Wingmaster vs Express

[DrB]

All my 870's are Wingmasters from the early 70's.  What is the difference between the Express?  I know is lower quality but what is all the differences? Never handled an Express.

Thanks Dave

[Batesmotel]

Less fit and finish. Express will have a rougher action. Parkerized vs polished and blued. Much lower grade of wood. Plastic trigger group vs metal. I think the express uses MIM parts where the WM uses milled. 

Probably many more differences 

The express is a good beater field gun but not likely to be an heirloom. When I first started hunting duck I was glad to have an old J. C. Higgins that I could beat. My friends had 870 Wingmasters or 1100s. They were always worried about water and scratches. 

[DWARREN123]

Do both or either have dual action bars?

[Borg warner]

On ‎3‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 5:00 PM, DrB said:

All my 870's are Wingmasters from the early 70's.  What is the difference between the Express?  I know is lower quality but what is all the differences? Never handled an Express.

Thanks Dave

As BatesMotels said, Less fit and finish. Express will have a rougher action. Parkerized vs polished and blued. Much lower grade of wood. Plastic trigger group vs metal. I think the express uses MIM parts where the WM uses milled.  I used to work for a gunsmith who did authorized Remington service and once the Express came out he had job security.

And Remington's overall quality had gone even further downhill since they were bought out by Cerebus Capital management and now their customer service is not as good either.

[Valmet]

To Borg's last point- I wouldn't own a post-Cerebus/Freedom Group Remington. 

[Nestor]

Polymer trigger group is actually more durable than the aluminum one. Express has the same receiver as Wingmaster. Just less time and money spent on finish. Same barrel. Different finish. Same amount of the MIM parts those days. Perhaps with the exception of the extractor. Lower grade of wood. Each new 870 will require chamber to be polished. I used to be a 870 fanatic. Not any longer. In fact I had better luck with Mossberg lately and now that's all I own (12 gauge pump anyway).