Hey guys, I was out duck hunting on Tuesday and ran into a guy that told me that I shouldn't shoot steel shot out of my full choke barrel as it could damage the barrel since my gun was an older gun. Not knowing what year my gun is (since it was a gift from my father) I got a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to duck hunt with it so I reached out to Remington to find out the answer.
If you have a Remington shotgun (mine is an 870 Sportsman 12) that was built BEFORE 1952, then the barrel will not be steel rated. If your gun was manufactured AFTER 1952 than you're gun IS steel rated. If you have any questions, the staff at Remington.com was super helpful and got me an answer right away. When writing them, make sure to include the serial number of your gun as this will speed up getting an answer.
Turns out mine was manufactured in 1984.
The support site can be found by going to
http://remington.custhelp.com/