Well,
Othershave their opinions, which make sense and I respect, and I have mine. I personally wouldn't buy a gun that isn't capable of shooting everything - (2 3/4 ; 3 ; 3 1/2). You just never know what you're gonna be using in the future. Have you ever had cripples down and a buddy handed you a shell real quick? What if it's a 3 1/2? My circle of friends may be the only ones who do that, so maybe that doesn't make much sense to people.

I also like shooting high speed loads - I shoot KentFassteel3 1/2" 1 1/4oz. #1's. They load you up on way too much powder - those loads area sinto be that dirty, but they leave the gun like a bat out of hell and put down ducksAND geese with the quickness - I shoot an 870 so I don't care how dirty they are. They're just what I'm comfortable with and I'm ok with thembeing 3 1/2.

By the way, Ijust looked up a 3.5" 1187 online andI think you bettercheck that price you found - they're$900+ from what I've seen.
http://www.impactguns.com/store/rem_1187.html