Review: 2017 Remington V3 Walnut Review Part Two

The V3 Walnut has a better finished, better grade of walnut than expected, considering the economical price of the shotgun. The walnut buttstock retains the Remington SuperCell recoil pad, and the pistol grip has a subtle palm swell.

Remington Director of Consumer Goods Matt Ohlson has referred to the Remington V3 as the “Remington for the Next Two Hundred Years” and he is probably right. As far as I'm concerned, it is the best Remington autoloader ever made, the best by design and an absurd amount of testing. It is the softest-shooting shotgun in its class, easily, and even more easily it is the best 12 gauge shotgun you can buy on the planet for less than $1000. My biggest gripe, if you want to call it that, it that it is not yet available in 20 gauge which maybe several years down the road.

The question I've received from readers is not whether to buy a Remington V3, but what model? It is never bad advice to go with what fits you the best. For me, personally, it is the 26 inch synthetic that fits the best out of the box. The 26 inch barrel versions have the best balance. It is also a bit lighter than the V3 walnut: about 1/4 of a pound. The V3 walnut, which sells for essentially the same price as camo versions, if anything is a slightly softer-shooter if that is even possible, due to its being slightly heavier.

The walnut V3 has a slightly longer length of pull, at least my example does. The reason for the slightly increased length of pull is an unsightly plastic spacer that is preinstalled on the V3 walnut for some unknown reason. Remove it, the two shotguns have the same length buttstocks. However, when you remove it, the recoil pad screws (oddly, square head screws) are too long. A trip to Menard's (or hardware store of your choice) for a pair of 12 x 1 Phillips pan head sheet metal screws fixes the issue.

For those that are off-put by flimsy, plasticy action parts, the V3 gas action (above) is all steel: steel gas block, steel gas pistons, no plastic, no rubber, no springs prone to cracking.

The beauty of the walnut model is that it can be fitted to the shooter comparatively easily, where machining plastic is a problem. For many people, it will be fine out of the box. For others, it will be simply grinding a pad, or changing a pad. In my case, I have the latest Limbsaver Air Tech pad on its way. I'll let you know how well it fits. The Air Tech is about a 1 inch pad, so that will reduce the stock length of my V3 Walnut by roughly 1/8^th inch.

For those tired of the many fake or "enhanced" finishes, the V3 walnut stock set is a refreshing change: it is surprisingly good quality walnut, with some mineral streaks, with clean, deep cut checkering that gives a very secure grip.

The Remington V3, all models, is completely reliable with 1 oz. 1080 fps loads on up. It is also the only truly new autoloading action in many, many years. Most autoloaders are just minor variations on a theme, with inertia guns going back to Bruno Civolani (the recoil-operated gun with the “floating breech bolt”) in 1967, the current Beretta models are a take on the old Franchi gas guns from around 2001 that morphed into the 2004 Xtrema, and the Active Valve (Herstal Group / Browning / Winchester) gas autoloaders that have not changed much from 1994.

The weak links of the mainspring in the buttstock from prior guns are gone, there no large gas pistons with ears to break, nor do the gas pistons rely on springs that are prone to breakage. The V3 was designed with an extra-tough extractor, and build to handle the newest super-high velocity and extra-heavy payload 12 gauge shotshells with ease as far as its original design parameters.

Since the Versa-Port system is fed from right outside the chamber, barrel length has no effect on function, and the internals of the action stay remarkably clean, as opposed to barrel ring type gas cylinders that tend to blow gas over everything. The Versa-Port system is formed by small hole Electric Discharge Machining, the same technique used on turbine blades for jet engines. Unlike many gas ports placed farther downstream in shotgun barrels, the Versa-Ports do not collect carbon and never need cleaning.

As most are aware by now, all models of the V3 come with a written lifetime warranty, all models, the first autoloading shotgun series to ever have it. As my regular readers are quite aware, just being new doesn't not mean it is great, much less good. And, just being a Remington does not at all mean the product is good, either, as everyone knows full well who has read my reviews of the Remington 105Cti and the Remington 887 shotguns.

With the V3, though, Remington has hit the elusive grand slam: Remington's finest contribution to the repeating shotgun since the Model 870 and the 1100. This is this shotgun that everyone has always said they have wanted: extremely low recoil, extremely low maintenance, Made in the United States, a lifetime warranty, an excellent trigger, and very good quality factory chokes by Briley, including a Full choke that is approved for tungsten and steel shot. It is more fun to shoot the V3 than several $1400 - $1600 shotguns. Yet, the Remington V3 is not only remarkably soft-shooting, it is also remarkably soft on the wallet as well: selling for as low as $735 in camo or walnut, even less for the black synthetic model.

Some will be left with the happy dilemma of not which V3 to buy, but how many. If you make the tragic error of letting your daughter, your son, or your wife shoot one, you'll soon be shopping for one for yourself.

Copyright 2017 by Randy Wakeman. All Rights Reserved.