Remington 870

HEAD0001 · 01-17-2009, 12:20 AM

I am going to buy a new shotgun. I have not done a lot of shotgun hunting in my life, but I want to buy a new shotgun for the upcoming seasons.

I am looking at the Remington 870 Express Shur Shot Synthetic Turkey. The shotgun is a 12 gauge, with a 21 inch barrel. It shoots 2-3/4 and 3 inch magnum. It does not shoot 3-1/2 inch shells.

IMO the 870 is hard to beat for a reasonable price for a beat around shotgun. What do you guys think??

I will be doing some predator hunting, crow hunting, and turkey hunting. Do you guys think I need the ability to shoot 3-1/2 inch shells??

I really like the Thumbhole design of this Remington. When I saw one on the net, I just figured I had to have one??

I have to do all my hunting off of my Kawasaki Mule. So I thought the 21" barrel would be nice to keep from clanging on the steel tubing cage around the Mule?? I do not think the shorter barrel should hamper the performance that much?? Will it??

Any body have one?? Tom.

mauser06 · 01-17-2009, 04:04 AM

i dont have that particular 870, but i have an 870 express mag turkey....the one with the 21" barrel and 3" mag....

i love it...it patterns awesome with an undertaker hevishot choke tube...every turkey load i threw through it was devistating...hevishot had the edge and is a THUMPER....

for predators i been carrying it with federal flight control copper plated #4s (fox hunting) only got to shoot 1....a big red at about 20yds...i clobbered it dead square in the head....i didnt think it was possible to fill something with so many pellets...rolled the fox dead....

i love the 21" barrel...i do ALOT of walking when i turkey hunt...a small, light shotgun makes life much easier IMO....as well as sitting there with it on my knee for what seems like ever waitin for that big tom to give me the green light....

heck, ive even busted grouse and doves with it....not the ideal wing gun, with the short barrel(i perfer 28"+ for wingshooting, but hate my mossberg...stock is too thick at the wrist for me and stock is long and dont swing for me...so i started carrying my turkey gun lol...mod choke of course...

i dont know about that stock for wingshooting on the one your looking at, but for turkeys and predators, id LOVE it...i broke my wrists(both lol) and had air casts and like a typical kid i didnt wear them very long...long story short i cant move my wrists side to side very much and cant hold a gunstock forever like i used to.....so im converting it sooner or later.....

Centaur 1 · 01-17-2009, 05:12 AM

I'm going to buy one myself before turkey season opens. I want to get the wood stock instead of the camo if I can get it, the guy at BPS said that they don't carry the wood stock that it'll have to be ordered. I'm still trying to talk myself into the camo one but I don't own anything but wood and the synthetic stock just doesn't feel right.
Mauser, why don't you like it for wingshooting?

gmil6184 · 01-17-2009, 06:01 AM

hey Centaur, for a wood stock check out Boyd's gunstocks. They make beautiful laminated wood, thumbhole stocks for the 870. The cheapest place to get them is through cabelas, I want to get one for my 870 before this turkey season.

HEAD0001 · 01-17-2009, 11:15 AM

What I liked the best about the New Remington shotgun is that the stock is ambidextrous. I am left handed. I did not see where they offered one in wood that you could shoot LH. I will take a look at the Boyd's before I buy one. Tom.

Hurricanespg · 01-17-2009, 01:34 PM

That particular gun is just the regular 870 with a shur shot stock on it, so yes you will get good patterns out of it for turkey hunting provided you find the right choke/load combo for it. If you already have an 870 just buy the stock and put it on it.
Personally, being left handed I would buy a left handed 870 and then put that stock on it, but that is just me.
I have never had a "need" for 3.5" shells, but I have used them on occassion.
You should have no problems getting a good pattern out of its 21" barrel.

Dozen Arrows · 01-18-2009, 02:11 PM

I will be getting the 870 Express with the thumb hole stock also. I felt one in my hands and I am convinced that I don't need any other shotgun, especially after my experience with the traditional one that I already do have. I already have the combo barrels so I will be getting a cantelever rifle barrel only for my thumb hole 870. That way I can just swap it out with the shotgun barrel that I already do have with the other.

B.B.A. · 01-19-2009, 02:19 AM

I have used/abused both remington 870's and winchester 1300's. I must say that I like the winchester 1300 better. Currently using one 1300 turkey with cammo laminated stock and a winchester defender with hogue stock. If you can find a 1300 buy it instead of a 870...

Pawildman · 01-19-2009, 05:04 AM

Tom.....Nothing wrong with an 870. Very dependable gun. I've got a 1300 Win. NWTF Commemorative that I use for (naturally) turkey. Love the short barrel. Laminated stock. Shoots 2 3/4" or 3" shells. The 3" are about all I want to tolerate out of it, and I do afair amountof big gun benchrest work. I can't even imagine a 3 1/2" in a gun like that. Just don't know how I managed to kill the turkeys I did years ago with the old 2 3/4" shells...

... Just seems like everyone needs a howitzer to kill anything anymore...
Bottom line, I think you'll be happy with that choice, but as another poster mentioned, I'm not too sure how you're gonna like that thumbhole for fast wingshots...???.... Don.

bronko22000 · 01-19-2009, 05:27 AM

IMO the 3 1/2" shells will give you a few more yards 'killability' - all other things being equal, simply because of its higher payload of shot. But for turkey and with the right choke and load combo as previously posted, you should not be at any handicap at all with the 3". People, including myself, have been killing turkeys for years with 2 3/4" #6s or #4s. And the 870 is hard to beat. I have 3 of them. One in 12 ga and 2 in 20 ga youth. (Lately I've been using the 20 ga youth myself for turkeys and it works just fine and its like carrying a toy.)