Remington Archives – TopGunReview

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 700 Review

Based on several preceding designs by Remington, the 700 action is the final evolution of a concept that Remington began working with in 1948. What Remington wanted to create was a bolt-action rifle that would give the same reliability as existing models while minimizing the number of parts and machining processes. In the course of this development the 700 also turned out to be more accurate and safer than many existing models, so all the better.

In keeping with the maxim: if it ain’t broke, rename it and sell some more, Remington seems to enjoy giving its rifles different model designations. So far, it has produced the 721, 722, 600 and a few others that are all essentially the 700 action all shooters associate with Remington. As silly as it may sound, it is hard to argue a model that has been working well for over sixty years.

The 700 and its associates all have dual-opposed locking lugs with rotating extractors and are all push feed actions — the first successful ones, actually. This design allows for a fully enclosed bolt face that surrounds the cartridge head when chambered. Originally considered a great safety feature (case head breaches that would turn a modern shooter pale were still a matter of course in the 1940’s), presently the enclosed bolt serves to greatly increase the 700’s strength while allowing it to keep a slim profile. Remington’s “Three Rings of Steel” ad campaign touts this and it really isn’t bull fertilizer – you can get away with things on a Remington 700 action that you likely wouldn’t walk away from with any other rifle.

In the course of its career the 700 has found great favor with sportsmen and target shooters and various branches of our military use slightly modified versions of it as their sniper rifles. There are currently many millions of 700 action-based rifles in circulation and Remington offers a great selection of current production models suited to almost any use. It is hard to imagine anything that will ever cause Remington to cease production of the 700.

The 700 lost a point in the category of Feeding/Extraction because its extractor is considered by some a bit substandard when compared to the rest of the action. The extractor sits inside the enclosed bolt face (many actions compared here are said to have enclosed bolt faces but the 700 is the only one with a completely enclosed bolt face). This gives the action added strength but occasionally proves insufficient for gripping the case head. Most of the time it works great, but it should be borne in mind — especially if something like a dangerous game rifle is a consideration. Two points were also deducted in the category of Versatility because the 700’s design does not necessarily lend itself to conversion to straight-walled cartridges or conversion to cartridges with different head sizes. This is of little to no concern to most shooters, but the prospective buyer should be aware of it going in.

Ranked #4 of 7 in our Best Bolt Action Rifle Comparison