Al, I believe you!

I bought an 870 in about 1979 or so. It was a really well-made gun. Comparing that gun {or the earlier ones like yours} to a current Express is shocking.

Piggybacking on your point here, old pumpguns in the States can frequently be had for cheap, especially with 2 3/4 inch chambering. Truth is, for most hunting and defense work, the 2 3/4 inch chambering is no handicap, and in my opinion a 30+ year-old 870 or Ithaca or 40-year-old High Standard even with blue wear and external "bruises" would be the hands-down winner over a modern Express for my money.

Incidently, I read an article years ago that quoted a military test of pumpguns back in the early 60's or so. Best gun tested was indeed the High Standard. IIRC, Rem 870 came in more or less second place and the Ithaca 37 next. The High Standard is very similar to the Mossberg in engineering and design {did Mossberg steal the design from HS???} except the HS was an all-steel gun. I have actually only seen a few, not many, but they were a very well constructed pumpgun. The 870 had one very significant advantage over both, Remington's production capacity, and at the time modern facilities.