Remington Arms Archives

Remington 870 Express Review

You are probably wondering how we could put the 870 Wingmaster in the top slot and kick the 870 Express down to fourth place. And believe us, we get it, but there are some major differences to contend with here.

This Remington 870 shotgun shoots great. There is nothing wrong with the Express, as it is just as ergonomically fitting, just as reliable and just as accurate as the Wingmaster. However, there are still a lot of accessories out there for it, both standard and aftermarket. These accessories turn the 870 from factory to an upland bird gun to a high-tech tactical to a nightmarish zombie gun. That’s why this gun is so great.

Let’s look at some realities here. The Wingmaster typically retails at around $800 or more new, which is a nice chunk of change to fork out for any pump scattergun, especially considering that a new semi-auto Swiss-cheese maker is just a touch more above that. The cost of a new Remington 870 Express? Around four-hundred bucks or less.

If the Wingmaster is the candle at which we are going to hold this gun to, then we must, by comparison, say that the feel of the gun could be that of slightly lesser quality; however this gun doesn’t feel the slightest bit cheap.

The finish is not as crafted as the WM and there tends to be a little more “rock” in the forend (meaning left and right as opposed to forward and back). But honestly, that’s really it as far as major differences. We’ll just call it “no frills”.

The Remington has the ability to shoot both 2 3/4 and 3 inch shells, available in 12 or 20 gauge, vent ribbed barrels (bead sighted) and the ability to accept any 870 aftermarket product out there today.

Think of it as a Remington 870 Wingmaster-lite.

Ranked #4 of 7 in our Best Pump Shotgun Comparison

Remington 870 Wingmaster Review

Rarely does a firearm hold it’s own against the ongoing competition year after year. Something even more rare is a shotgun holding it’s own generation after generation, in it’s original form, unaltered despite ever-changing trends and “coolness factors”. Say hello to the Remington 870 Wingmaster.

The Remington 870 Wingmaster is just as smooth as ever and just as reliable as can be expected. The Wingmaster is truly a first class device in pure shotgunning form whether hunting, sporting, defending or just having fun.

If you are not familiar with the famous 870 Wingmaster, you are looking at a shotgun of pure precision and strength. This gun is available in 12 gauge (both 2 3/4 and 3 inch shells), 20 gauge, 28 gauge and .410 bore. The Wingmaster’s twin action bars keep the chambering and ejection at optimum performance and the weight and balance allows an easily discovered natural point of aim.

Even when it’s dirty, the 870 outperforms everything else on the market today. The receiver is cut from a solid billet of steel and frankly, seems to shoot under any conditions you put it through. Our Wingmaster got dropped in the mud during a pouring rain deer hunt, but after a quick flush of the barrel with some water and a quick wipe with a dirty rag into the receiver, the gun shot like it was new off the production floor and cycled the next shell smoothly and cleanly. It’s pretty incredible, can you tell that we were impressed?

The stock and forend are custom quality American walnut, clean finished and classically checkered. The receiver and barrel feature highly polished bluing and the barrel comes standard with a beaded front and ventilated ribbing.

Think you’ll need accessories? You don’t have enough years left in your life to use all the available accessories for the 870. From every choke tube imaginable, barrel lengths and configurations, slug barrels, trab barrels, skeet, upland game, deer hunting – you name it, they’ve got it. If you’re looking at options for home defense or tactical use, Remington’s got them as well. From pistol grips to entire tactical retrofits, they’ve got plenty of accessories to choose from.

There’s a reason that the sixty year old Remington 870 Wingmaster is the best selling shotgun of all time – ten million units and counting. The long and short of this is simple: if you’re looking for the best pump-action shotgun, this is the one to get.

Ranked #1 of 7 in our Best Pump Shotgun Comparison

Remington 770 Review

The Remington Model 770 is the company’s latest foray into the first-time hunter rifle market. Following in the footsteps of Remington’s first budget rifle, the Model 710, the 770 comes as close to a right-out-of-the-box hunting tool as possible. The rifle is sold with a 3-9×40 scope already installed and bore sighted. In theory, all the buyer has to do is go out and fine-tune the point of aim a bit before trying for a deer. Some might say that the bore sighting can be trusted to be good enough, but in reality a little bit of diligence and practice never hurts.

This rifle has three locking lugs that engage into the barrel instead of the receiver. Having the lugs engage in the barrel is not a new idea at Remington; some of the company’s autoloaders have done this for a long time. The floating bolt head and pressed, rather than threaded, barrel make for some substantial departures from tradition.

The 770 and the 710 before it have taken a lot of lumps in print. We often see criticism that these rifles are not as smooth as other Remington rifles and that the 770 does not shoot as well as a 700 and other such gripes. Anyone who makes these kinds of complaints is probably forgetting that three or four 770’s can be had for the price of one custom 700. The 710 and the 770 are not meant to compete with more costly rifles; they are meant to fill just one role as a newbie hunter’s first rifle. This role is important in today’s marketplace. The only thing that keeps modern gun companies in business is continually widening their sales base — gun companies need new hunters to buy new rifles. This becomes even more important when one considers that rifles have gotten a whole lot more durable in the last 50 years. A guy really has to work at wearing out a new gun these days, which means that you either have to talk your buyers into buying multiple guns or make more gun buyers.

Folks looking for their first hunting rifle on a budget can have a lot of success with the used market these days. The greater longevity of the modern rifle translates into higher resale value. Even a well-used Remington 700 in the 770’s price class is hard to find. With an MSRP $373 guns like the 770 are tempting enough to get new hunters out in the field, and coupling the rifle with a bore-sighted scope means that a fellow can wake up in the morning a vegetarian and be a successful deer hunter by the time the sun sets. Rifles like the 770 might not be the prettiest smoke poles available, but they are what are going to keep Remington and a lot of other companies in business in the years to come. Not because they are great products, but because they make hunters out of non-hunters.

The only top score the 770 received in our ratings was in Scope Mounting. This gun comes with all the hardware already screwed on, which is very handy. The rest of the ratings, which hover at or close to average, are simply a result of the compromises necessary to produce a rifle in this price range.

Honorable Mention in our Best Budget Bolt Action Rifle Comparison