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stateman64

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Hello, looking for my 12 year old son a trap gun that doesn't have much recoil. I am a 870 fan, found out they made a single shot 870 that was gas operated , thats about as much as I know about them...
Can you tell me as much as you can about them , are they good guns, I found one near mint condition for $700.00 ???
I'm not one to jump in head first if you know what I mean ..
Thanks; any information would be appreciated
Ricky Thompson
 
The only one I have seen looked like a cross between an 1100 and an 870. The gas relief ports seemed similar to the 1100. This is a single shot gun with pump action. If you like the 870 and want to shoot singles trap I don't know how you could go wrong. They must be somewhat rare so the $700.00 might be a good price.
 
I must be missing something here.. A gas operated, single shot, pump action shotgun. What could be the purpose? I certainly don't know everything about every gun, but, I have never heard of this one and again, what's the purpose?? I am mystified.
 
They haven't been made in some time and parts from what I'm told could be a problem if you have a breakdown. Some of these came with some really nice wood. I can't comment on the price as I haven't seen one for sale in a long time but I would think that's on the high side unless its in pristine condition.
What's the purpose? Well it's a trap gun and a lot of people, myself inlcuded, would prefer a pump to an auto. One shot is all that's needed unless you want to shoot doubles and there are a lot of trap shooters who never shoot doubles. The 870 Competition was an attempt to offer a nice pump with reduced recoil.
I'd check it over very carefully to make sure its in good working condition. Someone else may be able to comment on parts availability and what parts are prone to wear.
 
The Remington 870 Competition Trap was a single shot trap gun that used a gas recoil reduction system. It was basically a hybrid of the 870 and 1100. However, only about 5500 were made between 1981-86, and many of the model specific parts are no longer available. Since over 9,000,000 M870s have been made to date, the Comp Trap is a rare variant.

Mint ones can easily sell for over $600, although I've read reports of people picking them up for as low as $300 from unsuspecting sellers.

I knew a guy who owned one when it was new back during the mid 80s. It was a great gun for trap singles. However, for your purposes, it might be easier to get an 1100 Trap with a shell catcher.
 
I had one a few years back. It had drop dead wood and was a well made M870 with a good trigger. I had it for sale for a long time and finally let it go for $450. That is about what I had in it.
 
Last msrp for this gun in 1986 was $680.00. My book lists it now, in 100% condition at $550.00 but it is several years old.

From what I've read it doesn't seem that there is a big collector push for these right now, So I would think $700.00 a bit steep, but once again I am going off a Bluebook that is several years old.

Once again I learned something new on shotgunworld today, as I do almost everyday. I was not aware this gun existed until today.

Best regards,

Jeff

My current list of nuts- Baker 1898 Damascus barrel double hammer gun / Winchester Model 12 26" IC solid rib black diamond straight checkered grip 12ga / Winchester 1300 Black Shadow Turkey 12ga / Winchester SX2 3 ½" 12ga / Browning Gold Hunter 20ga / Stoeger 2000 Shadow grass 12ga / Beretta AL391 Urika Gold 12ga / Remington 870 Wingmaster 20ga /
 
ruger4570 said:
I must be missing something here.. A gas operated, single shot, pump action shotgun. What could be the purpose? I certainly don't know everything about every gun, but, I have never heard of this one and again, what's the purpose?? I am mystified.
I too have never heard of that gun,but I have heard about a Remington 878 semi-auto.

Ron
 
The guy that had my M870CT sold it at a gunshow for $400. A $50 loss. I might have bought it back at that price just for the great wood that Remington put on the gun.
 
One of the local shops has an 870 Competition for $560 bucks. It's been ported, has killer wood, a Kick Eaze pad added with a reverse pitch, and although it's still pretty and shiny,,,,it has that look they get after a gun's been shot about a zillion times.

Maybe I can sneak over there with an early 870 Magnum with a plain 30" full choke barrel and a hard plastic buttplate and trade.
 
Hello All,
I will share some of what I know about the 870 Comp
My first glimpse Was a man mad as hell he broke a 49 dropping the last bird, it was a rain and mud kind of day, he walked back to the club house and stuck his comp in the mud barrel first at the door, he went in yelled about the bad target had a cup of coffee and went back out and pulled his comp out of the muck put a brass wad buster down the barrel and whipped at the ground to get the muck out,He then went out and broke a clean 50. I was a 3 rd year shooter in 84 I had been shooting an 1100 field gun and was looking for my next shot gun, I seen all this and I was like I want one! My thought was if that gun can take his dumb *** it is for me, I went to the local gun store the next day I took an nice 870 mag I had and a hundred dollar bill, they had only one comp new in the box on the top shelf I traded out and NEVER looked back you can run 100 any day of the week with that shot gun, it has a back board barrel full and you can drop a dime right to the bottom it is the gun I took with me when I left for the Military I carted it around the world and any chance at a range I would go, it has some of the nicest wood I have seen but the first day I got it the for arm was sad, I took it out to shot it and it broke in half in my hand at the Grand< I took it over to Remington and they had a new for arm the next day I shot one of thier demo's for the day a 3200 even, you would not know that the for arm did not come from the same tree, Smoken. its been around the would and It has one of the best barrels I have ever shot, I have a 31 TC and that barrel has the same feel.
I have shot some of the best guns in the world I shoot a DT10 trap combo and an ASE 90 Sporter I still have that 870 Comp and it will never be sold by me, Any weekend you can take it out and break clay.
Under rated If you see one buy it
 
jw0913, that is a great post. Reading stuff like that is the main reason I joined this site. Thanks, Im gonna keep my eyes open for one of those guns. I am very curious as to what they look like. any one have any pics to post??
 
Hi, I owned one back in the late 80's. I bought it with box and papers in like new condition. As mentioned by another poster, it had a back bored barrel that shot a terrific pattern, and it also had very nicely figured walnut stock and forearm on it. It had gas ports in the barrel that directed the gas down into the magazine tube. Then there was a weighted piston inside the magazine tube with a spring behind it that would help absorb the recoil, similar to the 1100, only the gas system didn't serve any purpose other than to reduce recoil. I do remember that it had a greatly modified forearm which had a metal sleeve that was only about half the length of that of a regular 870. I didn't keep mine for a long time because I tend to be kind of anal in keeping my guns clean, and keeping the interior of the magazine tube along with the gas piston and spring clean could be kind of labor intensive. I have heard that if you don't keep that assembly fairly clean it can seize up and it becomes very difficult to remove it from the magazine tube. Parts availability would be my main concern, but they are a nice shotgun and mine was very well balanced. That's about all the info I can provide.
 
Ed Clapper has an article on the old 870 Competition in the June 2010 issue of Shotgun Sports.

I wouldn't mind having one, but they don't turn up often, and the few I handled have been modified/buggered by previous owners. I understand the parts unique to the model are nearly unobtainable these days, too.

Production of the 870 Competition was something like 5500 guns. Total 870 production is at 10,000,000+ guns!
 
i have owned an 870 competition which i shot very well and foolishly sold it...and the darned guy i sold it to wouldn't sell it back! :^( but I now have an 870 modified by Allen Timney to be equal to the competition model except for one very important feature....IT HAS ROOM FOR TWO SHOTSHELLS. I suppose some guys would just say "what the heck why not just get an 1100 semi auto"?- (The whole idea is to have a soft shooting shotgun), My self, I guess i just like pumps....
cheers, KJ
 
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