I'm in the process of purchasing a Rem. M870 Mark 1, a combat shotgun that the Marine Corps ordered and issued in the late '60s / early 70s. I've already bought it and am waiting on the shipment. 

 

I'd like to find out more about this specific gun, but have no idea where to start. It is marked US Property and the serial is S755216V. 

 

Any guidance on researching this? Any/all help is appreciated!

Gyrene:

 

Assuming that your new shotgun is a genuine M870 Mk. I then you have a very scarce and desirable USGI weapon.

 

For further information I would start with Bruce Canfield's excellent book on US Shotguns, as seen in the image below.  Bruce is a member here and occasionally posts so maybe he will offer some comments.

 

Once your shotgun arrives I hope that you will post back here with some good photos.  Those US 870s are very interesting martial shotguns.

 

Regards,

Charlie

 

 

 

15 hours ago, Charlie Flick said:

For further information I would start with Bruce Canfield's excellent book on US Shotguns, as seen in the image below. 

 

 

I definitely plan on getting the book. I've already read some excerpts from it, on this gun. I have one other book by him. I just a couple of months ago found out these existed. As a collector of USMC items and arms, I started looking for one right away. I was fortunate to find this one. It was 'passed' at auction because the reserve wasn't met. Auction house had a written appraisal from the Blue Book of $32,500. That's poppycock. It's one of those 'I bought my house 3 yrs ago for $500,000 and with the recent crash it's now worth $250,000' deals. Anyway, I contacted the auction house and they said they would entertain an offer. I had some buyer's remorse as soon as I sent the offer, but what's done is done. With buyer's premium and shipping, I have a shade over $10k in it. 

Lots of pictures here

https://summitgunauctions.hibid.com/lot/209639626/remington-wingmaster-mark-i-trench-gun-12ga?ref=catalog

 

"I've already read some excerpts from it, on this gun." Clarification, not on this specific gun, but on the 870 Mark 1.

PS, I don't say "poppycock." What I said was "bullshxt."

Gyrene:

 

That is one clean machine.  I took a few of your auction pics and reposted them here.  (Pics hosted on an outside site often disappear and render a thread like this nearly useless without them, so our Forum greatly prefers pics to be posted here to preserve the integrity of the thread.)

 

Charlie

 

 

In my archives I had a nice shot of a Marine with a M870 Mk I taken way back in 1989 which I thought would be of interest here.

 

 

Awesome! Thanks!

 

IMHO, it looks like it needs just a bit of TLC. I've found that Clenzoil can sometimes do wonders for minor rust. 

 

I'm greatly looking forward to it. I have a mostly-complete collection of rifles issued to Marines. This will complement it nicely, I think. 

 

 

Two things stick out as issues to me.  The first is that the magazine tube sticks out beyond the muzzle of the barrel.  It should be the other way around with the barrel being slightly longer than the mag tube.  You can see this in the photo Charlie posted above.  The barrels were 21 inches on the Mark I whereas regular Model 870 riot guns have 20 inch barrels.  Also, the Mark I barrels had a "MOD" choke mark on them.

 

The second thing is that the serial number (S755216) is higher than the Mark I shotguns I have seen or have data on.  There were only just over 3,200 of these shotguns ordered in a 1969 contract, and all of them that I know about fall into a small serial number range from roughly S08xxxx to S128xxx.

Thanks for the scoop. Another user made me aware of some issues. I'm in discussions with the auction house, and I also plan on taking this to the Blue Book folks, who seem to be off base. 

 

Besides not seeing a MOD choke mark on the barrel, the barrel date code does not look right.  The first letter is the month the barrel was made.  The second letter is the year it was made.  A 1969 made barrel would likely have a barrel year code of either an R for 1968 or an S for 1969.  The second letter on the subject gun does not look like an R or an S.

The barrel on an original 870 Mk1 should be 21 inches long.

https://gunsamerica.com/digest/milsurp-u-s-military-remington-model-870-shotguns/

 

Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Bruce N. Canfield, author of the book Complete Guide to U.S. Military Combat Shotguns.

 

M870 Military Riot Gun

In addition to the special Mark 1 variant, a number of Model 870 shotguns were procured by all branches of the service, especially the United States Navy. Most of these were standard M870 plain barrel riot (typically 18-inch to 20-inch barrels). Most such guns purchased by the government had factory parkerized finishes, but a surprising number had standard commercial blued finishes. Most of these guns were purchased in the early to mid-1970s, several years after the Mark 1 contract was completed.

 

 

Some of the Model 870 riot guns were fitted with sling swivels, and an extended magazine tube/ bayonet adapter kit that was developed by Remington. Such guns resembled the USMC contract Mark 1 but had shorter barrels and were not fitted with rifle sights. Remington made both parkerized and blued extended magazine/bayonet adapter kits that were also sold to the law enforcement and civilian arms markets. Conversion of existing riot guns was accomplished by simply screwing on the magazine tube extension and clamping on the bayonet adapter, which was secured by three screws. It is reported that the U.S. Air Force as well as the U.S. Navy utilized these conversion kits on some of their M870 riot guns.

 

 

I would assume these guns would be mark US Property.

It may have also undergone a arsenal rebuild with a new 20" barrel

Thanks, Recon!