I have a police model and an express. The police has the forged receiver, steel trigger housing, parkerized finish and stronger springs to stand up to a lot of slug/buckshot use. The express is still a good gun though, and unless you're going to do a lot of training with heavy loads it should serve you well.
Im selling my Express at the gunshow today. Or maybe trade for something. Good gun but i just dont like it.
Wrong! 870 receivers are milled from a steel billet.
http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/shotguns/model-870/model-870-express.aspx
http://www.remingtonle.com/shotguns/870standard.htm
Second, the trigger housings on 870 police models are made from metal but its either a cast or MIM part.
I can't open your links here at work but billet can actually be stronger than forged.
http://www.robertpowersmotorsports.com/BilletvsForged.html
What ever it is the 870p is a heavier duty weapon than an express otherwise every PD in the country would be buying them since they are considerably cheaper.
I believe the 870 Police Magnums are assembled on their own assembly line. The examples of Police Magnums that I've seen have a nicer fit and finish than your typical 870 Express. The Express models also have a dimple in the mag tube to prevent the addition of a mag extension, the polymer trigger guard, and a few other minor changes.
He's a explanation of some of the other differences between the Police and Express models.
http://www.aiptactical.com/How-To_Videos.html
But most of the time they are not because a lower quality of material is used. People sure do like that term billet and companies know that people look for key words. A good example of this is the Springfield SAR-8. The forged models have no issues where as the billet models have had problems with receivers cracking. They started selling good but the billet Aluminum was not strong enough to handle the work and now has become a reason not to buy.
The police model goes through a stricter quality control process and is made in a separate location from other 870's. The parts are inspected more thoroughly and although all 870 parts are interchangeable the police model uses a few different parts to handle the buck loads and slugs. (magazine spring, IIRC the hammer spring, and the carrier dog spring). There are some other parts on the police models are made from forged or billet where as the "others" are made from cast powder. I think the fore-end is also shorter and the newer models come with a magazine extension, the magazine retainer detent is different, and the stock has a so super cool pistol grip. If your life is on the line it really is a different gun.
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