One of Our Favorite Guns
One of our favorites is this 6+1 capacity 12 gauge Remington 870 security shotgun. While both of us carry *almost* 100 percent of the time, the 870 is our primary home defense weapon.
The image to the right (courtesy The Better Half) shows the “business” end of the gun. The graphic below depicts the overall gun.
Here’s some information on the history of the venerable Remington 870:
Remington 870 Shotgun
Remington introduced the 870 “Wingmaster” shotgun in 1950; since then, it has become one of the most popular USA-made pump action all-purpose shotguns. Beginning it’s life as a versatile hunting shotgun, available in many different configurations and gauges, in early 1970s the Remington 870 was adopted by US Military - in 1966 US Marine Corps purchased some thousands of the Remington 870 Mk.1 shotguns (along with Mossberg 590 and Winchester 1200). Military shotguns have extended magazines for 7 or 8 rounds, bayonet mounts, heat shields around the barrels and non-glare, protective and rust-resistant finishes.
Remington 870 also is very popular police/security shotgun, available with extended magazines (up to 8 rounds), fixed or folding butt stocks or with pistol grips. Usually, police Remingtons have 14 in. or 18 in. barrels with cylinder or improved cylinder chokes, capable of firing buckshot, slugs and special purpose munitions (tear gas grenades, non-lethal rubber bullets etc.). M870 may be equipped with rifle-style or ghost-ring (peep) sights, with tactical flashlights and lasers etc.
Technically, Remington 870 is a pump-action shotgun with dual action bars and tilting breech block, that locks directly into the barrel extension. Barrel may be swapped (changed) within minutes to fit the situation.
3 Responses to “One of Our Favorite Guns”
drjim on 05 Mar 2013 at 1815 #
Yep, I’ve got one, too.
I’ve taken Tactical Shotgun I and II, twice each with it, and it’s never missed a beat!
The only thing I’ve done to it is to file down the sharp edge around the loading port, and smooth it out with sandpaper.
With all the loading we were doing in class, it cut my thumb open!
And I’ve added a rail and optic to it.
Minstrel on 05 Mar 2013 at 2106 #
SWEET!
drjim on 05 Mar 2013 at 2153 #
Oh….and I added a really nice thick gel recoil pad!
Takes the sting out of rapid fire.
It hasn’t been cleaned in so long that I’m going to have to take it completely down. I never blued where I did the sanding, but it’s never rusted.
The problem is from sitting by the bed at night, with the window open, the bluing has got all these itty-bitty micro specks of rust, so I’m going to scrub every single blued part with solvent, and then try some of the Brownell’s “Ortho-Phos” bluing compound on the whole gun.
If that doesn’t work, one of the guys I work with will do a hot Parkerize job for me, as he’s set up to do it in his garage.