Taw, you bring up a good point. An 870 is NOT an 870...

...and neither is the Mossberg 500. Military Mossbergs have several design features commercial ones do not; metal trigger group instead of plastic for example. As an aside, I really hate when companies take a great old gun and then use the past to trick new buyers. Taw, you expose Remington's duplicity for what it is in this regard. They are not alone.

Vibra-honing in 870's was for many years standard on all guns, dumped with the cheapening of the Express. Among other things.

Another bad feature of the Express is that the beadblasting blue is just that, and I have seen many rusted Express guns. It is not a durable finish though it looks similar to Parkerizing/phosphating, but is not. In fact, blue is most protective over a polished finish and of course, modern bluing/blacking is not very protective anyway.

Due to the roughening of the metal, though, an Express gun takes paint quite well if degreased with acetone and painted. A good, high quality spray paint works, tho my truck paint/baby powder mix is excellent and very tough for such applications.

The first Expresses were more or less merely rough-finished 870's. Current Expresses appear to be made with cheap parts that may effect performance. I wouldn't buy an Express gun personally, but everyone has their own opinions for sure.