The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Hide > The Dave McCracken Memorial Shotgun Forum

View Poll Results: Which pump shotgun will last the longest before breaking?
Browning 19 9.79%
Benelli nova/supernova 12 6.19%
Winchester 1200/1300 10 5.15%
Mossberg 500 51 26.29%
Remington 870 102 52.58%
Voters: 194. You may not vote on this poll

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old January 17, 2010, 11:57 AM   #26
fisherman66
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 22, 2005
Location: The Woodlands TX
Posts: 4,679
I can only express my familiarity in pumps with a modern production 870 and a mid 50's Winchester Model 12. I would expect the Model 12 to give the 870 a good run fer longevity king. I default to the Ithaca crowd.

I'd prefer a Win 23 XTR, but that's a pretty big departure from what we are talking about.
__________________
la plus belle des ruses du diable est de vous persuader qu'il n'existe pas!
fisherman66 is offline  
Old January 17, 2010, 12:04 PM   #27
hogdogs
Staff In Memoriam
 
Join Date: October 31, 2007
Location: Western Florida panhandle
Posts: 11,069
My Ruger P-85 was alloy and durable as heck!
Brent
hogdogs is offline  
Old January 17, 2010, 01:08 PM   #28
BigJimP
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 23, 2005
Posts: 13,195
Browning BPS / with a close 2nd to the 870 Wingmaster ( but only the Wingmaster model of the 870 - not the rest in my opinion ) - and a close 3rd to the Winchester model 12..... In my opinion.
BigJimP is offline  
Old January 17, 2010, 01:36 PM   #29
Te Anau
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 17, 2004
Location: Somewhere south of the No
Posts: 3,824
I've always been led to believe that the Ithaca 37 has some fatal flaw in its design.Anyone?
__________________
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." --American author Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Te Anau is offline  
Old January 17, 2010, 04:03 PM   #30
ishida336
Member
 
Join Date: December 6, 2009
Posts: 26
The one you bought.
And take care of.
ishida336 is offline  
Old January 17, 2010, 04:16 PM   #31
Shane Tuttle
Staff
 
Join Date: November 28, 2005
Location: Montana
Posts: 9,442
With many, many thousands of these models produced and many thousands of people with totals of millions upon millions of reliable rounds fired, you will not find a definitive answer. All you're going to hear is members' experiences with what works for them. There's nothing wrong with that. Just stating it's going to go nowhere in the quest for the Holy Grail.
__________________
If it were up to me, the word "got" would be deleted from the English language.

Posting and YOU: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/posting
Shane Tuttle is offline  
Old January 17, 2010, 04:32 PM   #32
SilentHitz
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 28, 2008
Location: Ms.
Posts: 1,984
Quote:
I've always been led to believe that the Ithaca 37 has some fatal flaw in its design.Anyone?
Couldn't prove it by me, Dad had one bought in the early 50's and hunted Dove, rabbit, squirrel, deer, turkey, ect. with it for years. I got it when I outgrew my .410 and did the same thing, now my brother has it. Never a malfunction, and besides regular cleaning, never a screw turned on it....if it had a fatal flaw, I think I would have found it in my youth LOL.

Quote:
the quest for the Holy Grail
...begins in the chamber of an Ithaca...sorry, couldn't resist. Tuttle is right IMO, you would really have to abuse the hell out of most pump guns to wear it out...of any brand.
__________________
Guns don't kill people, husbands who come home early do.

http://k5fv.com/
SilentHitz is offline  
Old January 17, 2010, 06:26 PM   #33
darkgael
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 9, 2006
Location: Homes in Brooklyn, NY and in Pennsylvania.
Posts: 5,473
Rare?

Quote:
Its left out because it is not common. There is not a gun store within 100 miles or more of here that sells any Ithaca shotguns.
Must be regional. There's a store not far from me that had eight on the rack last time I was there.
Pete
__________________
“Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports ... all others are games.” Ernest Hemingway ...
NRA Life Member
darkgael is offline  
Old January 17, 2010, 07:30 PM   #34
Dave McC
Staff In Memoriam
 
Join Date: October 13, 1999
Location: Columbia, Md, USA
Posts: 8,811
A non issue.

Any of those will last longer than we, given some PM and TLC.

Ad that includes the bargain basement po' relation of the 500, the Maverick.

A couple examples.....

Anecdotal evidence I see repeatedly states the receivers on 870s used for trap oft start cracking at the rear of the ejection port at about round 250,000.

Remington used to replace these, but currently they just tell you to buy another. I can relate to that.

And, when the state of MD opened a prison in 1981, they put two 870s aside for training weapons. Average monthly shell use was 500 to 1000 rounds between pre service and requals.

Each.

As with most agency weapons, cleaning was slapdash for the most part and done by under motivated, non firearm cognizant, lackadaisical people.

When I retired in 1998, the only parts replaced on one weapon was the lumber. The other had rotated into the towers and was on duty with the rest.

Performance was flawless.

A good friend shoots a Model 12 he's had for decades. A trap model built in the 30s and that's what he uses it for. He's a truthful sort, and says his records indicate he's run 230K rounds through it. Not trouble free, it had some trigger issues requiring shop time with a very good smith.

Two acquaintances are brothers, and share the custody of a well worn Model 97. It has little blue left, the bead had been replaced a few times and they gave up and soldered on a ramp when the metal wouldn't take the thread tap any more. Other than that and a few strip and cleans at a smith over the decades, it's been trouble and PM free since before WWI.

97s are not known as the smoothest shuckers, but this one mimics butter. It has taken everything from deer to squirrels and sat behind the door on a Appalachian cabin, just in case.

And while 37s are not range tools,mostly, I know of several that are on third and fourth generation owners and have lots of stories in them we'll never get to hear.

I have lots of input and decades of experience with shotguns. I can recall only a few lemon pump guns.

There was the Noble. Someone had been smoking tar paper shingles when they thought up that mess.

The best description I ever heard of came from a smith who, despite expertise in his field, refused to work on them.

"The Noble is a poorly designed and made hunk of trash that must have been thought up in the Kremlin to frustrate American shooters. Toss this piece of junk away and get you anything else".....

Some of the older Savages were problematic. I can't recall which models at this time. The Browning designs weren't the problems.

Same with the Springfields, owned by Savage.

Early S&W shotguns made in Japan had the rep of being Divas, but the ones I've seen in private hands worked well. As Agency arms, they faded fast.

That's about it, get anything else and you'll likely be happy with it and so will your grandkids.....
Dave McC is offline  
Old January 17, 2010, 10:30 PM   #35
BarkSlayer
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 26, 2008
Location: Northwest Ohio
Posts: 265
That's kind of like asking, "How long is a piece of string?"
__________________
Northwest Ohio
USA
BarkSlayer is offline  
Old January 17, 2010, 10:53 PM   #36
LukeA
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 1, 2009
Posts: 542
With proper maintenance, any one of those guns will outlast any of us by a wide margin.
LukeA is offline  
Old January 18, 2010, 12:37 PM   #37
MagnumWill
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 18, 2009
Location: Central Colorado
Posts: 1,001
Quote:
With proper maintenance, any one of those guns will outlast any of us by a wide margin.
+1

If I had to choose, it'd be my 590A1. It takes 200-300 rounds to break the sucker in until the action feels normal.
__________________
Those who hammer their swords into plow shares will plow for those who didn't...
MagnumWill is offline  
Old January 18, 2010, 01:24 PM   #38
hometheaterman
Junior member
 
Join Date: October 23, 2009
Posts: 382
Quote:
The 870 has the track record none of the others have. I suspect that the Benelli may prove to be the toughest design. Get back to me in about 50 years.
I think the reason the 870 has a good track record is because the Wingmasters which have been around for a long long time have a great track record. A lot of people I've talked to say how great 870's are when they have a Wingmaster. Others take that to mean all 870's are great. IMO and many others the 870 Express guns just aren't that great in fit or finish. If going with a 870 I'd go with a Wingmaster or 870P only. If I wasn't going to go with one of those I'd pick a different gun.
hometheaterman is offline  
Old January 18, 2010, 02:07 PM   #39
MrPink
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 3, 2000
Posts: 165
Another vote for the Ithaca 37
__________________
LEGALIZE FREEDOM

"Yeah, that's easy for you to say, you're Mr. White, you have a cool sounding name. Alright look, if it's no big deal to be Mr. Pink, you wanna trade?"
MrPink is offline  
Old January 18, 2010, 04:29 PM   #40
Buzzcook
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 29, 2007
Location: Everett, WA
Posts: 6,126
Any wel built pump action will last longer than you.
Buzzcook is offline  
Old January 18, 2010, 05:13 PM   #41
jmr40
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 15, 2008
Location: Georgia
Posts: 10,792
No one is disputing that any pump will outlast the owner. But, that was not the question.
jmr40 is offline  
Old January 18, 2010, 05:39 PM   #42
ronto
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 5, 2007
Location: Smack Dab in the Middle of Nowhere.
Posts: 505
It depends if you leave 'em out in the rain or not...they will all outlast us if properly cared for and who cares if they last longer than that.
__________________
"We will do this: we will hang together, we will keep our organization, our arms, our discipline, our hatred of oppression, until one universal shout goes up from an admiring age that this Missouri Cavalry Division preferred exile to submission, death to dishonor".

General Joseph O. Shelby, CSA (1830-1897)

The only Confederate General who refused to surrender himself or his 1,000+ "Iron Brigade".
ronto is offline  
Old January 18, 2010, 10:01 PM   #43
kozak6
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 16, 2005
Location: AZ
Posts: 3,113
It's neat to see so many replies for the Ithaca. It usually seems to be one of the more ignored shotguns on the forum.

My Ithaca was built in 1955. It's still going strong.
kozak6 is offline  
Old January 18, 2010, 10:17 PM   #44
treefarmernc
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 22, 2009
Posts: 186
I own (2) 870 Wingmasters,1 Mossberg 500 and one Maverick 88. Both the Mossberg and the Maverick have been worked own and both Remingtons have been through several thousand rounds and have never had a malfunction. My vote goes for the 870, at least the earlier models any way (up until mid to late 90’s).
__________________
The mightiest oak in the forest was once only a little nut that stuck its ground.
treefarmernc is offline  
Old January 18, 2010, 10:36 PM   #45
jen45acp
Member
 
Join Date: December 17, 2008
Location: Bluegrass of Kentucky
Posts: 71
We have a Winchester model 1912 built in 1915 and it has been used and passed down thru the generations, I am not certain but it probably has about 100,000 or so rounds thru it. So far it has not appeared to have been worked on and the full choke barrel is still close to spec. We still Trap Shoot with it when the folks come to visit.
__________________
"Predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them" Thomas Jefferson
jen45acp is offline  
Old January 19, 2010, 03:41 AM   #46
Pathfinder45
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 7, 2008
Posts: 3,224
My only Shotgun.....

..... is a 1912 Winchester 12 gauge built in 1914. The blueing is gone but it still works great. 96 years old and still bustin' clays like it was new.
Pathfinder45 is offline  
Old January 19, 2010, 06:45 AM   #47
alloutracing
Junior Member
 
Join Date: June 24, 2009
Location: Amherst Ohio
Posts: 3
Remington 870

I have both Winchester pump & Remington 870. I have 4 Remington 870's 2 in 12 ga & 2 in 12 ga. One each has a cantilever barrels for deer hunting. I would have to say my 870 see more action then any other shotgun that i own.
alloutracing is offline  
Old January 19, 2010, 07:06 AM   #48
CajunBass
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 6, 2005
Location: North Chesterfield, Virginia
Posts: 4,766
If you ever manage to wear one out...brag about it.
__________________
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16 (NKJV)
CajunBass is offline  
Old January 19, 2010, 08:03 AM   #49
Morgoroth
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 12, 2010
Posts: 198
Some of you guys said you like the wingmaster's better and some don't like the Maverick's.

So, why?
What is different from the Express to the Wingmaster?
What is different from the 500 to the Maverick?

To be clear, I mean specifically mechanically. Not, "My great great granddaddy had a wingmaster."

Ok, reading some other threads I found this http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=6&f=1&t=177796
which answers my questions on the Remington quite well.
I am still curious about the Mossberg's though.

Last edited by Morgoroth; January 19, 2010 at 08:51 AM. Reason: Found the answer to one of my questions.
Morgoroth is offline  
Old January 19, 2010, 09:12 AM   #50
darkgael
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 9, 2006
Location: Homes in Brooklyn, NY and in Pennsylvania.
Posts: 5,473
not the question

Quote:
No one is disputing that any pump will outlast the owner. But, that was not the question.
With all due respect....it is a poor question. It is unanswerable in any real sense....as many of the posts have indictated.
Questions involving superlatives .....longest, best, most....are categorically impossible to answer accurately without some qualification.
"last the longest" - under what type of use, for instance? If I buy any one of those and leave it in the box, it will pretty much last forever. Even if you wrote "normal use", you'd still be too general.
What exactly do you mean by "breaking"? Do you mean having a small part break and need repair? Do you mean that it won't fire? Do you mean that the gun can't be fixed and needs to be replaced?
Pete
__________________
“Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports ... all others are games.” Ernest Hemingway ...
NRA Life Member
darkgael is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:08 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.11337 seconds with 9 queries