Remington 870 Edges Benelli SBE In Delta’s ‘Best Waterfowl Gun’ Survey

If Delta’s shotgun poll had been a horse race, it would have ended in a photo finish.

We asked visitors to our web site and subscribers to our e-newsletter to vote for the “best waterfowl gun ever made”, and more than 1,200 shooters responded. Our members have spoken, and the winner is—drum roll please—the Remington 870, which beat out the Benelli Super Black Eagle by a nose.

Why the references to horse racing?  Because as anyone who’s ever fired one of them will attest, all the top finishers in our survey are true thoroughbreds. 

The ubiquitous 870 is not only one of the most affordable and reliable shotguns ever made, it’s also the best-selling, pushing 10 million in sales since its introduction in 1950.    Remington will only confirm that the 870 is the top-selling pump shotgun ever made, but one might assume it’s the all-time sales leader as well.

The 870 was 40 years old when Benelli’s entry in the best-gun derby made its debut in 1990, but the SBE—including its offspring the SBE II—has earned an impressive cadre of devotees who swear by its durability even under the “fowlest” of conditions.

The race for the next spots was too close to call given the vague names and models provided by some of our voters.   For all practical purposes, four guns finished tied for third: the Beretta Xtrema, the Browning Gold, the Remington 11-87 and the Browning A-5, a gun that isn’t even manufactured anymore. 

Close behind that foursome sharing the next spot were the Winchester Super X2, the discontinued Winchester Model 12 and the Browning BPS.

When our top vote-getter was introduced in January of 1950, Harry S. Truman was president and the average American family made less than $3,000 a year.  The 870 hit the streets in January of 1950 has been in continuous production ever since.

If all the 870s sold were laid end-to-end, they’d span more than 7,000 miles.

According to urban legend, the 870 was Remington’s answer to Winchester’s hugely popular Model 12, the standard by which all pump guns of the time were judged.  But that’s not exactly the case says Jack Heath, who was Remington’s historian for 34 years before he retired in 1996.

Prior to that time, Heath told us, guns were made from milled parts that were hand-fitted to each gun, which was a very expensive proposition.  During World War II, Remington had developed a process to stamp the metal parts in the manufacture of the 1903A3 military rifle, and this new technology is what paved the way for the 870.

“Using stamped parts made the gun far less expensive to produce and very reliable,” says Heath.  “The 870 was far less expensive to make than the Model 12.”

Utilizing parts from the new 11-’48 autoloader, another beneficiary of stamped metal parts, Ray Crittendon, Phillip Haskell, Ellis Hailston and G. E. Pinckney set out to develop a replacement for Remington’s out-dated Model 31 pump gun.

Back then, no one could have predicted the new 870 was destined to become the best-selling shotgun of all time.

“It didn’t sell very well when it first came out,” says Heath.  “The first 870s were Plan Jane—they had a corncob fore-end that was barely bigger than the magazine tube.  But they dolled it up in the 1960s and it really took off.”

The Wingmaster was available in 12-, 16- and 20-gauge versions ranging in price from $69.95 for the AP Standard Grade all the way up to $678.55 for the premier-grade trap gun.  The original Wingmaster came with a 12-ounce “vari-weight” steel plug and a regular plug, which Remington promoted as three guns in one—a lightweight five-shot, a lightweight three-shot (with the wooden plug) and a heavyweight magnum three-shot (with the steel plug).

In 1969 Remington offered 28-guage and .410 models as part of its “Model 870 Matched Pair” skeet gun offering, which sold for the eye-popping price of $395 for the pair (and don’t you old-timers wish you’d cached a couple of those in your gun cabinet).  The company sold 1,503 of the combo packages before offering them individually in 1970.

In 1966, on Remington’s 150th anniversary, Wingmaster sales achieved the million-gun plateau; it reached 2 million in sales in 1973, and topped 3 million in 1984.

The RemChoke system was introduced in 1986. A year later the lower-priced 870 Express was unveiled, spurring sales to 6 million by 1993 and 7 million by ’96.  The 9 million mark was surpassed in December of 2005.

“The 870 is one of the most reliable shotguns ever made,” says Heath.  “It’s like a Timex watch—it takes a licking and keeps on ticking.”

Forty years after the first 870 was sold, the Super Black Eagle made its North American debut and quickly endeared itself to waterfowlers. The SBE was the only 31⁄2-inch semi-automatic made, and with the advent of non-toxic shot, the bigger chamber quickly caught waterfowlers’ attention. 

But insiders will tell you the SBE’s biggest selling feature was “the buddy blessing”.

“Word of the gun’s reliability quickly got out,” explains Steve McKelvain of Benelli.  “With its inertia system, everything goes out the barrel and there’s no fouling. It wasn’t long before we had guides and outfitters—guys who shoot lots and lots of rounds—endorsing the gun.

“The Super Black Eagle is designed for U.S. hunters,” says McKelvain.  “The type of shooting we do here is more demanding than in Europe.  Americans see guns as a tool, and want something that will stand up to the day-to-day punishment they dish out.  Europeans are more concerned about how the gun looks.

“Italians will say they took the shape for the trigger guard from a Maserati, or this shape from something else.  They tend to look at the high-end embellishments of a gun. Americans want a gun that works.

“The SBE was made for waterfowlers in response to steel shot.  It was engineered in Italy with our direction.  To this day, the Italians accuse us of making the guns ugly,” McKelvain laughs.

McKelvain says the only complaint Benelli ever heard about the Super Black Eagle was about recoil.  The company’s response was the Super Black Eagle II with the recoil-reducing ComfortTech system.  Not only did the ComfortTech system lessen recoil, it reduced muzzle climb by 20 percent.

Benelli doesn’t release sales figures, but if our survey is any indication, the SBE ranks with the top-selling waterfowl guns on the market. 

One of our second runners-up is almost as popular today as it was when it was introduced more than a century ago.  The only thing more remarkable than John Moses Browning’s timeless Auto-5 is the story of how the “old humpback” came into existence.

After two difficult years at the drawing board, Browning was granted a patent for the world’s first semi-automatic shotgun in 1900.  In 1901, the world’s most prolific gun designer took his design to Winchester, which during its 18-year relationship with Browning had always purchased his designs outright.

But the A-5 was different, and Browning wanted a royalty on the gun.  Winchester refused, and a frustrated Browning severed ties with the company.

In January of 1902 Browning was scheduled to meet with Marcellus Hartley, president of Remington, who was anxious to work with him.  Tragically, Hartley died of a heart attack while Browning sat in the waiting room.

A few months later Browning traveled to Belgium to meet with gun-maker Fabrique Nationale. An agreement was quickly reached, and in 1904, 10,000 A-5s were shipped to the US.

When high tariffs made the gun cost-prohibitive for most U.S. shooters, Remington in 1905 was granted a license to produce the its version of the A-5, the Model 11.

FN continued to manufacture the A-5 until 1976, with only a brief interruption during World War II.  In 1976, manufacture of theA-5 was switched from Belgium to Japan, where it was made until Browning Arms ceased production in the late 1990s.

In 1927, the “Sweet 16”, the lightweight version of the 16-guage A-5, sold for $73.75.  In 1998, just before production ceased, the asking price ranged from $839.95 to $865.95.  Over 2 million A-5s were made by FN, and as perhaps another million were manufactured in Japan.

John Browning died in 1926 with 128 firearms patents to his credit.  Most of the designs for military weapons were given to the government for a pittance of what they were worth.

The A-5 fell from favor with many shooters for two reasons: It wasn’t available in a 3½-inch version, and switching from lighter to heavier loads required changing springs. 

Browning Arms made several unsuccessful attempts at replacing the A-5—the A-500 and B-80 to name two—before it introduced the Browning Gold in 1994.

“When we first introduced the Gold, it was the most reliable gas-operated shotgun made,” says company spokesman Scott Grange.  “But then we made a mistake—we went to a 31⁄2-inch gun, but we built it on the old 3-inch frame, and to be honest we had some problems.  The gun got a bad reputation.  But we overcame that and today the Gold is again among the most reliable gas-operated shotguns made.”

Grange says the Gold’s two-piece carrier allows the speed-loading feature that was so popular among A-5 fans.

“One thing I hear all the time as I travel the sporting clays circuit is that the Gold is the finest pointing shotgun, period,” says Grange.

In John Browning’s time, the same shotgun was likely to be used for upland, waterfowl and target shooting.  But this is the age of specialization, and today there are a number of shotguns designed specifically for waterfowl hunters.

The Beretta Xtrema in one such gun, according to company spokesman Mateo Reconatini.    Introduced five years ago at the S.H.O.T show in Las Vegas, the Xtrema is  a 31⁄2-inch version of the Eureka, which was introduced five years earlier.   Together, they’ve sold an impressive 21⁄2 million copies.

“Waterfowl hunters told us they wanted a magnum gun that was versatile and durable with low recoil,” Reconatini says, “and that’s what we gave them.  The Kick-Off recoil system was designed with waterfowl hunters in mind.”

Beretta is hardly a newcomer to the gun-making game.  The Beretta family has been doing business in the same plant in Italy for 500 years.           

Ironically, Remington’s 11-87, which was introduced in 1987, also has ties to the A-5.  When high tariffs made importing the A-5 cost-prohibitive, Remington was granted a license to produce its Model 11.  Portions of the Model 11’s design were carried into the Model 11-’48, which was introduced in 1948, and the 1100, which came out in 1962. 

The 1100 was extremely popular, but not versatile enough for most waterfowlers who needed a magnum gun that didn’t require constant adjustments to shoot different loads.  The 11-87 would shoot just about anything, except for target loads.

“The gun has great cosmetics, and eye-appeal is important,” says Heath.  “It’s well balanced and very functional.  In fact, they should call it ‘Old Reliable’, because it’s virtually indestructible.”

Based on our survey, the 11-87 has been “pick of the litter” among Remington’s entries in the semi-automatic field ever since, and sale figures—4.5 million and still going strong—would seem to confirm that assumption.

The A-5 isn’t the only discontinued shotgun to make our list.  Winchester’s Model 12 pump gun came on the market shortly after the A-5 made its debut.

Winchester gun designer Thomas Crossly Johnson started work on the Winchester Model 12 in 1907, five years before the gun went into production.  A number of design changes were incorporated, and each was meticulously tested and re-tested.

The final design was approved in 1910 after no less than 50,000 rounds had been fired through the gun. 

Before a Model 12 was shipped, it had to pass 2,739 different inspections.  In the final proof-testing, the gun was fired with loads 330 percent more powerful than the heaviest factory load available.

Is it any wonder the first Model 12 sold for $30?  The price tag was almost four times the daily wage for workers in the heat-treating plant, a.k.a. “Winchester’s Hell”.

The Model 12 quickly became the standard by which slide-action shotguns were judged.

Eventually the high cost of manufacturing caught up with the durable Model 12, and in 1980—78 years and two million guns later—Winchester ceased production.   It’s been said that a Model 12 lasted forever, and Winchester finally filled the demand.

Incredible as it may seem, Browning Arms did not manufacture a pump gun until 1977 when it came out with the BPS.

“We were looking for a unique gun to break into the pump market with, and the BPS was the answer,” says Grange.  “The bottom-feed, bottom-ejection allows ambidextrous usage.  And the gun is bullet-proof.  Because it has no ejection ports and a steel, machine-cast receiver, it’s pretty much indestructible.

The BPS is available in dozens of configurations from 10-guage all the way to .410.

The Winchester Super X is similar to the Browning Gold in many respects, including being manufactured in the same plant.  But they are not the same gun, insists Grange.  “The Gold is a more complex system,” he says.

“I think the Super X is the most reliable gas-operated auto out there,” he says.  “A few years ago I ran into an outfitter from Canada who told me he hadn’t cleaned his Super X in two years.  It took three of us to pull the barrel out to clean it, but the gun never missed a beat.”

Did we call these guns thoroughbreds?  Perhaps “workhorses” would be a better metaphor for our lineup of top-rated smoothbores, because durability and reliability are prerequisite for a good waterfowling gun, and these guns deliver even under the worst conditions.