Free: Contests & Raffles.
Between the Rem 870 and the Rem 887 that they always advertise at Big 5?
We found a rough, poorly finished area on the barrel guide for the action bars—apparently, already starting to corrode. It was rough in appearance and to the touch. The side of the barrel that is bare steel, machined out to accept the eccentric bolt face, was roughly machined as well. When the barrel was slid into the receiver, there was noticeable slop. We could easily twist the barrel left and right
Out of the box, the 887 weighed in at 7.25 pounds on the nose—a clear three quarters of a pound less than the Supernova. However, the lighter 887 gave up what could have been a handling advantage because the NitroMag was too muzzle heavy, our testers said.
The Remington’s trigger was extremely mushy, but it broke at about 4.6 pounds—far lighter than the Supernova. The Remington came with one choke tube, a standard Remchoke Modified piece. We patterned the 887 and were disappointed to discover that it did not shoot close to point of aim. The patterns it threw were about 5 inches low at just 20 yards.
Our Team Said: The M887 we tested was a poor shotgun. We didn’t like the nose-heavy balance, the hard-to-access safety, the rattle in the receiver, and the poor machining and finish of the barrel extension and the action-bar guide ring. We didn’t like the action at all, as it was rough and sticky, in our view. That the gun did not shoot to point of aim made our opinion go from bad to worse.The NitroMag was so deficient that we promptly reported the major issues to four officials at Remington. The reply was prompt. Remington said we had a "preproduction model" with some sort of factory mix-up. We don’t know what serial number range could be affected, or if this rises to the level of a factory recall. We invited Remington to comment in more detail, but no further information has been forthcoming from the company. We believe the problems we’ve detailed above should be covered under the manufacturer’s warranty, so we’ll return the gun to the factory and report what happens. We recognize that in high-volume manufacturing, mistakes can occur. If Remington resolves this gun’s problems under warranty and replaces it—the right course of action for a "pre-production" unit, in our view—then we’ll follow-up and see how a "production" 887 does at the range.