In the minds of modern American gun owners, who wears the crown as top shotgun maker might be divided between a handful of manufacturers. Nonetheless, when I first became a police officer some three decades ago, the top slot was arguably held by Remington and the gun in question was the Model 870 Police Magnum.
Keep in mind, this was long before the GWoT and the push for the modern “patrol rifle.” When I initially put on the uniform and badge, every patrol car had some kind of rack or mounting system and the most prevalent long gun in those cruisers was the 870.
Remington Model 870 Police Magnum
As we all should know, the Remington Model 870 is a base design on which numerous different configurations of have been produced over the decades. To date, Remington has manufactured over 13 million Model 870 shotguns. Of these, a great many had long, vented barrels, such as the 870 Wingmaster, designed for shooting actual birds…or the orange clay kind. In midwestern and many eastern states, deer hunters were restricted to the use of a shotgun during “gun season” and the 870 Fieldmaster was made for just such a purpose.
Built specifically for American law enforcement officers, I have the Remington 870 Police Magnum, a pump-action, 12 gauge shotgun capable of chambering 2¾ and 3-inch shells. The standard barrel length is 18.5 inches with a cylinder bore choke and a tubular magazine that holds four standard 2¾ inch rounds or three 3-inch shells. The most common sight setup was a simple brass bead sitting right above the muzzle. Standard furniture consisted of a hardwood (walnut) stock and forend. A parkerized metal finish was also standard for the steel receiver and barrel.
Upgrading a Classic
As alluded to earlier, the Global War on Terror inspired American law enforcement agencies to rethink their choice of long guns. While the change certainly didn’t happen overnight, the majority started swapping out patrol shotguns for patrol rifles. This in turn brought a ton of police trade-in shotguns to the civilian market. The gun featured here was one of those and I picked it up nearly fifteen years ago for a good price.
My police trade-in 870 was typical of the lot. It functioned just fine, but it looked like it had been riding in a cruiser gun rack for many years. For a time, there were thousands upon thousands of trade-in 870s out there. Wilson Combat saw an opportunity to provide a service to those who bought them and they created their “Remington Steal” refurb package, as in, it’s a bargain or a “steal” at that price. I packed up my well-used 870 Police Magnum and shipped it to Arkansas.
The ‘Remington Steal’ Upgrade
After it arrived at Wilson Combat, the first thing their gunsmith did was completely disassemble the gun and inspect all the parts. Any worn, damaged, or broken parts were replaced.
The shell feeder/elevator was converted to the “flexitab” anti-jam system. The old design was one of the flaws of the original version that has since been remedied. A new Remington factory shell follower (orange) and magazine spring replaced the old ones. Wilson technicians also replaced the trigger assembly with a professionally remanufactured trigger group.
Before I shipped the 870 to Wilson, I had already installed an oversized safety button from Vang Comp Systems, so that was taken care of.
With the insides of the old 870 addressed, the next step was the appearance. The old wood furniture was removed and scrapped. In its place Wilson installed a new black polymer butt stock and forearm. This was Remington factory furniture, not a cheap plastic knock-off.
As for the metal finish, Wilson offers a corrosion-resistant treatment called Armor-Tuff. This finish both looks good and provides complete corrosion resistance. Armor-Tuff also has a molybdenum disulfide blend that gives the finish an inherent lubricity or, in layman’s terms, it’s self-lubricating. The color applied to my 870 was gray.
My 870 had a standard bead front sight. While it was under the knife at Wilson, we wanted to take the opportunity to address that. After speaking with a technician on the telephone we decided to go with the adjustable Trak-Lock ghost ring rear sight with a corresponding front sight.
The front sight blade is a tall, squared design with a tritium insert. It truly stands out when viewed through the ghost ring and was a great addition to the gun.
When I got the police trade-in 870 back, it was truly better than new. As you’d expect, I took it to the range and ran it against steel and patterned some buckshot on cardboard. I also conducted some 25 and 50-yard slug tests, tweaking the new sights on the gun ever so slightly to ensure that the Winchester slugs I was using were point of aim/point of impact at 50 yards.
Slug Grenades
While they’re no longer a new idea thanks to the hyper-focus on rifles (and the general lack of focus on fighting shotguns), I find that many people aren’t aware of the Winchester S12PDX1S or simply the PDX1 Defender “segmented” slugs. What the engineering geniuses at Winchester did was take an old school Foster-type lead 12 gauge slug and score or pre-segment it so that it travels in one solid piece to the target. Then, when it meets resistance, it breaks apart in three equal parts. It’s kind of like a little slug grenade.
Naturally, Winchester produced these PDX1 slugs to mitigate the tendency of solid 12 gauge slugs to pass through-and-through animals as well as to maximize wounding. It’s been around fifteen years since I was introduced to this ammo and I’m still love the simple genius of the design.
As you can probably imagine, I was hot to get the upgraded 870 and the then-new Winchester segmented slugs into the field for a real test. I didn’t have to wait long.
A trip to Texas where I would hunt wild hogs on my friend Bill’s ranch was planned. On the second day, Bill spotted a group of hogs hanging around at the edge of the tree line a couple of hundred yards away. We parked the 4×4 side-by-side and stalked them on foot. Fortunately the wind direction was in our favor.
Spotting a dark hog silhouette, I estimated it was between 50 and 75 yards away. I knelt down for a bit more stability and took the shot.
The slug whacked the wild pig and dropped it in its tracks. While not a monster, when we hung it on the scale before processing, it weighed in at around 150 pounds. Inspecting the damage, we found the entrance wound, but the three segments of that slug remained inside the body.
Parting Shots
While Mossberg has since overtaken Remington in the last five to ten years, the fact remains that the Remington Model 870 is still a very viable tool. Also, while the shotgun has largely been replaced by AR-15-style patrol rifles in police cars nationwide, the old 870 Police Magnum remains a serious fighting instrument and a modern classic.
Author’s Note: While Wilson Combat still produces superior quality firearms, they don’t offer their shotgun line or the “Remington Steal” package any more. If you’re interested in having your old 870 upgraded, check out the package from Vang Comp Systems.
Paul G. Markel is the founder of Student the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades. He is the author of numerous books and is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran.