILL rust. It seem the salt gets under the finish and causes corrosion, sometimes in hours. The same does not happen to a Wingmaster, as the blued finish does not seem to retain the salt.

I have nothing against matt blued guns and parkerized is fine too, but the Express finish is neither. Unfortunately Remington uses this same finish on the 11/87 Special Purpose (at least it was on the ones I saw) and that kept me from buying one of those.

Another "sometimes" fault with the Express when compared to the Wingmaster is smoothness and reliability. Wingmasters have been uniformly reliable and smooth out of the box. Expresses take a bit of "wearing in" to get smoothed out. I had one express that would jam every now and then (probably two shots out of one hundred) and I know of several others that did the same thing. I currently have an Express Slug gun that has been 100 reliable, but be aware that there are some out there that hang up every so often.

The heart of both guns is the same, but extra fit and finish pay off - the Wingmaster is the better gun. If I were on a budget and could not afford a new Wingmaster I would consider a Mossberg 500. Blasphemy? Perhaps, but the Mossberg works, and is cheap to buy and has s slicker action than the Express. I used to crap on Mossberg 500’s until I got one.
 
the express i had rusted easily....you had to clean it right after shooting in rain. A little rain and you would see brown dots, you could rub it off with oil but was ####ing annoying! I also dont like the plastic trigger guard.
 
P.E. Islander nice pic of old Albert in your avatar! Some great Canadian history there my son.

cheers Darryl
P.S. I prefer the Wingmaster. Just a better quality gun. Used ones are very affordable too!
 
P.E. Islander said:
The finish on the Express is crap. It is some type of porous sprayed on paint, and if you hunt near salt water it WILL rust. It seem the salt gets under the finish and causes corrosion, sometimes in hours. The same does not happen to a Wingmaster, as the blued finish does not seem to retain the salt.
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Unless your gun was pre-owned and someone armacoated it or spray painted it then you are wrong.

The Express finish is a raw sandblast that's been BLUED. And yes, it does tend to rust. In fact, a paint finish would likely IMPROVE durability. Alot of guys Gunkote/Armacoat/Duracoat them.
 
Musky Hunter said:
the express i had rusted easily....you had to clean it right after shooting in rain. A little rain and you would see brown dots, you could rub it off with oil but was f**king annoying! I also dont like the plastic trigger guard.
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Have you ever owned one? NO Remington 870 Express has a plastic trigger guard - they are sandblasted and annodized Aluminum :rolleyes:
 
madtrapper143 said:
P.S. I prefer the Wingmaster. Just a better quality gun. Used ones are very affordable too!
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True, however, used Wingmasters with 3" chambers are tough to locate.

FWIW, The Norinco clones are actually surface finished BETTER than the Express. Norinco finishes the receiver like a Wingmaster and then parkerizes instead of blueing. If it weren't for the fact it doesn't have "Remington" on the side of it, I'd bet ALOT of 870 owners would get a Norc instead of the Express for about the same price.

In fact, if I were to do over, I'd get a Norc too instead of my express ;)

In any event, the Express 870 is still a better gun than basically any other shotgun at its price point.
 
Musky Hunter said:
i have owned 2 express super mags...the triggerguard enclosure is plastic of some sort.

http://www.tacticalshotgun.ca/content_nonsub/shotguns/compare_870_590.html.

:rolleyes:
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The site you linked to is WRONG.

Here is the text:
The 870 police and older wingmaster guns use cast materials for their trigger guards, where on the express and some newer wongmaster models the trigger guard assembly is some sort of a high impact plastic.
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I've owned TWO 870 Expresses bought 10 years apart and BOTH had Aluminum trigger guards, not plastic. I was at lebaron in Ottawa last week and looked at two different expresses, they both had aluminum trigger guards, and the 3 870's currently at Gunco in Ottawa are all Aluminum. I've honestly never seen ANY 870 with a plastic trigger guard. Mossbergs are all plastic except the 590A1.

Perhaps you should go look at the gun in person to check? Googling random websites that don't officially represent Remington is a less than ideal way to garner info in my experience.
 
Claven2 said:
Have you ever owned one? NO Remington 870 Express has a plastic trigger guard - they are sandblasted and annodized Aluminum :rolleyes:
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Not true!

I have an Express that has an alloy trigger guard (made about 1991), but all of the new Expresses (since about '93/'94) have a plastic trigger guards.

RePete.
 
 
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I disagree with Claven's challenge to my text in my referenced article at tacticalshotgun.ca, although there might be a small amount of wiggle room pertaining only to whether or not expresses were once made with metal trigger guards. What I have observed:

  • Certainly all the new expresses coming from Remington ship with plastic trigger guards.
  • As of last year, new wingmasters had either metal or plastic trigger guards, however the bulk of the wingmasters I have seen have metal trigger guards.
  • All of the police models I have seen have metal trigger guards.
  • Back to the express...I have never seen one with a metal trigger guard, however it would not surprise me to learn that at one point in time they were the norm.

My 0.02$ on the original topic: there is nothing at all wrong with the express, however a wingmaster is worth the incremental price. Used wingmasters can usually be had for what I would consider a steal.

Good luck....

Brobee
 
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