Amazing the differences in experiences some of us have had with this shotgun. My first Express Model was one of the combination deals from Wal-Mart that had a hardwood stocked .12 gauge Express with two barrels, a 28” with choke tubes and a 20” IC smooth bore with rifle sights. I have a Wingmaster 870 with 28” fixed modified choke so didn’t use the Express with that barrel much. I kept it sighted in with Winchester 1 ounce slugs and the 20” rifle sight barrel on it. One day it was raining pretty hard on the opener of Missouri’s gun deer season. I decided the slug loaded shotgun would be better than a scoped rifle for hunting the timber in the steady rain. A couple of hours of stump sitting on a trail crossing and the damp cold was seeping in my bones. I decided to stand and stretch and just as I moved I caught sudden movement about forty yards away. A big buck was standing there looking directly at me! Boys… this was a biggun too, antlers wide past his ears and heavy dark chocolate colored antlers. He had spotted movement but wasn’t sure what he was seeing in the rain. I eased the shotgun up and he turned and took a couple of steps just as I fired. The slug whacked a thick cedar tree between us and the buck jumped and ran about ten yards and stopped looking all around wide eyed. He was actually in a much clearer spot for a second shot. At the first shot I jacked the slide back ejecting the fired hull and tried to bring the slide forward to chamber a second round. But I couldn’t… the wooden slide wasn’t well sealed and had swollen from the rain. When I rammed the slide back it jammed tight on the increasing taper of the barrel near the receiver - stuck tight! I was pulling like a gorilla trying to get the slide forward and the old buck just stood and looked at me for about six or seven seconds, then he trotted off waving that infamous white flag at me.
I swapped that gun off for a synthetic stocked model. This one had a 28” barrel threaded for choke tubes. I goofed around with some chokes and loads and settled on a Primos Jellyhead choke and 3” Federal Premium 2 ounces of plated lead #4’s for turkeys. I killed a turkey in the spring and another in the fall and felt pretty good about the combination. That winter I took it predator calling. On the first trip I was setting on top of a narrow ridge and squalling away when a coyote popped out from behind a big tree only 25 yards away. The coyote’s head and neck were fully exposed and I shot it right in the head. At the shot the coyote’s front end dropped out from under it and the rear end rolled over the top in a flip. Then it rolled to its feet and began twisting and spinning in circles, snapping all around as it spun around and around. Those circles were bringing it directly toward me - QUICKLY! I was sitting on the ground and the coyote was at eye level as it spun quickly toward me, snapping and yowling. I jacked the slide back ejecting the shot hull and rammed it forward for the second shot. I took my time, timing the spins trying to get another good head shot for the finisher. When it felt right I crushed the trigger… SNAP! Nothing but an empty chamber snap. I shucked the pump fast and hard and pulled down for another shot as fast as I could because now the coyote was nearly in my lap. SNAP AGAIN! I poked the barrel out to try to push the coyote off me; I was wishing I had a bayonet on the barrel right then.
The coyote must have seen or heard my panic as I tried to get a defensive position organized (LOL) and lined out off the ridge top. I then had time to evaluate what the heck happened. Recoil of the 3” magnum turkey loads and inertia of the heavy shells in the magazine tube jammed the shells tight and pinched the magazine spring in the magazine tube. I had to disassemble the gun right there on the ridge top and cut a limb to poke down the magazine tube to fix the jam. I tracked that coyote and found it about 150 yards down in the holler. A nice well furred female.
I went on down the holler and made another stand about ¼ mile from there. In the first couple of minutes I saw a coyote running down a spur ridge right toward me. The spur ridge had a little crook and bent slightly to my right and this big male coyote was a hard charger and was high balling down this spur, now nearly broadside at about 20 yards. I swung the gun and smoked him right in the head and neck. At the shot this coyote did a double forward flip end over end. As he skidded to a stop against a large white oak, he began to right himself and I pulled down on him for the second shot. SNAP!!! Oh crap… again! This coyote took off away from me and out of sight. I disassembled the gun and cut another small limb to poke the shells out of the magazine tube. After getting everything back together I had a hard tracking job, but I did recover that coyote about 200 yards down the holler and off in a brushy downed tree top.
I swore off Express Models for several years then I ran across an Express Home Defense Model with an 18” barrel and extended magazine tube. This looked like a handy knock around closet gun and I could get it for cheap at a local gunshop. I bought it and immediately found that if you had rearward pressure on the slide when it fired the slide jammed tight and you had to release the pressure, pull forward slightly and wiggle the slide to get it to work properly. No thanks…
I’m an 870 guy, love them. But make mine a Wingmaster please!