SHOTGUNS: Remington 870 vs Mossberg?

[Enthusiast]

OK from the research I have conducted (I'm still a newb without a gun!) I am pretty much settled on everything remington. I showed my preferred shotgun to my coworker and he said "why remington? all the police and military forces use mossberg's". That got me to thinking. I know the 870 is a solid shotty from the reviews I have read, but what's with this mossberg thing? I've gotten the impression that they are more of an entry level gun, their prices are cheaper, but the just don't offer the features of a remington. Anyone's thoughts on this?

Also, for those who do own an 870, what are your thoughts on slugs running through the full choke? Anyone experienced with this as well? I basically want a good, light, quick to aim tactical shotgun for bear defense while i'm hunting. BTW here is a link to the exact shotty I'm looking at:
http://ca.wholesalesports.com/storefront/firearms/pump-action-shotguns/model-870-express-synthetic-tactical/prod262296.html
(I want to know if this is a good one for slugs)

Thanks in advance for your responses.

[madrona sh]

I have the mossberg maveric 88 and it is one great shotgun. Affordable and works flawlessly. Mind you I do not know a lot about shotguns and mine is used for bears and deer.

[fowlweather]

no offence to mossberg owners, but i grew up hearing that mossbergs are of less quality, now that may not be the case today but the military uses remington, so think about that one. i am a remington fan, worth every cent

[Singleshotneeded]

Enthusiast, I've owned a remington 870 12 gauge since the late 80s, fired thousands of shells through it, and
it's never failed to cycle and fire flawlessly! Once I was after some grouse and dropped it in dirt, blew most of it off,
and then pumped it twice to kill two more grouse. You could feel the grit but it still went bang! :-) Mossberg has
a decent product, but the reason the leo-military complex uses them is they under-bid Remington and got the
government orders...Remington wasn't interested in selling at basically cost as the 870 sells fine just with sales to
hunters. The 870 is the best pump action shotgun available for a reasonable price, and will never let you down.
You can fire Foster slugs through a full choke, but it's not recommended. It puts stress on the barrel and choke
threads and the slug isn't as accurate as it would be if you used an open to modified choke. Get the 870!

[gREEn7o0]

I went with remington over mossberg.. American forces use mossberg, Canadian use remington 870P IIRC. And almost every police shotgun (in Can and USA) I have seen was a rem870P..... Steel vs Aluminum alloy receiver was the deciding factor for me.. I like steel...

[Iron Sighted]

Enthusiast, I've owned a remington 870 12 gauge since the late 80s, fired thousands of shells through it, and
it's never failed to cycle and fire flawlessly! Once I was after some grouse and dropped it in dirt, blew most of it off,
and then pumped it twice to kill two more grouse. You could feel the grit but it still went bang! :-) Mossberg has
a decent product, but the reason the leo-military complex uses them is they under-bid Remington and got the
government orders...Remington wasn't interested in selling at basically cost as the 870 sells fine just with sales to
hunters. The 870 is the best pump action shotgun available for a reasonable price, and will never let you down.
You can fire Foster slugs through a full choke, but it's not recommended. It puts stress on the barrel and choke
threads and the slug isn't as accurate as it would be if you used an open to modified choke. Get the 870!


^^^Further to what he said about the chokes, improved cylinder is supposed to be the best to fire slugs through(gives the best accuracy, better than a cylinder bore apparently).

[Enthusiast]

thanks all! I feel I have decided on yet another remington (my other one i'm looking at is the 700 VTR bolt action). in about a month's time I will be the happy owner of 2 new remingtons and making my first steps as a hunter! I'm going to have to see if I can get that shotty I linked in a modified choke. Thanks for your advice!

[Barracuda]

good choice . The shotgun you posted has remchoke interchangeable chokes so you good to go for doing most anything .

http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/shotguns/model-870/model-870-express-tactical.aspx

[Enthusiast]

interchangeable chokes? wow.. ok this is new to me! so how exactly does that work? The choke is at the end of the barrel right? is that what the muzzle break is? lol sorry.. I'm still new to this stuff.. and haven't really done a whole lot of research on shotties. So with the choke, does the gun come with different barrels? Or is it some kind of insert, like a piece of metal at the end.. I'm really unclear about how the choke system works on this gun. I'm thinking that one day when I'm up for it and have fallen a few deers (with my rem 700 VTR mind u) I might just start shooting for duck. Will the short barrel on this gun facilitate good shot patterns for bird hunting? I'm assuming that with interchangeable chokes that the more closed off chokes makes the gun good for bird hunting?

[bearhunter338-06]

The chock in a shotgun constricts the shot as it comes out the end of the barrel the tighter the constriction the tighter the shot pattern at say 40 yards. The less constriction the larger the pattern.

Full being the tightest
Modified next
improved cylinder
and cylinder no restriction

with choke tubes you can change the chokes. the barrels are threaded at the muzzle so you can change the choke inserts

[helios]

I'm a new hunter too (first season for me) and I hunt only birds at the moment. First hunt out with my Rem 870 12g, I bagged my limit of geese. My accuracy left a lot to be desired, but the gun worked like a champ. I bought it from another forum member here this summer.

[Singleshotneeded]

For waterfowl, a 26-28" barrel is best. At the end of the Remington shotgun barrel are threads, allowing you
to use a special choke tube wrench to change the cylindrical chokes that screw onto those threads. You can
buy an extra full turkey choke for tight patterns at 40 yards, full choke for flying geese, modified choke for shooting
geese/ducks coming into your decoys...or longer shots on snowshoe hares and grouse, improved cylinder for close
shots on anything or slugs, and skeet/open cylinder for really close shots, slugs, or skeet shooting. Your shotgun
will come with one choke tube screwed into the end of the barrel, and you can buy others as you need them.