Best Shotgun Maker

[KurtM]

I knew a guy who had 230,000+ miles on an orriginal Edsel, according to him it was the best car ever made. The sister ship to the Titanic never sank so I guess that proves the design was sound.

All I can say is since I have been doing Combat Shotgun Classes, the 870s I have seen have had the most trouble than any gun and I get to see about 300 a year, of those, about 50 stand out...cause they run. As for high end shotguns Like Scattergun Technologies/Wilson combat built on 870s...well just ask around I know several guys up near Tulsa that got some that were complete junk right from the "remaker". I am not saying all 870 are bad, just enough of them that I would never own one. KurtM

 

[Michael Brown]

In all the shotgun teaching I do both in the U.S. and abroad the one single shotgun that gives the most problem hands down, far more than ANY other type of shotgun is the much touted 870...I would NEVER own one!! I know this flys in the face of the "standard" answer, but after I have experienced how "great" this P.O.S. is first hand I can only think that because all the cops "used one" it has to be great.....well they NEVER used em very much or they wouldn't have them either!

Would you expound upon this a bit?

I have believed for a while that the single most likely cause of malfunctions in shotguns was the operator of a pump shotgun.

Do you believe this to be a pump vs. a reliable semi-auto issue or a Remington 870 issue?

Michael Brown

 

[KurtM]

Yes I will expand on it.
First the extractors a weak and don't grab shells very well and they like to break. Where the extractor cut is on the barrel is too deep on many models and this causes a "sticky extraction" Problem if you don't use high brass shells. Next the magazine cut off and shell stops are staked into the frame and usually loosen, or fall out causing, at best, hard reassembly, and at worst, having to pump the action two or three times in a row in order to get just a single shell to come out of the tube....I have taken to calling them "Double Pumpers"...just like the old Holleys. If you ever get a shell out onto the carrier and you don't have the Flex Tab carrier, you are pretty much done untill you either pry the shell forward or take the mag tube apart, If you do have the flex tab, and use it a few times, it quits flexing as it snaps off. The action bars are real easy to bend as they are small and not heat treated, Samll action bars make for a smooth gun, but if you ever bend them, it won't ever be smooth again. and yes I have seen them get bent durring a class and in competition. The up side is the trigger group...it is the only good part on the gun, that I haven't seen any issues with. Now couple all this with a too small loading port, and very sharp edges in and around the loading port, and you will ALWAYS have a BIG box of bandaides when you use one under time stress.

As for operator error, short stroking, etc. yep that cause lots of problems as well and no matter how much a person practices using a pump I guarantee that they will short strok it at some point in time while under stress, but that is whole nother can o worms

 

[BobAsh]

The ones I have been around have been built by Jack Travers and Jim Lambert, two of the Saiga pioneers. Guess it is hit or miss on those, mostly miss.

Pioneers? I'll have to disagree with you there.

 

[technetium-99m]

Trying to cram shells into my 870 was awful, it was like Remington sharpened the edges of the loading port for the specific purpose of shredding my thumb. I mean it can be remedied but why the heck would you make a gun that way.

Mine ran the 6-700 rounds I put through it fairly smoothly but I don't know how it would have performed with 20+ thousand. One problem that would surface ocassionally was sticky extraction. At High-Plains last year it happened twice if I remember right. Took a really good yank to clear it.

That gun on the other hand would sling slugs like it was going out of style.

I'm really glad I switched over to a SLP in the end.

 

[1eye]

Benelli and Beretta are truly fine shotguns. I spent about ten years shooting sporting clays logging more than 1,500 tournament targets a year. Believe it or not I used weatherby for my over and under and modified remington 1100 for a semi auto. Never had a function flaw. The higher end guns are a good investment but you don't have to spend that much money to effectively compete. The biggest difference is still the person pulling the trigger.

 

[Stingray]

I have no complaints about my 870 at all. It's always run like a champ for me.

-S

 

[Larry Morgan]

There's the Browning A-5, and everything else!!!!!!!!

+1*10^6

Seems like I talk to people about the A-5 and they're response is "I shot one of those one-time and it kicked like a grumble grumble grumble", so I hand them my Savage 720 with the friction rings properly set and after the first shot they want one. I'll never give mine up.

 

[mholloway79]

Ill take my browning gold hunter against any anyday, years in the goose field and it never has had a problem.

 

[mholloway79]

+1*10^6

Seems like I talk to people about the A-5 and they're response is "I shot one of those one-time and it kicked like a grumble grumble grumble", so I hand them my Savage 720 with the friction rings properly set and after the first shot they want one. I'll never give mine up.

I had that problem with my old A-5, i installed the rings propperly and the kick was minimal from then on.