Winchester Defender or Remington 878

[Hunter78 1]

Any one have experiece with either of these? I was looking for something inexpensive for a truck gun. Local shop has both.

Winchester defender. wood stock 18" cylinder barrel, mag tube goes out to the end. 3" chamber. only s/n on reciever and white line on top to line up bead sights very good shape $175

 

Old remington 878 semi-auto 26 or 28" full choke barrel. nice wood but no checkering, No engraving on reciever. blueing loss on the reciever. Odd gun, but I understand that 870 barrels will work if you drill gas ports. $195

 

The price is without tax and they won't budge

[BattleRifleG3 16]

Any one have experiece with either of these? I was looking for something inexpensive for a truck gun. Local shop has both.

Winchester defender. wood stock 18" cylinder barrel, mag tube goes out to the end. 3" chamber. only s/n on reciever and white line on top to line up bead sights very good shape $175

 

Old remington 878 semi-auto 26 or 28" full choke barrel. nice wood but no checkering, No engraving on reciever. blueing loss on the reciever. Odd gun, but I understand that 870 barrels will work if you drill gas ports. $195

 

The price is without tax and they won't budge

 

I'd go with the Defender. Remington semi-autos are out there and are a dime a dozen used, especially the non-standard ones. (Standards being the auto 5, 1100, and 11-87.)

 

Winchesters, especially the standard ones, can be found at good deals but will only go up in value due to Winchester closing. The Defender has a few quirky neat advantages that you may or may not care about. One is that it, unliek Rem and Moss, can cycle Aguila short shells without mods.

 

The Defenders can be pricey too, so that price is a whopping good deal. I'd say jump on it if you're in the market and like what you see.

[Hunter78 1]

I'd go with the Defender. Remington semi-autos are out there and are a dime a dozen used, especially the non-standard ones. (Standards being the auto 5, 1100, and 11-87.)

 

Winchesters, especially the standard ones, can be found at good deals but will only go up in value due to Winchester closing. The Defender has a few quirky neat advantages that you may or may not care about. One is that it, unliek Rem and Moss, can cycle Aguila short shells without mods.

 

The Defenders can be pricey too, so that price is a whopping good deal. I'd say jump on it if you're in the market and like what you see.

 

That's kind of the decion I'm leaning to The defender is in really good shape. The remington wories me since they dropped it for a reason. The only bad thing is that the buttstock is kind of cheap looking like an 870 express or Mossberg. I guess I could replace that easily, I think the defender would look bad ass with one of those steel heat shrouds on the barrel too. Do those have a rotating bolt? Perhaps I'd get both if I could work out a trade or a deal on both.

[BattleRifleG3 16]

Yes, the 1300s have a rotating bolt.

[Hunter78 1]

I picked it up today. I got them to throw in the tax $175 out the door. It sure doesn't look like it was fired much. Took her out and ran 8 rounds through her as fast as I could. Fastest pump I've shot yet! The only thing I don't like is the slide release on the left behind the trigger and it is kind of small. Does anyone offer a part to replace it that's better?

[Hunter78 1]

 

Here it is with an ati heat shroud

[BattleRifleG3 16]

If you want the highest capacity pump imagineable, put a 10rd extension on it, one made for the short tube. With the long tube, it would be even more than 10rds. Then you could use Aguila short shells, which feed in the defender, and have even more capacity still.

 

You'd have to use a longer barrel though, one made for the short tube, with a spacer in between the mag tube cap and the barrel band.

 

A model called the "practical defender" has the 8rd tube and a 22 or 24" barrel with chokes and rifle sites, and was designed for competition. I'd love one myself, and have been seeing one at a local big name store. Must resist...