You do need to be man enough to haul around a 11-12 pound gun though.Īll new 500's and all 870 express models have 3" chamers, they never made 3 1/2". You get sizable improvement in 10 gauge, and you get it in a gun that you can shoot without wincing. Once I tried 10 gauge, I never went back. You don't want to be lighting off 3 1/2" mags in a gun that light anyway. You get needed volume with steel shot, but for everything else, the 3" fits everything and then some. I played around with 12 gauge 3 1/2" shells for years.
I can't speak for the old guns, but new barrels are fully rifled back to front, or should be. Jerry Miculek never managed to wear out his 500, and he has been running it like a mad man for 30 years. They're pump action shotguns, what's going to wear out? There are all kinds of old 500's out there. I don't know what is loud about a 500, I've hunted with both, and if anything the 870 safety is louder.Īs far as 870 longer lived, that's just plain bull. They don't lock up, and they run like greased lightning once broke in. JeepHammer has had better luck than me, but I find 500's run much smoother. It could be a burr, or some other manufacturing reminant.īoth Mossberg and Remington's come fairly stiff new. It's a quirk of far too many 870 express's. You almost have to push forward before pulling back.
You shoot and pump, but the gun is locked. The other problems I've seen are live shells ejecting out the bottom, and the gun locking closed for a second. I can't remember the number I've seen over the years, but far too many have failed. That said, my personal experiences have not been good with the 870. Mossberg put the safety where it was supposed to be.Īs for reliability, both speak for themselves. It's hard to reach right handed, and just plain sucks for the left handed. With the 870, you are completely out of commission, and you need to disassemble the gun to fix it. If you don't get a shell clicked in the mag tube, it can pop out. The 870 has a few things going against it. I never used one in combat, but when you compare a plain mossberg 500 to a remington 870 express, I'll take the 500.
I'm strongly in favor of the Mossberg 500.
#887 nitro mag slug barrel full#
I should add that use is for "plinking" (general blasting stuff and targets) and bear protection so relatively short (18" to 20" barrel and full stock) and open sights being the preferred choices. I am in Canada so somewhat more limited options than most Americans. So, pros? Cons? Who's got experience here?Īlso, other brand options that are competitive? It seems both Remington and Mossberg offer good quality at a better price than most others. I am guessing 2 3/4" hulls in 3 1/2" chamber is not a good way to find accuracy and even 3" hulls leave a large gap to the bore as well but the option is there anyway. Can anyone offer advice on whether 3 1/2" is a good choice? Never shot one and mostly load 2 3/4" slug loads but if 3 1/2" hulls are readily available then some filler wads more or less take care of extra space. I've read pros and cons on each and feel like it is a fairly even match so likely best price wins between the two and it may be a combo option where I think Mossberg wins.īoth are offered in 3 1/2" as well. Looking at the usual options being Remington 870 and Mossberg 500.