Remington 870 DM Magpul
courtesy Dan Abraham

The Remington 870 shotgun is simple, efficient, affordable and reliable. No wonder Big Green’s sold almost 12 million of them. With their new 870 DM (for detachable magazine) Remmy has rolled the dice. Have they produced the New Coke of shotguns or a V8-like forehead slapper that will have other shotgun makers wondering why they haven’t thought of this, too?

Remington 870 DM Magpul shotgun
The 870 DM Magpul takes Remington’s polymer 12-gauge magazines in various capacities.

Remington has announced five new 870 DM Models and added DM capability to their Tac-14 non-shotgun shotgun (see them all here).

The ​DM​’s ​feature​ ​everything that made​ ​the​ ​870​ ​shotgun​ ​so popular for the last 57 years, with the simple addition of a detachable​ ​magazine​ ​system​ ​in​ ​place​ ​of​ ​the​ ​traditional tube​ ​magazine.​ ​The​ ​polymer mag (each gun ships with one) holds​ ​six​ ​12 gauge shotshells​ ​(2 3/4 or 3 inches), giving a shooter seven rounds of tactical shotgun firepower and all the ease of operation of an 870 pump.

The big advantage: faster reloads. No more thumb-feeding a tube mag one by one. You ​swap​ ​out an 870 DM’s ​spent​ ​mag​ ​via a large paddle-type release located just forward of the magazine well. Tilt the release back, slide the mag out and you’re ready to rock.

You reload the 870 DM AR-style. Just slam a new six-round mag straight up and into the mag well (no need to rock it in like an AK). With a full mag in place and one in the chamber, you can easily pack another ​magazine​ ​in​ ​a ​pocket​ ​or​ ​carrying​ ​pouch. That gives you 13 rounds of good-to-go, git-er-done big-boy ballistics.

Remington 870 DM Magpul shotgun
The Remington Model 870 DM Magpul pump action 12 gauge shotgun features a Magpul SGA stock. Sighting is done via a white front bead and rear XS ghost ring sights.

The review model — the Model 870 DM Magpul –​ ​sports​ ​a​ ​Magpul​ ​SGA​ ​stock​; shooters can ​choose​ ​their length​ ​of​ ​pull​ ​by​ ​adding​ ​or​ ​removing​ ​spacers.​ ​The Magpul festooned shottie​ ​end with ​a​ ​thick​ ​rubber​ ​Remington Supercell ​recoil​ ​pad​.​

​​The rest of the Remington 870 DM Magpul — the ​trigger component​ ​system,​ ​cross-bolt​ ​safety,​ ​and​ ​18.5-inch ​barrel​ — are ​the​ ​same as your grandfather’s 870. Which means the DM models will take 870 replacement barrels.

Remington 870 DM Magpul shotgun
The DM Magpul shotgun gives shooters all the benefits of the 870 pump shotgun platform fed by reliable polymer magazines. 

Pay no attention to that not-a-magazine tube under the barrel. It’s empty; there to guide the fore end as you cycle the gun.

That ​Magpul​ MOE forend​ ​offers​ ​a​ ​solid​, positive grip​ ​while ​shucking ​shotshells. It​ ​has​ ​the​ ​standard​ ​Magpul​ ​feel​ ​to​ ​it​, though I​’m​ ​not​ ​sure it’s any more efficient​ ​than​ ​the​ ​”corncob” forend​ ​on​ ​my​ ​Remington​ ​870​ ​Express​ ​Tactical.​ ​​ ​What it does have: ​​M-LOK​ ​capability. You can add a length of rail for lights, lasers, coffee makers, etc.

The 870 DM Magpul M-LOK fore end lets you attach your favorite light or laser
The Magpul fore end has plenty of M-LOK attachment points for accessories. courtesy Kat Ainsworth

The​ ​870 DM uses an XS​ ​Sight​ ​system. The metal​ ​ghost​ ​ring​ ​rear​ ​sight​’s​ ​milled​ ​into a​ ​length of ​1913​ ​Picatinny​ ​rail​, suitable for​ ​owners​ ​who​ ​prefer​ ​to mount a​n ​​optic.​ ​​​The front​ ​sight’s​ ​ramped metal​ ​XS​ ​white​ ​dot​​ ​aligns​ ​easily ​with​ ​the ghost​ ​ring​.​ ​​ ​

Remington 870 DM Magpul shotgun
The Model 870 DM Magpul 12 gauge pump action pump home defense shotgun comes with a breecher-style tactical REM choke, but takes any REM chokes.

The​ ​870 DM Magpul’s muzzle​ ​features​ ​a​ ​jagged​-edged​ ​ported​ ​breacher-style choke​ ​that can be ​switched​ ​out​ ​for​ ​any other Remington Rem Choke ​tube for hunting or sporting purposes.​ ​​

Remington 870 DM Magpul shotgun magazine
The 870 DM Magpul shotgun is fed by a detachable 6-round box magazine. A 3-round magazine is also available.

The​ ​six​-round​ ​box​ ​magazine​’s molded textured polymer​ ​walls​ help ​enable​ quick, confident and reliable removal​ ​and​ ​reloading.​ ​​​The mag​, built with a ​strong​ ​spring​ ​and a bright ​orange​ ​follower​, ​mates​ ​well with ​the​ ​aluminum​ ​magwell​ ​directly below​ ​the​ ​receiver​ ​for​ ​smooth ​feeding.

Given the new feeding system, ​I was curious to see how the 870 DM pump action shotgun would cycle heavy loads. So I headed to the range, packing​ ​some​ ​light​ ​#6​ ​game​ ​loads,​ ​00​ ​buck​ ​and​ ​one-ounce​ ​slugs​. After​ ​the​ ​first​ ​couple​ ​of shots​ ​of​ ​#6​ ​loads, I determined that the DM’s racking action is​ ​just​ ​as smooth​ ​as​ ​my​ ​Remington​ ​870​ ​Express​ ​Tactical.​ ​​

When​ ​I​ ​think​ ​about​ shooting a ​12​ ​gauge​ ​shotgun,​ ​I’m thinking  ​00​ ​buckshot.​ ​​​The 870 DM ​fed,​ ​fired​ ​and​ ​ejected​ ​double-ought buck ​without hesitation or deviation.

Firing one​-ounce​ ​slugs at AR500​ ​steel targets​ from 30 yards, the​ ​870​ ​DM​ ​took​ ​care​ ​of​ ​business​.​  My​ ​shoulder​ ​didn’t​ ​feel too​ ​bad​ ​either, thanks to the Supercell pad. And as the DM uses most of the​ ​tried​ ​and​ ​true​ ​​870​ ​components, a lot of the 870 aftermarket parts will work on a DM.​ ​​

In short, the new, box-fed 870 series will likely be a hit: simple, efficient, reasonably affordable (MSRP $799) and reliable. It should sell especially well in the home defense shotgun market, where buyers will appreciate the extra capacity and reload-ability with power that handguns just can’t match and more perceived reliability than semi-autos. In fact, this may be the ultimate choice in a home defense shotgun. Whether hunters will pay the freight for the extra ammo in what is an ungainly looking beast remains to be seen.

Specifications: 870​ ​DM​ ​​Magpul​​ ​(81352)

Capacity: 6+1​ rounds of 2 3/4 or 3-inch shells
Barrel Length: 18.5 inches (comes with ported tactical choke, Rem Choke compatible)
Overall Length: 38 inches
Weight: 7.5 lbs.
Sights: XS Steel Front Sight, XS Tactical Rail/Ghost Ring Rear Sight
MSRP: $799


Ratings​ ​(out​ ​of​ ​five​ ​stars):

Accuracy:​ ​* * * * *
Dead on. I​ ​easily hit​ ​my​ ​target​ ​with​ ​slugs​ ​from​ ​30​ ​yards​.

Ergonomics:​ ​* * * *
I​ ​love​ ​the​ ​Magpul​ ​furniture​ ​but​ ​a​ ​pistol​ ​grip​ ​would​ ​be​ ​nice on this model.

Reliability:​ ​* * * * *
Perfect. It smoothly cycled everything I fed it.

Customization:​ ​* * * * *
While there​ ​are​ hundreds of ​ways​ ​to​ ​customize​ ​an​ ​870​, I​ think I’ll​ ​leave​ ​this​ ​one​ ​as​ ​is.

Overall:​ ​* * * * *
Remington​ ​took​ ​an​ ​excellent​ ​home defense pump shotgun​ ​and​ ​made​ ​it​ ​better.​ ​​

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67 COMMENTS

  1. Looks awesome to me! Remington has it’s issues, but the 870 doesn’t seem to be affected. Nothing says close range firepower like a good shotgun.

    • 870s very much have issues, I know several people (myself included) that have bought them in the last several years and ended up with junk. Guns that won’t extract (Remington customer service just tells you to polish the chamber), sights soldered on crooked, stripped out stock screws, etc. Freedom Group junk.

      • I just did a qual on a brand new 870, and it was solid. A little rough, but so are brand new Mossburgs. Sorry you’ve had issues.

      • Does an inability to move the sight enough to zero a slug at 50 yards count as a problem? What about AFTER Remington sent their tallest front sight?

        I’d consider that a problem. That’s my one and only data point, and it’s a big point of fail.

    • It looks cool but I cannot patron remington. Various people have lost their lives because they chose their bottom line over doing the right thing. Firearm safety to me is paramount your mileage may vary.

      • Anyone that “lost their lives” over a firearm accident Did so by their own hand not the firearm’s fault. following the ten commandments of firearm safety will keep everyone safe.

        • Agreed. After listening to the anti-Glock doomsayers who cite how dangerous the gun is for years, I’ve managed to carry one daily in the US, plus a couple of years in Iraq without accidentally shooting myself or anyone else. It looks like a great idea to me, although I’d like to see Mossberg field one. But then, I have a Saiga that works great, so go figure.

    • The reviewer mentioned:

      “The​ ​polymer mag (each gun ships with one) holds​ ​six​ ​12 gauge shells​ ​(2 3/4 or 3 inches), giving a shooter seven rounds of firepower.”

      • 6rd in the mag, 1 in the chamber [carried on safe] = 7rd firepower b4 reload. Standard marketing math to make something sound better than it really is.

    • Who the hell uses 3″ magnums for home defense? You load up a show off to people & never fire? You’re clearly overcompensating for something.

      • 3″ #4 buck isn’t overcompensating for anything.
        If you can’t handle it, that’s a reason for not using it, but I regularly practice with 3″ shells.
        Self defense isn’t a game. It’s brutal. It’s live or die. I will use every advantage I can get.
        If you think giving yourself every advantage in a life or death situation is somehow “overcompensating,” it make me think you view home defense as a game.
        It’s not.

        • I don’t think it’s possible to “overcompensate” with defense, but I do believe in law of diminishing returns. Personally, I like minishells in my Mossberg for home defense. With an 18 inch barrel, 10+1 of #4 buckshot mini shells (basically like shooting 11 .24 caliber pistols at once), less recoil, less likely to go through walls but still with sufficient power, no change in reliability, flashlight.

          I’ll take my Mossberg for home defense any day. Admittedly I like that Remington…

      • That sounds like the Liberal tripe that men who carry a gun are overcompensating for something. Personally, I’ll take every advantage I can get in a gun fight. And yeah, I had a couple of good ones in Iraq.

  3. “I​ ​EASILY hit​ ​my​ ​target​ ​with​ ​slugs​ ​from​ ​30​ ​yards​ ​with​ ​EASE.”
    The big easy. 😉

  4. This should really drive the libs nuts. Someone should design a double stack mag thought. Maybe Surefire will make one simular to their 60 rd AR mag.

  6. “You can add a length of rail for lights, lasers, coffee makers, etc.”

    Thanks for the tongue-in-cheek joke. It irks me when every review mentions a rail and has to subsequently explain, every time, what the rail is there for, like we need re-education every time. I get new gun owners might not be aware of the purpose of a rail but it’s merely a Google search away. Or you can be pedantic for the majority of the readers of the site, whereupon it only really bothers this lone commentator and maybe a handful of others.

  7. Anh, to me that’s only a little-better than a security model 870.

    Yes, reloads are ~ faster, but magazines are much better on semi-autos, and 95% of those are ‘fer huntin’ and require a 3-round-max plug.

  8. It will sell well I suspect.

    Personally I’ll pass. If the M590A1 doesn’t get it done in eight rounds I’m ditching the shotty for a rifle because it’s already one hell of a gunfight.

  9. “the​ ​same as your grandfather’s 870”
    Show me a close up of this gun’s machined ejector, properly staked and peened, and I’ll believe it.

  10. Slap a drum mag on it (and you know folks will, because, America!) and we have the next thing for the Leftists to ban as “The new Street Sweeper, slaughtering hundreds with every trigger pull”, because you know they will.

    I’ll seriously consider the birdhead “Shockwave” version, as soon as an aftermarket vertical forward grip is available…

    • I would buy a shockwave if they were legal here in CA. I think they just might be the perfect home shotgun. They would be pretty useless for anything else except range fun.

      2 perfect reasons for buying them.

      • You can take an 18.5″ 590 or A1, put the Raptor grip on it, and call it done.
        It’s only 4.5″ longer than a Shockwave.
        And, it should be California legal.
        IANAL.

        • Actually, that should be legal here in the people’s republic. Pistol grip shotguns are legal here. They just hurt my hand after a few shots. I’d like to try that raptor grip. I’ll check into it a little further.

      • Due to the Shockwave being a “firearm” and not a handgun/pistol a VFG would be Kosher. TTAG has a post about an AR-15 “firearm” somewhere, it looks like a AR pistol but it’s not so it can have a VG.

  11. Why? I could maybe see a mag fed semi auto. But a pump? This thing is bulky and looks like it would be an unbalanced rig. I can reload a tube mag on a pump gun rapidly. If i do it right the mag tube is essentially bottomless capacity.

    Now I got to pay 800 bucks for what is basically a pig with lipstick. And because it’s mag fed the tactikewl ‘warriors’ will insist on buying, at great expense, a truck load of mags to go with it. I’ll pass.

    But because it will appeal to tactikewl tommy it will sell like hotcakes.

    • Not to mention the bulk of the extra magazines. Seems like four of these magazines is a lot bigger than a box of shotgun shells, for the same amount of ammo.

      I’m squarely in the camp of “if you can’t get the job done with the 8 or 10 rounds available in a Mossberg 590A1, then a shotgun wasn’t the right tool to begin with.”

  12. ” V8-like forehead slapper that will have other shotgun makers wondering why they haven’t thought of this, too?”

    We’ll have to ask Brixia (PM-5), Dominion Arms (Grizzly), Dagger (SAP6), Norinco (Grizzly again), Armed (Eagle), Uzkon (AS46-O5), etc. about that.

  13. Standard garbage Remington 870: $300
    New and improved Remington 870 with a piece of aluminum added to the loading gate and some bigger pins, same garbage: $800

    Wow, they’ve got balls.

  15. Feed lips look like a weak point to me. Seems like they’d be easily bent.

    I’ll give it time to see how it works for others first. Otherwise I’m totally down.

  17. I prefer detachable magazines to tubular, any day of the week. The speed of reloads is a thing, but more important is that I’m still afraid of chain firing. Even with round nose bullets, as opposed to the recommended flat nose or the prohibited pointed nose, I’m still concerned about end-to-end rounds igniting the next one, and the next one, and the next one.

    What I really like about this is that it “AR-izes” a familiar shotgun. Maybe that will enlighten some fudds out there.

    • Enlighten me: how exactly would a cylindrical, flat-faced shotshell strike and ignite the primer of another shotshell in a tube in front of it?

  19. It’s faster reloads if you shoot the entire mag then reload. Rapid fire. Ok…

    Otherwise it’s not necessarily faster: you could otherwise load one or two as you are between shooting. Always being fully loaded with a tube feed. Shoot a few. Take cover loading, shoot. Etc.

  20. Ah hell. Just buy the full length KSG holds 25 rounds…… no, they really made it. Yes folks one whole box of shells.

  22. I am in need of this tacticool coffee maker so to speak… may I ask where one can find a purveyor of this?

  24. Will Remington be coming out with that in a semi auto? That would be so cool! That would eliminate one action of having to pump the gun!! Hopefully, Mossberg follows suit. Any Remington is a lot heavier than a Mossberg, because of the Remingtion’s steel receiver! One can only hope

  26. It might be more trouble than it: worth to do, but the fore end tube used to rack could be made, with a diverter, to hold a few more shells.

  28. I suppose you could use it for hunting, but walking 4-5 miles while pheasant hunting with that magazine hanging down in the way seems like a problem in search of a solution.

    I’ll stick with an out of the way tube magazine.

  29. I like the 887 super-futuristic looking. i got one and am holding on to it. Remington BLEW it with this gun. it would have been the shotgun of the century. It’s just so plain bad-ass looking and has EVERYTHING you want in a tacticool shot gun. Too bad.

    The new tactical guns don’t look cool at all.

  30. WELL, I know I’m late to the conversation, but here is my experience with the DM. I bought the TURKEY MODEL with camo and molded handgrip. Had High hopes with the rebate valid at the time. I accepted firearm from FFL, tried to assemble as any other 870 without luck, many attempts….completely puzzled, checked YouTube for tips, went to multiple experienced gun guys, finally one said, it’s obviously not milled out to spec on receiver. Called Remington, they said, send it in. After about 2 months finally got a call back from repair, they said, they’re not going to be making that model anymore. What would you like for a replacement? I looked at website and picked the V3, he agreeded to 28″ black synthetic. It arrived, nice to have a upgraded shotgun, but bolt is overwhelming, I’ll get it together. Really I just wanted the DM. If i can find magpul I’ll buy. Good luck.

  31. I have one and love it! While I don’t plan on getting into a gunfight in which I’d need multiple magazines, I think it’s a tremendous idea for those who might.
    In addition, this is one wicked-looking shotgun!
    My only issue: getting the magazine out seemed a little confusing at first. The tang (??) that you pull to release the magazine stays with the gun; not the magazine. So it requires you to “hold your mouth just so”.

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