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Letter Re: Advice on Pump Action Shotguns
Dear Mr. Rawles,
Regarding your recent comments on shotguns, I’d like to add the following
opinion:
I own a gun shop and I get -many- people looking to buy their first shotgun.
The first question I ask them (and probably a good question to ask ones self
before
making any purchase) is: “What do you intend to
use
it for?”. Different guns for different purposes. When they tell me they
want an all around do everything shotgun (which is how the shy and low-key convey
that they want
a defensive shotgun), the choice usually come down to the Mossberg 500 and the
Remington 870. Both are great shotguns. Both are used by the US military and
both
are found
in law enforcement. Both have a fair bit of aftermarket parts and accessories
(not all of them useful) available.
When customers ask me to choose between the Mossberg 500 and the Remington 870,
I go with the Remington.
Magazine capacity - A standard Mossberg 500 (the one sitting on my desk right
now is a inventory gun, 500BB in 16 ga. with a cut down barrel to 21 inches)
holds 5 rounds in the magazine. To put an extended magazine on this particular
gun, one must replace the entire magazine tube (and it’s guts), as the
existing one is closed on the muzzle end and has a threaded hole in the center
that the barrel retaining nut (“magazine cap”) screws into. If I
take this commonly encountered gun and put an extended magazine on it I now need
to get a different barrel as this one one can not mount properly with an extended
mag.
On a Remington 870, I unscrew the barrel retaining nut (“magazine cap”)
and replace the magazine spring with the new longer one and screw on the magazine
extension. Re-install original barrel. Done. On later 870s it may be necessary
to drill out two small ‘dimples’ at the end of the magazine tube
that retain a superfluous magazine plug. Big deal. [JWR Adds: Brownell's
sells
a special mandrel designed for pressing out these dimples. Every retreat group
that has standardized with 870s should acquire one of these tools.]
Parts availability - The two most common shotguns are the Mossberg 500 series
and the Remington 870 and all the aftermarket accessories people know this. If
you
were to make a list of all the Mossberg accessories available and all the 870
accessories available, the lists would be long, but the 870 list would be longer.
More options.
Construction - Both guns are used my military and law enforcement, so you know
that
can
take rough use. One common problem I see with Mossbergs is that the safety selector
is
plastic (on the mil-spec model they are steel); this causes enough problems that
one of the more widely purchased aftermarket accessories for the 500 is a replacement
safety made of steel.
Both guns (on current models) have plastic triggerguards. The Remington has one
that has a built in locking device. Yesterday I had a fellow come in who had
bought a used 870 with a locking device but no key. It wasn’t a problem,
as he had not planned to ever lock the gun, but it turns out you can lock the
gun by just turning the safety with a fingernail or, in his case, a cleaning
brush while cleaning the gun. To -unlock- the gun, you need the key. That’s
bad. Mossberg has wisely avoided this mistake.
One thing that makes a big difference for me is that the Remington receiver is
steel while the Mossberg is alloy. It may not make a practical difference, but
I just feel better with the heavier gun. Also, the 500 receiver is anodized and
once the finish wears off, your only choices are stove paint, tape or shine.
Commonality - Both guns are extraordinarily common. Together I believe they account
for the majority of pump action sales in the US. While both guns are used by
military and law enforcement, the 870 is the hands down law enforcement favorite,
and thus
more likely
to
be
found/recovered
from ‘official’ sources.
One great advantage the Mossberg has is price: it’s cheap (or as I like
to describe it “entry level priced”). The cheap shotgun you have
-right now- is a whole heck of a lot better than the expensive shotgun that you
were planning to buy in 3 months! Also, when compared to the Remington 870, spare
barrels seem to be a bit cheaper on the used market.
For my “just in case” customers, I tell them:
• Remington synthetic stock 870 Special Purpose [Parkerized] finish 12
ga.
with a 3-inch
chamber with a
26 or 28 inch bird barrel with a full assortment of screw in chokes.
• Spare smoothbore rifle-sighted slug barrel in 20 inch.
•
In reserve, a Wilson combat/Scattergun Technology two shot magazine extension,
a six shell ‘side-saddle’, a clamp-on M1913 rail for mounting a
small light on the barrel (I like and own the Surefire fore-ends, but the cost
is prohibitive
and they use very specific parts. A clamp-on M1913 rail allows for mounting a
variety of lights, including a spare M3 or M6 pistol light, which one should
already have).
• Usual spares, slings and support parts and tools.
Remington and Mossberg both make fine guns that possess the great feature of
what I call ‘modularity’; the ability to be easily reconfigured by
the end-user to suit multiple purposes with a minimum amount of tools and skill.
I often tell my customers that they should think of the 500 and the 870 (and
the
AR-15) as ‘Lego kit’ guns; you can pretty much snap-on and snap-off
parts and accessories as needed.
A very, very distant third choice for shotguns would be the classic Ithaca 37s.
All metal, no plastic and bottom ejecting for left handed shooters. Used as a
military gun up through Vietnam and the classic LAPD gun
for many years.The NYPD
has [also] used this gun for over 50 years (in everything from 13 inch to 30
inch) and I can tell you first hand that a lot of those original purchase guns
bought
when
President Eisenhower was in office are still riding around the mean streets.
You'll
never
find
spares and accessories like you will for the Mossbergs and Remingtons though.
Best, - RMV
