Remington 870 MODELS

[Franco]

I looked at the Remington 870 and I see all kinds and a very varied price range.
 
Can anyyone tell me the differences between:
 
870 Express
870 SPS
870 Wingmaster
 
 
I see some 870s have super magnum after their model, is all that indicates that it shoots 3 1/2 shells?

[WillowRidgeCalls]

The 870 Express is the basic 2.75 and 3" gun. Matt finish with 3 chokes
The 870 SPS are their special purpose guns, deer, turkey, tactical guns they usally have a different styles of stocks on them.
The Wingmaster is the top of the line gun, fancy wood stock, high gloss blued barrels.

The super mags are their 3-1/2" guns.

[Ruttinbull]

I now own five 870's and love them all! I have often joked that any kid born in Klamath County is issued an 870 at birth.

The Wingmaster is a very nice gun. It has nice wood, nice metal, and is just very nice. This is the one I was issued at birth and mine is now about 40 years old. This gun just seems to hit nearly everything that I aim at.

I also have a magnum that also has very nice wood and is "wingmaster-like." This gun is about 25 years old and is the one that I have used to kill about 85% of my turkeys.

I have an 20 gauge 870 youth express and have watched my little girls nock the snot out of several turkeys with it. I have also used it a time or two to kill turkeys.

I also have an 20 gauge 870 express and last year was its first trip to the field with my family. I bought it used off of Gunbroker.com. The joker that had it before tried to do some wood work and did a poor job. The turkeys did not notice.

I just bought an 870 express supermag (very nearly new) for $200. No my friends, it is not stolen. Originally I was going to re-sell for a profit but have since decided to keep it. I plan on making it my turkey special. I just installed the truglo gobble dot sights and am currently looking for the "perfect" choke tube for it. This is a little backwards.... but oh well. Currently I am favoring the ssx tube but I am also looking at others.

So with my lifelong history with 870's what are my thoughts???? The 870 is a very good gun with a lot of history. The downside is that I believe Remington cheapened it up by offering the express model. Cheap wood with rough "off the line" type of workmanship. The express is still a good gun... I just wished they had kept their standards up.

[Longbeards]

I have two setups I use to shoot those butterballs. The first one is my 835 ulti mag (aka "The Terminator"). The second one is my 870 super mag (aka "The Devastator"). I bought my 870 new in the box for $200. I have a slug barrel for deer during deer season and I change barrels to use it during turkey season. I did a few modifications to it. I put a shur shot pistol grip stock and forend on it. I use a jellyhead choke and pair it with a Nitro H517 4x5x7. To me, my 870 combo is amazing but, to a gobbler it is a nightmare out to 40+ yards. I don't think twice about shooting one in the face with a 3.5 inch Nitro at 50 yards if he hangs up. I put two pics in of my 870.

[BigBuckeye]

I just bought a 20ga 870 Express combo this past season.  I used it for deer hunting with a red/green dot scope.  I can reach out and touch a turkey that is hung up 200yds away from me with the slug barrel [;)]
 
I haven't thought of using it for turkeys but perhaps I should, it is about 3lbs lighter than my Stoeger 12ga.  That makes a big difference when you are walking for miles.
 
Thanks for the tips on the weapon set up Longbeards.  I will try to duplicate it and put it up against my Stoeger and see if I can get close to the performance with it.

[Longbeards]

Hi BigBuckeye. I have heard that some states allow turkeys to be hunted with rifles but, wow, I didn't know that a turkey could be taken with a slug. Do alot of folks hunt for turkeys with slugs? I have hunted open fields and glassed turkeys at long distances but, in bama we are restricted to standard No. 2 shot or smaller and no rifle or shotgun using buckshot or slugs. I guess there is an upside to using slugs, there would be no mistake in whether or not he was hit at 200 yards, or actually any distance. Boom and then Poof. Thanks.

[Ruttinbull]

I have a feelin' he was joshin ya a little.