Used 870 Wingmaster Price check

[Duke of Lawnchair]

Folks,

There are a few used 870 Wingmasters sitting on my local dealer's shelves. Some are ~$200 and others are $250. All of them are in very good functional condition (he let me field strip them) with the exception that some of them have hardcore bluing wear. I'm actually thinking about picking one up for a project gun. This will include refinishing, rebarreling, clean up the trigger pull, etc..

My question is, how would you rate those prices?

Jim

 

[Black Majik]

Those are pretty good prices. Wingmasters are great guns to shoot, and I've especially heard awesome reviews of the older model Wingmasters.

What years are those WM's?

As long as they are fully functional, they will be great guns to shoot.

 

[mnrivrat]

I Suppose it depends on what part of the country one lives in. The last gun show I attended in Sept had a number of used 870's from $150 to $200. There were a couple police guns with parkerized finish and 20 inch tubes at $169 asking and I also ran across a Wingmaster police with blued finish and 18 inch tube for $159 asking. If you start with $200 to $250 and add the cost of another barrel and refinishing wouldn't you end up with close to new price in it ?

 

[Duke of Lawnchair]

Black Majik,

Ditto on what you just posted.

After I read about Remington's predicament I wanted to see if I could locate some Wingmasters. I'm not too impressed with what I've seen/felt/used from Remington as of late and that is why I've steered clear from their products.

I'll have to find out more about the used WMs production dates.

mnrivrat, I'm looking to build a project gun and would prefer to go with an older Remington.

BTW, thanks for the responses!

Jim

 

[Duke of Lawnchair]

I forgot to mention, if I purchase one of the used WMs it'll be transformed into a hd shotgun.

Jim

 

[Dave McCracken]

$200-250, Jim,is neither steal nor ripoff for a used WM in good condition. One of the cheaper ones with bluing wear would make a good candidate for a dedicated HD weapon. A couple things to keep in mind.

Often, short used barrels can be found for little more than what one can get a long barrel trimmed for. Old 870 barrels are very well made and choked. In most cases, lopping off barrels is not the best course of action.

You mention cleaning up the trigger. Many 870s have clean pulls of 4 lbs or less right from the factory. Figure $35-60 for a trigger job.

Sling studs are essential. Figure maybe $25-40 for a smith to furnish and install them.

A good pad is also essential for best work. Smiths will F&I a good one like the Pachmyers for maybe $60.

Of course, you may install these yourself. That'll lower the cost some.

A Brushmaster variant,IOW,with IC choked slug barrel and sights, a clean 4 lb trigger, sling studs and a good pad for $250 makes more sense than a beater lacking all that stuff for $200.

HTH....

 

[Gary G23]

Remington makes an Express 870 Home Defense with seven shot mag (#5077). Around here they go for less than $300.

 

[Duke of Lawnchair]

Dave,

Thanks for the input! I've actually heard the same thing you just stated in regards to Remington barrels. I'd rather sell the "long" barrel and purchase a used short barrel instead. This will make sure it has a good home instead of lopping it off.

OR I could keep the "long" barrel and make a two-in-one combo.

All the work will be done myself, except for removing the finish.


Jim

 

[Black Majik]

Jim, if your gonna remove the finish and make it into a HD gun why not just buy a 870 HD gun w/ ext. mag tube?

It'll save you quite a lotta work


Although I think a HD gun w. bead sights and vent. rib would be kinda cool

 

[Dave McCracken]

Jim, you're welcome.

In your shoes,I'd grab another,short barrel.For sheer fun,little beats the shotgunning games, including clays. Being able to destroy two little clay frisbees moving in different directions at speeds up to 50 MPH does wonders for one's ability to use a similar shotgun to protect from multiple assailants.

Warning, shotguns do not breed, but they do accumulate. 870s especially.

A nice thing about 870s. One can assemble a battery of specialized shotguns good for myriad missions for less than one pays for a decent new O/U.

 

[Mikul]

I picked up the same thing for the same reason for around $225. I bought the Mossberg 18" barrel for the Remington 870. I know that last part sounds strange, but Mossberg makes 18" barrels for the 870.

I kept firing larger and larger shot sizes until I found one that patterned to my liking. I wound up with Remington #4 Buckshot. I came to that conclusion after finding the maximum distance that I would shoot to in my house and patterning at that distance.

FYI, heavier shot patterns tighter. The other option, and an excellent way to go IMO, is to get an 18" barrel cut for chokes. Then you can choose your ammo based on penetration and size and then pick the right choke to make it pattern properly.

 

[Kestrel]

Interesting note about a couple of NEW 870s I saw at a shop the other day. These were both Police models - you know, with the extra QC inspections...

Well, BOTH of them had the front bead located off-center. Very noticeable. Also, one of them had wood stocks and the forearm was CRACKED all the way up the center and did not match in color with the buttstock. The forearm also looked like it had not been sealed and was much lighter. These were both out of the box.

The same store had a couple of Police models come in a few weeks ago, again, brand new. BOTH of them had problems with the bolt release working. You could release the bolt, but it took great difficulty, having to press the bolt release BELOW flush to work. Hardly something you would want to have to go through under stress.

Pretty disappointing.

Steve

 

[45Badger]

Police turn in on the for sale forum at AR15.com, right now! Pretty cheap.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Steve, Remington has its good and bad days. It looks like it's having a bad decade also.

Big Green's toughest competition for their new pumps is old 870s.They've made a product that lasts nigh forever.Planned obsolescense wasn't part of the design.

I checked out an 870HD the other day. No obvious mistakes, pumped smoothly though not slickly. IMO, acceptable.

New Remstuff is definitely Caveat Emptor...

 

[Opie]

SteveW13

FWIW I saw some police magnums with the same problem on the slide release. I wanted one with the XS/wilson ghostrings from the factory but that is one that had a crappy slide release. I ended up getting a different model, but in hindsight I am glad I got what I got anyway.

Watch those new remingtons! I was with the Remington Armorer from my local PD and he said that he has seen several like that coming on to the dept as well. I am glad he was with me when I bought it because I probably would not have noticed it until I got home.

 

[Duke of Lawnchair]

Groovy

Hey, thanks a lot amigos. I haven't been able to cruise through here for the past few days.

I'd like to thank all of you for your advice.

I'm going to pick one up first thing come monday.

Projects are always fun.

Jim

 

[Bob F.]

FWIW: Most shops here don't carry 870's, can't compete w/ WM. One 870 HD(factory mag ext., 18") is marked $329. A Mossy 500 is $300 and another shop has a short,black 870 for $310 IIRC. Super shop down the road has a used 870 police PG in excellent shape marked down to $350. Think I'll move to MN!
That used 870 is probably the best of the lot.

 

[Sparky]

You oughta check out an 870 express turkey model. Has a 21 " bbl., threaded for remchokes etc. Pick up a 26" bbl. &you should be set for a
H&H (house&hunting ) set-up. May not be as much fun as tinkering one up to what you want though.

FWIW--- Most police 870s available around are 2.75" chambered guns

 

[Duke of Lawnchair]

I'm not fond of the Express models as I haven't been all too impressed with Remington's products as of late.

Jim