Spring Shotgun Review (smith and wesson m3000, mossburg 500, UTG 870 others)

Ok all, time for some more springers. This time it's the ubiquitous spring shotgun. There are several companies that make these and brand them as their own, including branded Mossburg, Smith and Wesson M3000, UTG 870, Remington and others, along with unbranded or "house brand" logos. As far as we can tell, they are all coming from the same molds with different logo plates inserted, as we have several on hand and they are all pretty much identical in feel, look and behavior. It is worth noting that there are two tiers of these springers; the plastic/abs body shotties and the cast metal body shotties. They look very similar, and their behavior isn't hugely different, though the metal bodies cost a bit more (sometimes) and seem to have just a little more oomph in their springs (most of the time).

Our test replicas came from Dicks Sporting Goods (on sale), MC Sports (on sale) and one unknown online source. The magazines/clips are fully interchangeable, and seem identical. We have noticed that many places that carry these replicas do not carry extra magazines, so if you see some that fit (and make sure they do), grab em!

The magazines are our first bitch with these; the clips are a pain to use in the field at times.

The magazines have a reservoir that holds a pretty decent number of bbs, but there is a spring slider on the side of the clip. You slide the spring down and rock the magazine forward and back to fill the bb channel, then release the spring to push the bbs up the feed tube. If you can get them all in there, the mag holds 15 rounds, but often you only get 10 to 12 in. When you rack the pump on the shotgun, the spring in the magazine pushes a bb up into the firing chamber. Until the last 3... The design of the feed tube doesn't allow the spring to push the last three bbs up into the receiver, so you have to pump the shotgun upside down to get those last three to feed, or they just drop out when you remove the mag to reload it. An internal follower that stood up and pushed the bbs would fix this, but it would be impossible to add yourself due to the way the bbs feed from the bottom of the mag into the spring feed column. We also noticed that the large, projecting magazine release can sometimes drop your mag in the field if it is bumped.

The pump on the plastic body guns is serviceable, and on the metal body replicas actually feels pretty solid. If you really cram it back, it is probably possible to break the pump, though we have yet to have any problems. The trigger on all models is abs plastic, and may be the long run weak link in these replicas. Also note that you can "slam fire" all of these; hold the trigger as you pump and the replica will fire at the back of the pump slide every pump, making it close to semi auto in rate of fire until you run out of bbs.

FPS is touted as 300 or 350 (depending on packaging) but reading the fine print you find that is with .12 gram bbs. Chronoed with .20 gram bbs brings these guns in down around 250 to 285 (each of our test guns was a little different, and multiple shots were not always completely consistent - this could have been the chrono acting up as the batteries were getting low, however). 250 with .20s is still reasonable, and the shottie is inexpensive enough to use as a loaner or back up (we got a couple of these for 20 bucks each on sale, full retail price can be much higher... watch for sales! These are not really 50 dollar replicas!).

Please note, these fire a single bb on each shot, not a cluster of bbs like a true shotgun would, or a multishot replica. Effectively, they are a pump action rifle, not a shotgun, they just happen to look like a shotgun frame.

These spring shotties can be found with a full stock or a pistol grip stock. We find the pistol grip stock easier to move through brush with, and not difficult to aim in use. Some people have reported that the stocks on the full stock models do not survive well without cracking in use, your mileage may vary.

Also, none of these shotties have any sort of sights; instead they all have a tactical weaver rail on top. In practice, you do not really need sights on these, simply aim down the top of the barrel between the sides of the rail and throw some plastic out there. You can however add red dot sights, lasers or what have you if you like. Just be aware that these add ons will probably cost more than the shotgun replica!

Range is decent, and can reach out fairly well with the adjustable hop up engaged (a simple slider on the side of the barrel where the ejection port would be on a real shotgun). Our test guns all can reach 100 feet with enough accuracy to hit a 1 foot square 7 out of 10 times. At 50 feet, you should be able to consistently hit a soda can after a little practice.

Another small drawback is that there are no mounts for a sling or other means to transport this except in your hands. You can tie a bit of rope around the pistol grip and use it as a sling, but this looks bad and is not that effective, and that makes this a hard choice as a backup unless you had some kind of back scabbard.

Overall:

Pros - inexpensive, easily found at chain sporting goods stores, good starter or back up replica. Good loaner for friends wanting to try out airsoft. Decent range, though not great. Fairly easy to sneak with. Fairly left handed friendly except for the safety.

Cons - magazine does not feed fully, and is somewhat hard to use at times. No sling mounts.

-1.5 for magazine issues; non feeding, hard to reload in a rush, easy to drop in field.
-.5 for no sling mounts

3 shots out of 5.