The business end of the 870. For home defense, a high-base load of 12-gauge,
2-3/4″ No. 4, 5 or 6 birdshot is devastating to the recipient and less penetrative
of ordinary sheetrock walls.
The shotgun is deeply woven into American firearms traditions often being used by civilians as a hunting and gathering device and, if required, it crossed over into a personal defense tool as well. No segment of our society has warmed up to and used the shotgun as well or as often as the American police and no shotgun as been more accepted by law enforcement officers than the Remington 870.
Introduced in 1950 to directly compete against the Winchester Model 12, the Remington 870 has become the best selling shotgun in American history with sales numbers racked up in excess of 7 million shotguns for both the LE and civilian markets!
The Remington 870 in its plainest dress is just fine. The only criticism
here is the magazine holds only four rounds. Plenty of fixes are available.
Why A Pump Gun?
I own two 870s with the new one being 25 years old and the old one 30 years of age, and they have never given me a bit of trouble other than I split the stock on the old gun not long ago so—up front—I like the 870. Cutting to the chase, the 870 is arguably more dependable than many of the other shotguns in the marketplace be they semi-auto of gas or recoil operation or pump actions of a different maker. The twin-action bars and smooth action make the 870 just about as dependable as the next sunrise.
There is a subtle clue here by looking at what platform the custom makers nationwide generally use as the basis for their shotguns. No brainer here, these guys take an already good gun—the 870—and then modify it to what they think a fighting shotgun should be. Maybe the only problem here is often some of these builders have never used a shotgun in a fight, so there is a tendency get a butt load of stuff stuck on the gun probably not needed other than to fulfill a marketing ploy.
The Rifle Shotgun?
Rifled sights are great for slug shooting and I recall as a young man working at API with Mr. Jeff Cooper who was a staunch believer of the shotgun being used with slugs (I would suppose because of his strong foundation in rifle marksmanship). The slug, of course, allows for a single projectile of rather large dimension to be placed on the target by a competent shooter.
Slugs historically have not been all that much fun to shoot, but with the advent of the reduced recoil tactical slug, an average human can shoot the shotgun pretty well and pretty often with the single ball load. Because of the 870’s rapid barrel change, the ability to shoot slugs with a barrel if required is a breeze. And as they have for many years Remington has a broad spectrum of shotgun barrels and guns specifically designed to shoot slugs for hunting, defense or law enforcement (if you need or want a specialized shotgun).
The XS sight (above) attaches right over the standard bead if a larger sight is required. Although ghost-ring sights are popular now (and necessary for precision shooting outdoors) most of us are ably served by a bead sight in home-defense situations.
Need A Bead?
Although there is considerable whining from the tactical side of the house when this conversation comes up, the average Joe or Jane homeowner would probably do pretty well in a personal defense mode with a regular old-style bead sight. Based on the fact many of you—and me—aren’t shooting many of the rifled slugs to start with (if any at all) the bead may be workable.
In a parallel vein, much of the current buckshot offered is too heavy to shoot inside your sheetrock house because of possible or potential over penetration issues. As mentioned, the advent of the reduced load ammunition makes the buckshot loads more manageable and maybe in reality a good No. 4, 5 or 6 shot load would rank pretty well centered up on the knothead home invader when delivered down the length of a hallway in the average home.
The TacStar (below) is the best way to mount extra ammo on the 870 and rim up is the best way to keep the shells in the saddle under recoil.
Really Needed?
Just going through a short list—and with the 870 it is a short list—the gun needs to be reliable, which the 870 is. The stock length of pull needs to fit the shooter and if there is a question, a short stock is easier for everyone to shoot than a long one, with youth models and their shorter stocks sometimes being helpful in this area. The shotgun has a limited ammunition capacity so a couple of points spin off of this being the need or requirement to have spare ammunition mounted on the gun.
Magazine extension tubes are OK I guess, but the upfront weight arguably can affect gun-handling characteristics especially inside compressed areas like the home. My personal preference for the solution is the side-mounted TacStar side saddle available just about everywhere. A white light would be very helpful for home defense and extensive research needs to be done to find the correct affordable solution for each shotgun owner.
What To Practice
With the 870, the limited magazine capacity requires the main focus in gun handling beyond safety be the loading or reloading of the gun. This is not a panic button issue, it simply needs to be strongly enforced in your training regimen. While pumping the gun, which is required after each shot fired, be sure to keep the support or pumping elbow under the gun to reduce action bar drag. That helps promote smooth operation while firing.
What’s Wrong?
In reality, the 870 does in fact have a limited ammunition capacity. As it comes from the factory in its standard 4-shot magazine configuration, the ammunition point winds up being about the only criticism one could make, which of course is quickly cured by the addition of the mag extension. Barrel length, chokes or sights are all moot points as the Remington quick barrel change capability cures all of those points.
What’s Right?
To start with the 870 has been with us 58 years, and it has stood the test of time very well. The 870 shotgun is reliable… period. I understand and have shot some of the new age polymer high-capacity black recoil and gas guns and in fairness, they have their place.
That said, I still have my 870s, the young one 25 years old, the old one 30 years old and I plan on staying with them. They have worked for me for over three decades and I can find no reason to change.
