For home security, Remington Express or Wingmaster?

Wingmaster is a nice shotgun, but as its name implies, it is designed to hunt birds, not be a self defense gun. The barrel is too long and the magazine too small for that.

Remington make several 870 models that are good for home defense. Mossberg does too. I have a Mossberg Maverick 88 Special Purpose (short barrel, 6 round magazine) that cost me $250 new. It fires buckshot just as well as any other shotgun and I don't feel bad about leaving it mostly unprotected in a closet.

Oh good lord.

Okay, first, a few facts.

As Gunplumber has already noted, you're talking about two different versions of the same gun, the Remington 870. Of course, there are a ѕhit ton of other versions of the 870 as well which would be better suited for your perceived purpose.

The Wingmaster is the top-quality bird-getting version of the 870. It is likely not a magnum receiver. It will be reasonably light, well balanced, and well finished. It will also have a long barrel absolutely not practical for defensive use.

The Express is the "economy" version of the 870. It comes in various barrel lengths. Since you haven't mentioned barrel length at all, there's no way to tell you whether or not this would be more appropriate than the wingmaster.

Personally, I'm with Gunplumber on the idea of a handgun over a shotgun for home defense. He and I have our reasons for this choice -- I don't know his but mine are personal experience having survived a home defense incident and learning firsthand the shortcomings of a shotgun -- I lived to actually make use of this learning. But there are others who insist on utilizing a two-handed weapon in close quarters which you must partially relinquish control over in order to manipulate objects in a defensive situation (such as doors, keys, flashlights, etc.) and have decided that "firepower" is more important than CQB tactics.

Different strokes for different folks. That's why they make Ford and Chevy.

Based upon your question, you're merely asking for an evaluation of the difference in quality between the top-end Wingmaster and the bargain-end Express.

Functionally, none. The quality is a "fit and finish" one.

However, that being said, whichever model you choose, you need to choose the 870 in the correct configuration if you ever hope to utilize it in a defensive capacity. A long-barrelled bird gun is the wrong gun. But that's just a symptom of the problem.

The real problem is you haven't a fuсking clue what you're doing with it. Because if you did, you wouldn't even be asking this question. You would have a particular firearm you're comfortable with for defensive use and that's what you would go with.

You are falling into the Hollywood-promoted trap of thinking you can "learn as you go" when under pressure against a deadly threat.

That will get you killed. It's almost as if Hollywood wants natural selection to work faster.

So instead of going to the local pawnshop and playing "which one is best" bullѕhit games, maybe you should go get some actual training. Your home is most likely a close-quarters environment. Find an instructor who actually teaches close quarters handgun fighting. Problem is, these days, every clown who comes out of the military claims to be a Green Beret or Navy Seal and starts his own bullѕhit "training course" with all kinds of "military secret methods."

And of course, the novice, looking for the fast-track to defensive competence, just eats that ѕhit up.

Here's a little secret: The method I remember most from military marksmanship training is kneeling for long enough for even my 20-year-old joints to get stiff in a ring around a 55-gallon drum (empty) painted with little stencils of targets on it all the way around and aiming our rifles at it. We called it "snapping in."

Something tells me that most "military secret methods" won't do you a damn bit of good as a civvy trying to learn CQB. So get that ѕhit out of your head. Believe it or not, your best bet is to find an NRA certified instructor. Yes, that "big bad NRA" was, first and foremost, a training and certification organization long before they had a political arm.

But I'm not here to talk politics. I'm here trying to answer not only the literal text of your question, but the real question you're TRYING TO ASK but don't even know how to because you don't even know what you don't know.

Instead of trying to figure out which of the same model of shotgun is "best", you really should be getting trained in REAL gunfighting, and then, once you are competent, make your own decision as to which firearm you will choose which fits your competencies and fighting style.

Purchasing a firearm is not like buying a pair of shoes at Macy's. It's more like buying a parachute -- you do some real practical things with an instructor before ever venturing over to the sales counter.

A gun is a lot like a parachute -- if you don't have one when you need it, you will probably never need one again.

So, to answer your question succinctly: It doesn't matter. You won't be able to use either one effectively, so the quality of what you can't use is absolutely irrelevant.

You are looking at two versions of the same gun, the 870. The difference doesn't amount to a hill of beans. Do you prefer a pretty shotgun or a utilitarian looking shotgun?

The question I have is why a shotgun? You buy the mythology that the sound of racking the slide causes criminals blood to run cold and makes them run screaming? Trust me, it ain't so. Given the choice, I'll take a hand gun every single time.

Mossberg 88 Maverick.