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Lee Lapin · January 3, 2010, 02:03 AM

That's a Hawk 982, a Chinese made 870 clone. I bought one a few weeks ago to see just how good they are for myself, after hearing arguments about them for years. So far it's doing just fine, but it will be about 40 years before I can offer a report on their long term reliability 8^) compared to 870s. I haven't swapped a lot of parts out yet yet but I'd bet most Remington spares could be made to work in the Hawks. As with the 870, the magazine tube is a factory level replacement- it's no more fragile than any other design, but if it gets whanged hard enough to dent it, it may be a problem to get replaced if it needs it. There's a mandrel that's made to lift dents in 870 mag tubes, but that won't be a fix in really bad situations.

The 982 won't do you much good for trap, with its short cylinder bore barrel and sights. For fun range blasting or hand-thrown clays just for practice, it'd be OK. For defensive use or big game hunting, ditto.

In short, IMHO, you could probably do worse for your money. It just depends on what you want. If you really mean formal trap when you say 'shoot trap,' I'd look for a good used 870 and pick up a spare barrel to fit whatever need the barrel that came on it didn't fit, either short (for HD) or long (for trap). Right now extra barrels for the Hawks are pretty much not available, and for the similar H&R/NEF Pardner Pumps they're hard to find. That's not a problem with 870s.

JMHO, YMMV-

lpl

January 3, 2010, 02:03 AM	#11
Lee Lapin Senior Member Join Date: September 7, 2004 Location: SE NC Posts: 1,239	That's a Hawk 982, a Chinese made 870 clone. I bought one a few weeks ago to see just how good they are for myself, after hearing arguments about them for years. So far it's doing just fine, but it will be about 40 years before I can offer a report on their long term reliability 8^) compared to 870s. I haven't swapped a lot of parts out yet yet but I'd bet most Remington spares could be made to work in the Hawks. As with the 870, the magazine tube is a factory level replacement- it's no more fragile than any other design, but if it gets whanged hard enough to dent it, it may be a problem to get replaced if it needs it. There's a mandrel that's made to lift dents in 870 mag tubes, but that won't be a fix in really bad situations. The 982 won't do you much good for trap, with its short cylinder bore barrel and sights. For fun range blasting or hand-thrown clays just for practice, it'd be OK. For defensive use or big game hunting, ditto. In short, IMHO, you could probably do worse for your money. It just depends on what you want. If you really mean formal trap when you say 'shoot trap,' I'd look for a good used 870 and pick up a spare barrel to fit whatever need the barrel that came on it didn't fit, either short (for HD) or long (for trap). Right now extra barrels for the Hawks are pretty much not available, and for the similar H&R/NEF Pardner Pumps they're hard to find. That's not a problem with 870s. JMHO, YMMV- lpl __________________ Mindset - Skillset - Toolset. In that order! Attitude and skill will get you through times of no gear, better than gear will get you through times of no attitude and no skill.