Description
t’s difficult to top perfection. And that’s what the Remington 870 is a whisker away from being.
Designed in 1950 and still in full-throttle production, the pump-action 12-gauge has nary a chink in its armor. It’s a twin action-bar monster with a milled-steel receiver heart. It gobbles up whatever it’s fed. It never complains. It competently accomplishes any task demanded, short of Afghanistan-range sniper shots. It just plain dominates.
It’s no wonder why more than 11 million have been built in its more than half a century of manufacture. That’s epic, more than any other shotgun. And one gets the feeling the venerable smoothbore is only just beginning to stretch its legs.
Carving its niche through near boredom-level performance, the Remington 870 has earned its spot in the pantheon of great American guns from its dependability. Well, sort of. There’s another angle to the shotgun’s success – its versatility. Originally conceived as a field gun, the 870 has far exceeded its original job description of tea kettling quail and mallards awing.
