Remington 870 Police

[Hans Reiker]

So I have it pretty set that I'm buying a Remington 870 Police, I think it's a good choice, does anyone have any expirence with this firearm?  

[ArmasTermin]

We talked pretty extensively over the Remington 870 and Mossberg 590 in my thread "Advise Me, Friends". But Remington 870s are all pretty good, well-made shotguns that will outlive you. The police have used them for, what, 40 years? And they still do.  

[Requiem ex Inferni]

I don't think it would be the best-selling shotgun ever made if it was a piece of s**t.  

[Man of the Demoneye]

The 870 wingmaster I have is older than me and so far no problems.  

[uryu ishida]

Police>Wingmaster.

It might be a bit rougher, being used by the police (well, if you don't find a nicer specimen), but it'll be well worth it. The Police models used several thicker pieces for the internals. Shell stop, interrupter, and ejector if I remember correctly.

Be careful putting it back together. A new thread on THR reminded me of a problem with the "pu8sh everything in the front" method it uses. A user's 870 got locked open solid when the bolt got pushed all the way to the rear of the receiver when he tried to push the pump back in, and now it's stuck there. Same thing happened to my friend Ken on the range with his Express. That's why I like visibly lining everything up from the bottom with my M500.



And above model... MAKE SURE IT FITS. Fit is EVERYTHING. In a shotgun, fit is GOD. Make sure it fits PERFECTLY, or as close as you can physically get it, and then shoot it until you're up to your tits in hulls. THEN you can think about anything else.  

[Hans Reiker]

Thank you you the input, now I just have to wait for Monday to come around so I can place the order.  

[Fresnel]

The only gripe I have with the 870 Police is that it has a bead sight. Ghost rings are a hundred times better. Even a vent rib is better than a bead.  

[uryu ishida]

Fresnel

The only gripe I have with the 870 Police is that it has a bead sight. Ghost rings are a hundred times better. Even a vent rib is better than a bead.

Remember the main use of a shotgun, and HOW it is used. "You don't aim a shotgun, you point it--that's why fit is important. You focus on your target, the the gun lines up with your focus. Pull the trigger, bang." Is what I was told. For how you would usually use a shotgun, a bead is perfectly fine. If you plan on ONLY using slugs, more accurate sights will come into play then. If beads sucked so much, they would have replaced them long ago as the standard.  

[Fresnel]

uryu ishida

Fresnel

The only gripe I have with the 870 Police is that it has a bead sight. Ghost rings are a hundred times better. Even a vent rib is better than a bead.

Remember the main use of a shotgun, and HOW it is used. "You don't aim a shotgun, you point it--that's why fit is important. You focus on your target, the the gun lines up with your focus. Pull the trigger, bang." Is what I was told. For how you would usually use a shotgun, a bead is perfectly fine. If you plan on ONLY using slugs, more accurate sights will come into play then. If beads sucked so much, they would have replaced them long ago as the standard.

The bead is like the guttersnipe sight. It's sufficient for the job at hand, but it could easily be much, much better. Essentially, the bead only gives you a front sight. That's okay if you put your eye in EXACTLY the same spot every time you shoulder the gun, but nobody ever does, so accuracy suffers. It works at very close ranges, but once you push past average self-defense ranges, other options would suit you better.

And if you'll notice, vent rib + bead is the standard for hunting guns nowadays. Some even have a midway bead. That essentially gives you a very long guttersnipe sight and two alignment beads in the middle of it. It's not a bad system, really.

ETA: Ooh, Remington just rebuilt their website. I LIKE IT.  

[ArmasTermin]

I got in today a white bead sight from Midway USA to go on my Mossy 500 when it comes in (just one more day!). I think I'll apply a little glow-in-the-dark paint (which I ordered recently) once I have it mounted. I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with bead sights for use with buckshot. Skeet shooters use them, and they'rs shooting stuff going (#) miles and hour (#) feet in the air. Ghost rings would be really useful for slugs, but I don't intend to shoot a lot of slugs, so I forgoed the extra expense. Plus they require a higher line of sight and are more prone to breakage.

Simple can be good.

If you're shooting single projectiles that should impact right where the sight is put, it's important to have accurate sights. But if your point of impact will be 9-20 different places, the shot pattern should land a few inches left, right, above, and below that bead. Seems perfectly fine to me. Of course this coming from someone whose never even fired a shotgun once, so take everything I've said with the value of the period at the end of this sentence



See what I did there?  

[Fresnel]

ArmasTermin

I got in today a white bead sight from Midway USA to go on my Mossy 500 when it comes in (just one more day!). I think I'll apply a little glow-in-the-dark paint (which I ordered recently) once I have it mounted. I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with bead sights for use with buckshot. Skeet shooters use them, and they'rs shooting stuff going (#) miles and hour (#) feet in the air. Ghost rings would be really useful for slugs, but I don't intend to shoot a lot of slugs, so I forgoed the extra expense. Plus they require a higher line of sight and are more prone to breakage.

Simple can be good.

If you're shooting single projectiles that should impact right where the sight is put, it's important to have accurate sights. But if your point of impact will be 9-20 different places, the shot pattern should land a few inches left, right, above, and below that bead. Seems perfectly fine to me. Of course this coming from someone whose never even fired a shotgun once, so take everything I've said with the value of the period at the end of this sentence



See what I did there?

Skeet shooters usually use a vent rib, too. I've got nothing against the vent rail with a bead on the end. It's perfectly adequate for most uses. The thing is, the 870 Police has a bead on the end of a bare barrel. You've got literally nothing else to work with, except maybe some texture grooves on the action, IDK. I'm not saying ghost rings are the only way to go, I'm just saying I'd never buy a bare bead and expect to leave it that way.

I read an article on the 870 vs the M4 for energy delivery over distance... The two guys were given a stock 870 Police and a stock M4, to see how they stacked up on the base models. The shotgunner was screwing the pooch past 50 yards, largely because he wasn't hitting the target most times. When they tried it again with their own, heavily customized weapons (he had some kind of holosight on his 1100; big bucks), he put every round on-target and almost outclassed the M4 at 100 yards.  

[Hans Reiker]

Fresnel

ArmasTermin

I got in today a white bead sight from Midway USA to go on my Mossy 500 when it comes in (just one more day!). I think I'll apply a little glow-in-the-dark paint (which I ordered recently) once I have it mounted. I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with bead sights for use with buckshot. Skeet shooters use them, and they'rs shooting stuff going (#) miles and hour (#) feet in the air. Ghost rings would be really useful for slugs, but I don't intend to shoot a lot of slugs, so I forgoed the extra expense. Plus they require a higher line of sight and are more prone to breakage.

Simple can be good.

If you're shooting single projectiles that should impact right where the sight is put, it's important to have accurate sights. But if your point of impact will be 9-20 different places, the shot pattern should land a few inches left, right, above, and below that bead. Seems perfectly fine to me. Of course this coming from someone whose never even fired a shotgun once, so take everything I've said with the value of the period at the end of this sentence



See what I did there?

Skeet shooters usually use a vent rib, too. I've got nothing against the vent rail with a bead on the end. It's perfectly adequate for most uses. The thing is, the 870 Police has a bead on the end of a bare barrel. You've got literally nothing else to work with, except maybe some texture grooves on the action, IDK. I'm not saying ghost rings are the only way to go, I'm just saying I'd never buy a bare bead and expect to leave it that way.

I read an article on the 870 vs the M4 for energy delivery over distance... The two guys were given a stock 870 Police and a stock M4, to see how they stacked up on the base models. The shotgunner was screwing the pooch past 50 yards, largely because he wasn't hitting the target most times. When they tried it again with their own, heavily customized weapons (he had some kind of holosight on his 1100; big bucks), he put every round on-target and almost outclassed the M4 at 100 yards.

You can order the 870P with rifle sights if you really wanted too.  

[Fresnel]

Hans Reiker

Fresnel

ArmasTermin

I got in today a white bead sight from Midway USA to go on my Mossy 500 when it comes in (just one more day!). I think I'll apply a little glow-in-the-dark paint (which I ordered recently) once I have it mounted. I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with bead sights for use with buckshot. Skeet shooters use them, and they'rs shooting stuff going (#) miles and hour (#) feet in the air. Ghost rings would be really useful for slugs, but I don't intend to shoot a lot of slugs, so I forgoed the extra expense. Plus they require a higher line of sight and are more prone to breakage.

Simple can be good.

If you're shooting single projectiles that should impact right where the sight is put, it's important to have accurate sights. But if your point of impact will be 9-20 different places, the shot pattern should land a few inches left, right, above, and below that bead. Seems perfectly fine to me. Of course this coming from someone whose never even fired a shotgun once, so take everything I've said with the value of the period at the end of this sentence



See what I did there?

Skeet shooters usually use a vent rib, too. I've got nothing against the vent rail with a bead on the end. It's perfectly adequate for most uses. The thing is, the 870 Police has a bead on the end of a bare barrel. You've got literally nothing else to work with, except maybe some texture grooves on the action, IDK. I'm not saying ghost rings are the only way to go, I'm just saying I'd never buy a bare bead and expect to leave it that way.

I read an article on the 870 vs the M4 for energy delivery over distance... The two guys were given a stock 870 Police and a stock M4, to see how they stacked up on the base models. The shotgunner was screwing the pooch past 50 yards, largely because he wasn't hitting the target most times. When they tried it again with their own, heavily customized weapons (he had some kind of holosight on his 1100; big bucks), he put every round on-target and almost outclassed the M4 at 100 yards.

You can order the 870P with rifle sights if you really wanted too.

That I was not aware of. Certainly better than a simple bead, but it seems... I dunno, weird? xd  

[Hans Reiker]

Fresnel

Hans Reiker

Fresnel

ArmasTermin

I got in today a white bead sight from Midway USA to go on my Mossy 500 when it comes in (just one more day!). I think I'll apply a little glow-in-the-dark paint (which I ordered recently) once I have it mounted. I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with bead sights for use with buckshot. Skeet shooters use them, and they'rs shooting stuff going (#) miles and hour (#) feet in the air. Ghost rings would be really useful for slugs, but I don't intend to shoot a lot of slugs, so I forgoed the extra expense. Plus they require a higher line of sight and are more prone to breakage.

Simple can be good.

If you're shooting single projectiles that should impact right where the sight is put, it's important to have accurate sights. But if your point of impact will be 9-20 different places, the shot pattern should land a few inches left, right, above, and below that bead. Seems perfectly fine to me. Of course this coming from someone whose never even fired a shotgun once, so take everything I've said with the value of the period at the end of this sentence



See what I did there?

Skeet shooters usually use a vent rib, too. I've got nothing against the vent rail with a bead on the end. It's perfectly adequate for most uses. The thing is, the 870 Police has a bead on the end of a bare barrel. You've got literally nothing else to work with, except maybe some texture grooves on the action, IDK. I'm not saying ghost rings are the only way to go, I'm just saying I'd never buy a bare bead and expect to leave it that way.

I read an article on the 870 vs the M4 for energy delivery over distance... The two guys were given a stock 870 Police and a stock M4, to see how they stacked up on the base models. The shotgunner was screwing the pooch past 50 yards, largely because he wasn't hitting the target most times. When they tried it again with their own, heavily customized weapons (he had some kind of holosight on his 1100; big bucks), he put every round on-target and almost outclassed the M4 at 100 yards.

You can order the 870P with rifle sights if you really wanted too.

That I was not aware of. Certainly better than a simple bead, but it seems... I dunno, weird? xd

You can have them with the bead, rifle sights, and ghost ring sights. One thing that I am unsure with, does the Police model have the metal trigger housing or polymer? I've found sites saying either or.  

[Fresnel]

Hans Reiker

Fresnel

Hans Reiker

Fresnel

ArmasTermin

I got in today a white bead sight from Midway USA to go on my Mossy 500 when it comes in (just one more day!). I think I'll apply a little glow-in-the-dark paint (which I ordered recently) once I have it mounted. I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with bead sights for use with buckshot. Skeet shooters use them, and they'rs shooting stuff going (#) miles and hour (#) feet in the air. Ghost rings would be really useful for slugs, but I don't intend to shoot a lot of slugs, so I forgoed the extra expense. Plus they require a higher line of sight and are more prone to breakage.

Simple can be good.

If you're shooting single projectiles that should impact right where the sight is put, it's important to have accurate sights. But if your point of impact will be 9-20 different places, the shot pattern should land a few inches left, right, above, and below that bead. Seems perfectly fine to me. Of course this coming from someone whose never even fired a shotgun once, so take everything I've said with the value of the period at the end of this sentence



See what I did there?

Skeet shooters usually use a vent rib, too. I've got nothing against the vent rail with a bead on the end. It's perfectly adequate for most uses. The thing is, the 870 Police has a bead on the end of a bare barrel. You've got literally nothing else to work with, except maybe some texture grooves on the action, IDK. I'm not saying ghost rings are the only way to go, I'm just saying I'd never buy a bare bead and expect to leave it that way.

I read an article on the 870 vs the M4 for energy delivery over distance... The two guys were given a stock 870 Police and a stock M4, to see how they stacked up on the base models. The shotgunner was screwing the pooch past 50 yards, largely because he wasn't hitting the target most times. When they tried it again with their own, heavily customized weapons (he had some kind of holosight on his 1100; big bucks), he put every round on-target and almost outclassed the M4 at 100 yards.

You can order the 870P with rifle sights if you really wanted too.

That I was not aware of. Certainly better than a simple bead, but it seems... I dunno, weird? xd

You can have them with the bead, rifle sights, and ghost ring sights. One thing that I am unsure with, does the Police model have the metal trigger housing or polymer? I've found sites saying either or.

I thought the 870 design was 100% steel.