Choosing to make a shotgun your primary survival rifle is not a bad call by any means, and the Remington 870 XCS pump is as well suited to the task as any shotgun on the market.
Remington 870 XCS
The 870 has been around for 50 years,
and has pulled duty with every branch of the armed
services, and law enforcement agencies
worldwide. The 870 Marine Magnum pictured below
is finished in Remingtons latest TriNyte(tm) finish,
which is supposed to be the most durable, weatherproof finish
they have ever put on a shotgun. All internal
parts are Nickel coated, including the trigger
group. The wide variety
of ammunition available for shotguns also makes them a
good survival rifle candidate. Shotgun ammo is
fairly bulky though, so dont go overboard, just pack what
you need. The stock will hold 4 shells in reserve, along
with 6 in the magazine. Disassembly and cleaning just dont get any easier than with the 870, unscrew the magazine cap, pull the barrel, and slide out the 2 piece bolt assembly. Give it a good once over and a light coat of oil, and spend about 30 seconds putting it back together, and you're done. Its a classic case of less being more, the Remington 870 XCS does what it was designed to do very well, every time, and nothing more. There is also a staggering amount of aftermarket gear available for the 870... from folding stocks and forends, to lights, heatshields, sights, etc.. There are as many customizable options for the Remington 870 as there are for the Ruger 10/22.
I recently Made some modifications to my Remington 870 Wingmaster, shown below. I had a gunsmith cut the barrel down to shortest allowable legal length years ago, but had always wanted to put a folding stock and some black furniture on it. All the accessories shown here came from ATI (Advanced Technologies). They make some really nice stuff, and all of it came with good instructions. In the case of the forend grip, a tool is supplied specifically for removing the 870 forend, which can be a little tricky to get off, especially if the ring in the forend is really tight.
The folding stock with pistol grip comes with an adapter to fit either the 870 or the mossberg 500 series of shotguns. The old stock is removed by unscrewing the 2 screws in the recoil pad, which exposes the large screw holding the buttstock to the reciever. After that its just a matter of unscrewing the old one and installing the new one, which uses a hex head screw / allen wrench instead of the flathead screw it replaces. The shell holder is sold separately, but simply screws into pre-drilled holes in the stock.
The magazine extender is also from advanced technologies and increases the magazine capacity from 5 rounds to 7 rounds. It screws on in place of the existing magazine screw cap and comes with a longer spring to replace the old shorter spring. A magazine clamp is available for less than $10 which affixes the magazine extender to the barrel. This is on order, and I recommend getting it, otherwise the mag extender has a slight downward "Droop" in it, and just aint pretty. You can see it in these pictures if you look close enough. I dont use this as a woods gun, or survival rifle, in terms of outdoor survival, this is more of a "Security" product. But either way, I think the Remington 870 is one of the best firearms one can own, especially if you only own a few. But thats just my opinion, there are plenty of other opinions on the survival rifles page , feel free to add yours ! Thanks for visiting ! Update: Added a ATI heatshield to the barrel, and a 115 lumen light. The clamps for the magazine extender and light are also from Advanced technologies. These parts cost me about $40 bucks delivered.
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