As some of you know, I use my C&R Ward's Western Field 600A-ERI for most of my bird hunting and clay sports. It's a full-choke 12ga 30" bbl gas-operated 3-shot firearm from a time when working-class hunting gear still had some class.
It's nabbed more birds for me than any other firearm in my collection, and it's a nearly indestructible design with silky-smooth recoil and intuitive pointing.
I bought it condition nearly unknown on an online auction site several years ago and since then, I've been keeping my eye out for it's match, it's big brother, the Remington 878 Automaster.
Well, I finally found one and brought it home from the LGS yesterday.
As you can see from the pictures, the two are nearly identical right down to the engraved scenes on both sides of the receiver. The earlier Remington badged gun didn't have the scene chased with color like Western Field did, and the charging handle is stainless vs the blued one on the Western Field, but otherwise the receivers are identical.
Remington has stopped production on the 878 in favor of the 1100 which superseded it. The main difference is that the 878 uses an internal gas piston which prevents the magazine tube from being able to hold more than 2 shots in reserve. The 1100's gas piston is external to the tube, and thus, it holds many more rounds.
When Montgomery Wards desired a gas-operated shotgun for their house-brand line, Remington offered up the 878 since they still had the line tooled and ready to go. Since they were no longer actively producing the 878, they didn't see any concern about competition and were likely happy to be getting more life out of their existing tooling with the Ward's contract.
Ward's opted to make a few of design changes for their house-label offering. As you can see, the charging handle is blued, the barrel has a vent-rib, the checkering pattern is different (and less fine) and the vent rib barrel actually had two beads (a front and a mid) though mine is missing the mid and I'll likely not replace it anytime soon. Obviously the nameplate engraving is different as well.
Most sources say that this was the only gun that Remington ever made that they allowed someone else to put their name on without having Remington also being on the firearm at least somewhere. They are a fine hunting gun, and I highly recommend picking one of either label up if you ever come across them.
It's nabbed more birds for me than any other firearm in my collection, and it's a nearly indestructible design with silky-smooth recoil and intuitive pointing.
I bought it condition nearly unknown on an online auction site several years ago and since then, I've been keeping my eye out for it's match, it's big brother, the Remington 878 Automaster.
Well, I finally found one and brought it home from the LGS yesterday.
As you can see from the pictures, the two are nearly identical right down to the engraved scenes on both sides of the receiver. The earlier Remington badged gun didn't have the scene chased with color like Western Field did, and the charging handle is stainless vs the blued one on the Western Field, but otherwise the receivers are identical.
Remington has stopped production on the 878 in favor of the 1100 which superseded it. The main difference is that the 878 uses an internal gas piston which prevents the magazine tube from being able to hold more than 2 shots in reserve. The 1100's gas piston is external to the tube, and thus, it holds many more rounds.
When Montgomery Wards desired a gas-operated shotgun for their house-brand line, Remington offered up the 878 since they still had the line tooled and ready to go. Since they were no longer actively producing the 878, they didn't see any concern about competition and were likely happy to be getting more life out of their existing tooling with the Ward's contract.
Ward's opted to make a few of design changes for their house-label offering. As you can see, the charging handle is blued, the barrel has a vent-rib, the checkering pattern is different (and less fine) and the vent rib barrel actually had two beads (a front and a mid) though mine is missing the mid and I'll likely not replace it anytime soon. Obviously the nameplate engraving is different as well.
Most sources say that this was the only gun that Remington ever made that they allowed someone else to put their name on without having Remington also being on the firearm at least somewhere. They are a fine hunting gun, and I highly recommend picking one of either label up if you ever come across them.
