I'm almost ready to wash my hands of Remington! I had 2 guns break within a three day period. My 870 SM went for a swim in the marsh (salt water), while crossing the marsh, the eye on the butt stock where the sling hooks into busted off! So my gun fell of my back, took about 15 minutes to find it in the lilies and cut grass. In less than 12 hours it started getting surface rust! I bought this gun on 1/2/13. Then my Versa Max, the firing pin broke, firing pin retainer pin broke, and the pin holding the arm to the back of the bolt sheared! When the firing pin retainer pin broke, it jammed between the housing and bolt, in which It gouged the housing. Had to use a finger nail to file the burs down! Versa max was bought in February 2013. So I have about $2000 worth of busted guns! Not pleased at all!


If its up high, it's coming to the ground

Spoke with Remington this morning! They are sending all the parts needed to fix both guns!

Good to hear.

I've only ever had one issue with a Remington but I am lucky enough to live only a few miles from an autherized service center.

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MikeD wrote:Good to hear.

I've only ever had one issue with a Remington but I am lucky enough to live only a few miles from an autherized service center.

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I refuse to let anyone to do work on my guns! I saw what happens at a gun shop first hand last year while was filling in part time. I quit cause I didn't agree wit the owner and stuff he did to make a buck


If its up high, it's coming to the ground

Whenever I take my 870 out shooting, I have some individually-packaged, pre-oiled gun wipes in my vehicle, range bag, pack, and/or pockets. Applying a light coat of oil just after shooting is a great way to protect a finish from fingerprints, powder residue, and the condensation that tends to collect on a humid summer evening in the woods or when a cold gun suddenly finds itself in a warm vehicle or building.

If the gun gets really wet, I'll shake/towel off as much water as I can, then use one of these to displace moisture and add a very effective (if temporary) hydrophobic barrier. Obviously, an oiled wipe is only going to do so much if your gun actually goes for a swim, but it'll be a lot better than nothing until you can get somewhere where you can take it apart and care for it properly.

Last Christmas, I carried my 870 (which is an Express with the ultra-basic finish, and in less-than-pristine shape at that) during the traditional family Christmas tree hunt. The snow in those woods was a good meter deep once we got off the logging roads, and by the time we had shot the tree down and dragged it back to my rig, my gun was completely soaked. But before heading home, I gave it a thorough going-over with a rag and then one of these wipes, and the exterior - even the areas where the finish had been worn down to bare metal - was completely rust-free many hours later when I sat down to disassemble it and give it a proper cleaning. There were dustings of rust where water had found it's way under the fore-end and magazine extension coupling & bracket, but that's my fault for getting preoccupied with mounting and decorating the tree instead of immediately taking care of the gun when I got home.

I had my Super Mag Express out one day recently and it was rather humid conditions. I noticed a "dusting" of rust as well developing on the outside of the receiver. What is it about the parkerized finish that seems to allow such rapid corrosion?

I wiped it quickly with a dry rag and then a little later cleaned the whole gun and oiled it well. All traces of rust appear to be gone.

Cmcdonald wrote:I had my Super Mag Express out one day recently and it was rather humid conditions. I noticed a "dusting" of rust as well developing on the outside of the receiver. What is it about the parkerized finish that seems to allow such rapid corrosion?

The Express finish isn't Parkerizing, it's a matte-textured bluing. Remington introduced the Express line for people who wanted a basic, inexpensive shotgun for bedside duty, day hunting, or range fun. One of the ways they were able to offer the Expresses at the prices people wanted was by giving it a less-expensive matte bluing instead of the fancier polished bluing used on the higher-priced Wingmasters. It's not the most resilient finish out there, but it seems to work pretty well most of the time if you keep it oiled (oxide finishes need to be kept oiled to effectively resist corrosion) and don't let the gun sit wet. I've carried and shot my Express in plenty of rainy, snowy, and humid conditions without seeing any rust.

^^^^Thanks for the good info Synchronizor!

For 20 years I've never had a issue with rust on my 870 express it's been swimming for 4 hours .been through countless duck hunts it's been in the water . My trick to this is carry two shop towels ,a cleaning rod ,and rem oil best stuff on the market . Once you get bad to the truck wipe it off say it down wipe off the oil take the rod shove the towel to the receiver twice . Twenty years no failures .

The last couple years now, I've been using a silicone soaked cloth that came with my last cleaning kit. Seems to work really well. Haven't had the issue return that I mentioned above. After cleaning and oiling the internals, I just give 'er a thorough dry wipe and then a light wipe of silicone and all finger prints disappear. Haven't noticed any kind of a build up on any surfaces so far.

Good news...!!

Try FrogLube. That stuff seems pretty robust.