Well, I'm a newbie to the board and to the gun world (<3 years at age 40), but I must say in the short time I've been around I've found it quite amusing. Five pages of posts, almost exlusively opinions. Couple of people have said the 710 had acceptable accuracy, but nobody has said the thing had problems other than "looking ugly" or "cheap". Man, you guys are hard on a gun.

Oh, and yes, I bought my first rifle 2 months ago - a 710. Didn't like the stock on the comparable Savage. I also own 2 870 Express shotguns w/synthetic stocks, a 597, and an 870 Youth model. I've seen the 870 Express ripped left and right for being "cheap" and of "poor quality", but none of them have had a problem since we bought them. I don't expect any problems from my 710 either. There may be gold-plated screwdrivers in the world, but they won't get the job done any better than the one from Wal-Mart.

P.S. How does one become a "serious" hunter? I keep seeing this in just about every post related to inexpensive - cheap to some of you - rifles.