Howdy:
You may have seen uglier, but I bet you haven't seen a shotgun this kind of ugly.
I have had a hankering for a truck/trunk long gun, but wanted to minimize the "long," as it pertains to how it resided in my vehicle. I have been thinking about ths for a while and I settled for a pump shotgun, as I figured it would be the cheapest and serve any an all purposes inside its slug range. But, even a 18" bbl shotgun I thought too long, as I wanted it to be out of the way and also come along family trips wihtout taking up luggage space. So, a folding stock was indicated, preferably one with recoil reduction a la Knoxx.
And, since I am really a semi-auto man when it comes to shotguns, only the shotgun with the reputation as smoothest would do: Rem 870 Wingmaster. Oh, I also wanted it
cheap.
I even went so far as to ask advice from the rogues and ne'er-do-wells at
http://www.armedpolitesociety.com.
Anyways, fellow APSer Avenger29 told me he had an older Knoxx Cop Stock he was no longer using & was willing to sell. I then had to admit I had no actual pump shotgun, for all my querying and pontificating. A29 then got devious and let the matter lie, not PMing or mentioning it in any way. Well, A29's wily selling technique (complete silence and lack of badgering) finally broke through my defenses and I bit.
So: There I was!
A man with (or nearly "with," since A29 & I were doing this via mail) an accessory for which I had no gun. I did what any reasonable gunny would do and set off to buy a Rem 870.
I found these puppies:
http://www.summitgunbroker.com/870_Riot_LLW.htmlabout five minutes before A29 suggested them. Great minds & all...
Now, the ad photo truly does not do them justice. When I first saw it in the flesh at my favorite FFL transferor (sportingarms.com), she asked, "Oh, you're the one who bought the pink shotgun." I thought knowing it had orange furniture was bracing enough.
Pink? Huh?
Well, if pressed, I'd have to say it is more of a "peach" than pink. It surely originally was orange, but UV, use, solvents, etc. have had their way with the plastic and it has lightened up some. The ad photo and my following photos are a bit to "rich," color-wise. In the flesh, it is not as deeply orange. More peach. But not
pink.
The PD where these things came from need a little primer in weapons maintenance. OK, I'll allow for not cleaning it the last time it was fored (a lot). But, letting the mag tube, mt spring, and receiver get rust is something that ought to be noticed by leadersip and dealt with accordingly.
To sum up, this is one ugly hunk of metal & plastic. I will have NO worries using this weapon hard.
Anyways, for the price, it is a smooth weapon. Even bone dry, dirty, and with funk in the trigger mechanism, it was smoother than my neighbor's Mossberg 500 after he has put 1000 rounds though his.
I currently have it disassembled and washed off all of it with low-odor mineral spirits(1) while geting after it ith a bronze brush. The trigger group is sitting and soaking in mineral spirits. After it soaks for a couple days (
really gunky] I'll re-assemble it with the Cop Stock, lube it with synthetic motor oil, and see how it looks. In the days to come I'll take it to the range and see how it performs.
Links to Photos:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_ifsRjdJE1Jg/SyPyceXpHuI/AAAAAAAAAQc/vBFN6R4NVMU/s800/rem870_ugly_right.jpghttp://lh6.ggpht.com/_ifsRjdJE1Jg/SyPycoHQraI/AAAAAAAAAQg/8uUZ1jfO7_g/s800/rem870_ugly_left.jpghttp://lh5.ggpht.com/_ifsRjdJE1Jg/SyPycta_ghI/AAAAAAAAAQk/1bQCvrjxvK8/s800/rem870_ugly_rec_right.jpghttp://lh4.ggpht.com/_ifsRjdJE1Jg/SyPydBgEH_I/AAAAAAAAAQo/r5twKJlYqL4/s800/rem870_ugly_rec_left.jpghttp://lh5.ggpht.com/_ifsRjdJE1Jg/SyPydIQhgrI/AAAAAAAAAQs/5MZGKedU6Nw/s800/rem870_ugly_rec_tube_left.jpghttp://lh3.ggpht.com/_ifsRjdJE1Jg/SyPyhoepPqI/AAAAAAAAAQw/SUDdYNqIJ7A/s800/rem870_ugly_mag_tube_left.jpg(1) My preferred "new, nasty gun cleaner solvent." Cuts all the oil, cosmo, powder & plastic fouling, but i not too aggressive.