USA –-(Ammoland.com)- A lot of neato stuff happened in 1950, along with some serious unpleasantries.
North Korea invaded their southern sibling, starting a tragic war masquerading as a police action.
On the more positive side of things, the first self-service elevator was installed by the Otis Corporation. Zenith introduced the first television remote control and appropriately named it the Lazy Bones. Charles Schulz invented Charlie Brown, and more importantly, Snoopy. James Dean got his big break starring in a Pepsi commercial.
Remington 870 Shotgun Models and Variants
The first 15 models introduced covered the gamut of use cases with models for tournament, trap, skeet, field and even police use. While there was no budget Express line in the early years, Remington was not shy about offering premium Wingmasters with all the fixin’s.
In 1955, the company went magnum and started to make the 12-gauge model with a three-inch chamber. During that year, the line stuck to the big three calibers and was limited to 12, 16 and 20-gauge choices. The distinctive “corn cob” forend started to give way to the more elegantly shaped stock on Deluxe models. The corn cob stock never had a hard and fast switch over date as it was offered on police models for quite some time after.
Remington 870 Shotgun Corn Cob Forend
Four years later, the company added slug gun variants to the line for the four-legged critter hunting market, showing the versatility of the 870 platform. Still priced at less than a hundred bucks, the rifled barrel models were equipped with a front bead and rear rifle sight.
A United States Marine aims a Remington 870 Mk1 magnum shotgun Photo : US Department Of Defence
1969 was a big year, and not just because Al Gore invented ARPANET, Neil and Buzz did the moon walk, and many young people got stoned at Woodstock. That year, Remington finally added some new calibers with the introduction of 28-gauge and .410 bore models, apparently because standard ammunition was not expensive enough.
Since things were hot in Vietnam during this time, Remington contracted with the United States Marine Corps to produce thousands of Model 870 Mk-1 variants in 12-gauge. These combat-ready 870s included 7-shell magazine tubes and bayonet attachments.
During the 1970s, some interesting, and attractive variants hit the market. As a result of a shortage of American Walnut, Remington started to use mahogany stocks on certain 20, 28 and .410 models. More reddish in color, and found by many to have more attractive grain, it’s not as durable as walnut, hence the use on the lighter guns in the family. If you’ve got one with mahogany furniture, hold on to it. While not incredibly rare, they are worth somewhat more than identical walnut-stocked versions. By 1979, the company had moved back to Walnut across the board.
The Remington 870 Shotgun Wingmaster Trap Model.
In 1987, the company introduced the Express line. A less-polished version, these were intended to hit a lower price point in the market. Accordingly, the metal was matte finished, and wood got much less attention in the polishing stages. Purists were a bit upset with the budget offering while budget conscious users and big box retailers rejoiced.
In 1992, the company launched the Model 870 Marine Magnum Security shotgun (see image above). Why do I call this particular model out among all the hundreds of variants? It looked really cool with its nickel-finished metal and synthetic stock. Always wanted one of those. Fortunately, they’re still in the catalog.
In 1998 the company elected to give masochists what they wanted: a 3 ½-inch Magnum Model 870. 3 ½-inch Magnum shells from a pump gun? No thanks for me, but for those who want it, you can have it.
Remington 870 Shotgun Current Lineup
As I write this, Remington still offers a goodly variety of 870 models. Not counting the specific law enforcement model and bore variants, there are 32 different 870 shotguns in the catalog.
Remington 870 Shotgun Express Tactical Magpul FDE
You can still get a classic Wingmaster, complete with blued receiver and barrel and American walnut furniture. Or, you might consider the new for 2014 American Classic. These feature high-grade wood, gold-inlaid engraving, checkering and touches like grip caps and classic ventilated recoil pads.
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