Remington Model 878 Automaster

About the Remington Model 878 Automaster

The Remington Model 878 Automaster is a gas-operated, semi-automatic 12-gauge shotgun produced by Remington from 1959 to 1963. It introduced an improved self-adjusting gas system that automatically metered gas from two barrel ports into a piston within the magazine tube, eliminating the manual gas adjustment for different loads that the earlier Model 58 required. Feeding from a two-round tubular magazine, it was offered with plain or vent-rib barrels in 26, 28, and 30-inch lengths and served as a lower-cost sporting counterpart to the Model 58, bridging Remington's autoloader line toward the later Model 1100.

The Automaster's self-adjusting gas system was a stepping stone in Remington's autoloader development, feeding directly into the design lineage that produced the enormously successful Model 1100.

Remington Model 878 Automaster specifications

Roughly 60,000 units were produced during its short four-year run before it was superseded by the Model 1100 in 1963.