Remington 870
Remington 870 Marine Magnum
Type	Shotgun
Place of origin	United States
Service history
Used by	United States, Israel, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Switzerland, Indonesia, Malaysia
Production history
Manufacturer	Remington Arms
Specifications
Mass	Template:Lb to kg
Length	Template:In to mm
Barrel length	Template:In to mm
Cartridge	12 gauge, 16 gauge, 20 gauge, 28 gauge, and .410 bore
Action	pump-action
Feed system	4 round internal tube magazine specifications for 28", 12 ga Wingmaster

The Remington Model 870 is a U.S.-made pump-action shotgun. It is widely used by the public for target shooting, hunting, and self-defense. It is also commonly used by US law enforcement agencies as well as military groups such as Special Operations Command units of the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Army Rangers and the U.S. Navy SEALs.

Development

The Remington 870 was the fourth major design in a series of Remington pump shotguns. John Pedersen designed the fragile Model 10 (and later the improved model 29). Working with John Browning, Pedersen also helped design the Model 17^[1] which was adopted by Ithaca as the Ithaca 37 and also served as the basis for the Remington 31. The Model 31 was an excellent shotgun, but struggled for sales in the shadow of the Winchester Model 12. Remington sought to correct that by introducing in 1950 a modern, streamlined, rugged, reliable, and relatively inexpensive shotgun, the 870 Wingmaster.

Sales of the 870 have been steady. They reached 2 million guns by 1973 (ten times the number of Model 31 shotguns it replaced). By 1996, spurred by the basic "Express" model, sales topped seven million guns. The 870 holds the record for best-selling pump gun in U.S. history.^[2]

Design details

The 870 features a bottom-loading, side ejecting receiver, tubular magazine under the barrel, dual action bars, internal hammer, and a bolt which locks into an extension in the barrel. The action, receiver, trigger system, safety catch and slide release catch of the Remington Model 870 shotgun are similar to those used on the Remington Model 7600 series pump-action centrefire rifles and carbines. 20 gauge stocks will also interchange. Several parts of the 870 will interchange with the semi-automatic Remington model 1100 and 11-87. The main competitor of the Remington 870 is the Mossberg 500.

Variants

There are hundreds of variations of the Remington 870. From the original fifteen models offered, Remington currently produces dozens of models for civilian, law enforcement, and military sales. 870 variants can be grouped into:

• Wingmaster– Polished bluing and glossy wood finishes set off by a 14k Gold trigger in an Aluminum trigger group.
• Express – Inexpensive bead blasted finish and satin wood or synthetic furniture. Incorporates cheaply-made cast and Metal Injection Molded (MIM) parts, a plastic trigger group an an internal locking mechanism (Remington's J-Lock Internal Safety System/ISS). Due to the fact that these shotguns were specifically created to be bargain priced in order to compete with companies like Mossberg, there is little human involvement/quality control in the process of making the Express, sometimes leaving burrs/marring in the receiver. Also, because the Express is not intended for hard use and the rigors of military and police work, the internal spring set is lighter and it is only chambered for the 2.75" variant of the 12 Gauge round. The Express Magnum version will accept 3" shells, however, and the Express Super Magnum will accept 3 1/2" shells. In order to use less expensive magazine springs, the Express series also has a pair of dimple in the magazine tube, which hold it in place, but which also make it more difficult to expand the magazine size beyond 4 rounds. The user must file down the two dimples with a dremel tool, and then get a new magazine spring, before adding a magazine extension is possible. Starting in 2007 the Express will no longer feature the J-Lock ISS.
• Marine – synthetic stocks and nickel finishes. Based on the Express platform but with a factory-installed magazine extension and a 3" Magnum chambering.
• Tactical - numerous versions and options intended for military and police markets. Based on the Express platform but with a factory magazine extension and a 3" Magnum chambering.
• Police Magnum (870P) – high luster blued or parkerized finish and satin wood or synthetic stocks. The original, and also the most expensive, Remington 870 Variant, this shotgun is designed for law enforcement and military use (though it is still perfectly legal to own as a civillian in the United States). It has many variants with different choices in furniture, sights, magazine capacity and more. This shotgun goes through 23 individual quality control checkpoints and a lengthy test-fire process to ensure that everything works as it should. This variant has no MIM, cast or plastic parts, everything is forged or milled. It features a heavy-duty spring set, all-metal construction, and optional extras such as ghost-ring or rifle sights, pistol grip stocks, breaching devices, weaponlights, sidesaddles, cases and slings. An entire Remington plant is devoted to making the 870 Police Magnum. Starting in 2008 the 870P will feature a high quality polymer trigger guard to prevent bending that occured in rare cases with the older Aluminum guard. The rest of the trigger group will still be metal.

See also

• Norinco HP9-1, Remington 870 derivative.
• List of individual weapons of the U.S. Armed Forces (Shotguns)
• KAC Masterkey

References

External links

• Remington page for 870
• Remington page for 870 Tactical
• Remington Military MCS page
• Photos and specifications for Remington shotguns
• Modern Firearms
• Nazarian`s Gun`s Recognition Guide On Remington 870
• [1] Important differences between Remington 870 Police and 870 Express shotguns