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As far as pistol grip shotguns go this is the best pistol grip out there. That being said anytime you mix a shotgun with a pistol grip only design you know it’s going to be a mess. As far as how the Remington 870 is laid out it’s an easy to use gun. The controls are well placed and easy to reach, even in the TAC 14 format. As you can imagine, a pistol grip only 12 gauge has a lot of recoil, but luckily it’s pain-free.
If you try to put them in a semi-auto shotgun, that’s when the problems really start to appear, so I’m not faulting the TAC-14 as the problem with mini shells. But with regular length and the Noble 2.25″ TAC-14 was fully reliable. The Federal 1.75″ Shorty Shotshells did not perform as well, unfortunately. These shells have a tendency to flip and cause malfunctions based on their shorter size and don’t seem as stable while loading and racking them in. I had a number of malfunctions but it did increase the capacity from 5 to 8 rounds in the short tube. I don’t recommend the short shotshells due to their reliability issues but as a range ammo, the short shotshells do a fantastic job at putting a smile on your face.
Ruger American Rifle w/Magpul® Hunter Gray Stock – 20″ Heavy Barrel – 6.5 Creedmoor
However, this model does not have a key-lock safety. I’ll take a Winchester Model 12 for every purpose except home defense, as far as pump guns go. There’s a reason they became known as ‘The Perfect Repeater.’ It’s a shame 870 priced the Model 12 out of the market, but I don’t think anyone could argue that any 870 is near the quality as a Model 12. The 37 is solid, but I have a serious complaint about the bottom eject. If you’re shooting clays and burning through two or three cases of target loads in an afternoon you have to stop and clean up so you’re not tripping over shells. Not as accurate as other shotguns I’ve fielded, but definitely more reliable and consistent.
This particular model doesn’t have much of a recoil pad on it, so I’ll probably use the slip on buttpad I bought for my 30/30 Marlin, my shoulder was sore after the 2 circuits. The 870 you bought looks very much like the 870P . We carry 870P’s loaded with 00 Tactical buckshot. The only issue I’ve ever seen with reliability is short-stroking. I’ve fired thousands of rounds and been on the range for more. There’s also been the occasional pinch between the fore end and the frame of the action.
Remington Model 870 Hardwood Home Defense – 12GA – Pump Action (R
As you’d imagine this is not a replacement for a real shotgun with a stock. It’s slower and harder to shoot in every way. The only thing that might have made it better is if Remington had used the 870 Wingmaster model rich blue finish over the 870 Express-style parkerized finish. I can attest my original Model 870 TAC-14 had some of the rust-when-exposed-to-air finish that some Remington budget guns have unfortunately become known for. This particular model doesn’t have that issue.
I can confidently say they are working towards having a better matte blue finish and getting rid of the common rusting problems. If you’re able to get ahold of the Federal low recoil 8 pellet double aught buckshot, it makes this beast as tame as a kitten. I thought I had a squib the first time I shot one.
Remington 870 Home Defense
To be fair, we aren’t done testing this shotgun. Our 870 and a Mossberg 500 purchased at the same time, with the same round count on it, are currently lightly salted and sitting in a field somewhere in Texas. Probably being stepped on repeatedly by horses if I know the herd at the ranch as well as I think I do. In a few weeks we’ll transfer them to the bottom of a lake for a while, drop them from an airplane, and then blow them up. But until that testing is complete, I can say without a doubt that under “normal” conditions the gun runs just fine. Somehow, though, we here at TTAG have never reviewed the gun before.
The shop swapped out the pistol grip for a standard stock. With this I can change the setup to fit what I am doing. One of the key points was that the 870 uses a two rail system for the pump which keeps it from twisting and binding while racking. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this is the perfect home defense shotgun both online and in gun stores. As a whole, pump action shotguns can be one of the toughest to manipulate under stress. This model has no stock so it can be tricky to gauge where you’re aiming from shooting at the hip.
The mini shell adapter for the Mossberg minimizes the shell movement and reduces the possibility of the shell bouncing around in the chamber. The elevator in the Remington is a solid unit rather than an open unit like the Mossberg, which reduces the possibility of ‘shell bounce’ in the loading cycle. While my evil twin side of me said otherwise, the only logical solution was for me to purchase a 12-gauge pump shotgun that would fire the “mini” shells without any modification or adapter.
I just assembled it straight out of the box and started stuffing shells up its pipe. The gun never malfunctioned, never hung up, and always ejected properly. Then, when you put the gun up against some competition, and you start to realize just how good you have it. Compared to a Mossberg 500, for example, the gun is head-and-shoulders above the competition.
These smaller shotguns can be quite a handful to shoot, but they do offer a number of advantages over something like a full-length shotgun for home defense. Let’s take a closer look at the Remington 870 TAC-14 Hardwood shotgun. Later Wilson a class 3 manufacturer copied everything and sold them as AOWs and coined them Witness Protection Shotguns.
After getting those repaired it was still running like junk so he just replaced it with a bottom ejecting browning shotgun. Having put about 1000 rounds through both systems on trap I find that the 500 is a bit less balanced and the action is a bit more stiff. If I was going for a cheap clays gun I’d go 870 but most other tasks 500. They are both shotgun legends and while I have my preference towards Mossberg I would trust both of them, assuming I didn’t get a freedom group ruined gun. But being left-handed and kind of a cheapass, any pump gun I’ve bought has been a Mossberg, simply because that tang safety you don’t like is ambidextrous.
The other Mossy 500s I’ve handled always felt a little rickety, had cheap feeling polymer and rattled a little too much for my liking. They also don’t really pass the eye test for me. My knock is that people gripe about the current non metal trigger guard/ housing. There’s no doubt that the Remington 870 is still the king of the pump action shotgun.
That hardwood version is good because the extended magazine is two pieces. Yeah, for any accuracy shooting these from the hip isn’t the best…was fun but trying to hit gallon water jugs and 2 liter bottles was pretty futile unless right on it. Even birdshot at that range is going to do more than just sting. That said, I’ve met and hunted with many folks in grizzly territory that swear by the slug from a pump action shotgun. There’s no denying its effectiveness or reliability. The ‘Remy HD” reminds me of a barracuda; sleek and deadly.
Then again, I’ve always considered the 870 to be a superior pump gun to the 500. If I want to shoot a fast, cheap shotgun, the Mossberg 930 is the way to go. I think you’ll find that both the 870 and 500 are so reliable that it’s boring to test them and eventually give up. Both are solid pump guns and thus virtually indestructible. Bought a new Mossberg 500 in 1980 for a long time it was the only shotgun I owned. Never had a problem love the gun to this day.
The secret of running a ‘pump handle’ shotgun is to maintain a smooth ‘pump’ throughout the extraction, ejection, and loading cycle. Due to the length of standard shotgun fodder, there is not much room for the shell to bounce around as it is being raised by the elevator into a position to chamber. With ‘mini’ shells; however, the shells have more space to bounce around and could become mis-aligned while attempting to chamber them, and which may cause a FTF.
