Remington 870 MK?

I have the opportunity to purchase a Remington 870 Wingmaster that is almost identical to the USMC Mk1, except it has a shorter barrel 20" barrel. It is in used issued condition, parkerized. Barrel code dates it to December,1970 and Remington confirmed that the serial number S31XXXXV was made in the later part of 1970. Since I do not yet own the gun I felt obliged to not display the entire serial number. There are no military inspection marks anywhere that I could see with the exception of two boxed DOD Eagles with 3 Stars, one painted on the left side stock and one painted on bottom of the bayonet attachment, both in white paint. I read on another forum that the Air Force had a Mk6 which was basically a Mk1 with a shorter barrel. I hope that the attached pictures will allow comments as to what model this is, is it authentic military, and some guesstimate of a value. Many thanks to all of you out there for sharing your experiences and knowledge.

I'm sorry I can't help with ident of this gun, but I sure would like it myself!!!

iv seen this gun before, it was for sale at a big collectors show,
not a Mark1 but a nice riot.
i should have picked it up, price was right as well, and i had the money..
sometimes we snooze and loose.

Thanks Chuck. Do you feel that it is military....or put together? If military, any idea at all for who? The dealer who has it mentioned someting about possible use in the LA riots back in the 1970's

hmmm, hard to say about its past history, when i looked at it, i think it was advertised as a Navy issue riot.
may have gone through a couple hands since then.
vendor had a few nice GI shotguns..

Do you feel that it is original military? The dealer is asking $995 for it. Worth it?

3 years ago, i sold a Mark1 replica for 1,200.00 on GB,
so,i think yes, however, with todays money, id almost bet he would sell it for a little less.
cant hurt to ask.
the bayonet lug alone would fetch 350.00, heck id pay that for it..

Opinion if it is original military??

Thanks a lot Chuck!!

I had one similar to yours some 10 years ago, came with bayonet and sling. It differed in that it had a rubber recoil pad and the forearm had vertical groves in it and was short, yours is longer. I searched everywhere I could and did not find it to military. One I had did not have the white stamping on it. Both most likely made for police, but still a nice piece, looks mean and business like. I say not military on either and little do I know, could be wrong.

Apparently the Mark 1 with Bayo adapter had a 21 inch bbl, yours and the one I had appear to have a 20 inch bbl. Probably, if you remove the adapter you will see the remnants of a bead sight on the bbl. Dont remember if mine was like that or not.
Clue 1: I guess the bbl length would be a good clue on a real 870 Mark 1. It should stick out of the end of the bayonet lug for an inch or so. 21 inches long.

Thanks for the input Rob. It looks like the consensus of opinion is that this is not a military weapon and that the DOD stamps are not authentic. Too bad, it is an awesome shotgun but I collect only military. I'm pretty sure that it will be at the Tulsa Gun Show November 14 & 15 for folks to look at and consider purchasing.

The bayonet adaptor on your shotgun is the commercial type with bead sight. Apparently, some of these were procured by the Military and put on riot guns. By the serial number, its an early 1970s gun. But I cannot ever recall seeing a real Military 870 riot (or any other U.S. Military shotgun) that had the DAS mark on the stock and/or barrel.

Thanks Tom for the comments. Every little bit of information added to these posts is what makes this a wonderful forum. It is a very neat shotgun, but apparently, not military.