aparently rem declined the offer to participate in the testing. they had the better part of the market anyway so winning the contract would have made little difference to their sales. losing on the other hand would have been devastating. this is what I have gathered from the net anyway.

for hacksaws use, the only notable difference will be in the check book as the rem 870 sells for a few hundred dollars more with in my opinion the same level of performance. both are good guns and from my shooting exp they perform the same.

you can almost buy a ruger 10/22 and a mossberg 500 for the price of the 870 though.