Would you trust your 870 express?

Do you trust your 870 Express?

  • Yes, right out of the box

    Votes: 287 73.4%

  • Yes, after tinkering with it a bit

    Votes: 55 14.1%

  • No, thats why I bought a Police/Wingmaster

    Votes: 49 12.5%
  • Total voters
    391
I have both an 870 Express and a Win 1300 Defender - The 1300 is my "house cleaning" gun and my 870 is my deer gun. The 1300 cycles just slightly faster and smoother than the 870 (I'll get boo'd and hiss'd for saying that by those that are loyal to one brand).

The 870 is a fine firearm, but at the end of the day - it's your personal decision and should be based on how you feel about the weapon.

However, if you're looking to make it a homeD model, I'd suggest a SpeedFeed IV stock - pistol grip with 4 rounds at the ready.....
 
voere270 said:
The 1300 cycles just slightly faster and smoother than the 870 (I'll get boo'd and hiss'd for saying that by those that are loyal to one brand).
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Actually I completly agree with you. The 1300 is a fast gun, faster than the 870. From personal experiance though, my 1300 is not as reliable as my 870. I use the 1300 rarley anyway, it's a stainless marine pistol grip model, kinda useless and rare (it's the older model with the high polish). It has more centamental value than anything, plus it just looks bad ass:)!
 
I've owned two 870s. The first was an 870 Sportsman, good first gun. Then I picked up an Express as a backup gun.... they just don't make em' like they use to, that's for sure. Still though, not horrible.
 
1300_stainless said:
I would love to have a Police 870, but considering the price and what I personally use the gun for it's not economical. We've all seen the list of differences between the 870 express and police. If I needed my shotgun to protect me/ and to preform my job on a daily bases I can see these added features as necessary. There's no arguing that the police is a more refined firearm.

That said though, I've never had a reliability issue with my 870 express. bought it used, and shot it a lot, fallen on top of it, dropped it etc. No FTF, FTE etc, not even with cheap shells. I've also modified it a bit, added an aftermarket mag follower, replaced the j-lock and soon I will polish the internals a bit.

Anyway here's my question for the other 870 owners, just because I'm curious. Do you trust your 870 express for any situation? Right out of the box, or tinkered with? I personally trust mine for any situation with the simple modifications I've made, but maybe I've been lucky.

UPDATE
I think I should have reworded the first option to "yes, in factory configuration" as opposed to "yes, out of the box" I agree that nothing should be trusted without inspection/testing. But I have no idea how to edit a poll and now that it's started and has results that would kind of screw it up.
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:D
You're better off with a cheap Chinese '870 knock-off like the Dominion Arms Grizzly..........put a couple of hundred rounds through mine & it hasn't failed yet........no modifications necessary.
 
pricedo said:
:D
You're better off with a cheap Chinese '870 knock-off like the Dominion Arms Grizzly..........put a couple of hundred rounds through mine & it hasn't failed yet........no modifications necessary.
Click to expand...

I've got nothing against chineese guns. I've never owned a chineese 870 copy though. The Remington I owned was enough to convinve me stick with what works and to buy another. As for the modications I made, they were more for peice of mind than necissity.
 
Yes, I would trust the express, however I'm in the market for a Wingmaster. The express is my zombie killing gun, and the wingmaster will be for skeet/hunting.
 
yes, after a thorough break-in period that would smooth up the rougher Express action and test reliability. perhaps some small touch-ups like polishing the chamber, upgrading the springs to 870P springs, etc.
most issues with the Express are really quality control/finish issues. at heart its still an 870 and can be made 100% reliable as long as you break it in thoroughly to test it and ensure you dont have a dud. same can be said for a Grizzly.

that said i highly prefer the 870P or Wingmaster, but not everyone can afford to spend $800 on a shotgun. even those should be thoroughly tested however - any shotgun these days can suffer from QC issues.

i think you should rephrase '...after tinkering with it' to '...after testing/break-in'. i think many people here assume that 'tinkering' means adding tactical bling to it - and thats not going to make it any more reliable.
 
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