My personal choice is a parkerized mossberg 590 with speedfeed stock and M7 bayonet.
There are literally thousands of accessories available allowing you to configure it any way you want. The barrel is easy to swap out and you can even get a fully rifled slug barrel with rifle sights turning it into a halfway decent short range big bore rifle. Plus it's still made with all steel receiver.
Shoot the dern thing at night and you will be blinded by the flash and deafened by the noise. Indoors, it is terrible. So you will not be seeing anything after the first shot. Either will he. Two blind, deaf guys jacked up on fear. Back up, and flip a light on.
Might as well throw in my 2 cents worth.
I’m an excitable kinda guy and left handed. so...
Being afraid of getting ‘buck fever’ in an actual time of need I opted for an automatic.
You’ve got to pump, not just an anemic pump but a real one to function the shotgun. In excitement or hurry I might not.
Also being left-handed I opted for a Mossberg. The safety in on the tang, ambidextrous. Right under your thumb, either hand.
My wife is much less gun savy than even me. Teaching her (or myself) to get pump action second nature? Not likely.
I bought a Mossberg 9200 over 10 yrs. ago. Short barrel, 5 shot, parkerized.
Finally got around to firing it last year. Ran like a top.
5 rules of a gun fight:
1) gun beats no gun
2) a hit beats a miss
3) fast beats slow
4) big beats small
5) more holes beat one hole
The Super Nova is a good gun, but I’ve found getting parts from Benelli problematic. I’d say the 500 in 20 gauge unless your wife is not sensitive to recoil. Plus the tang mounted safety is easy to operate.
Can’t cay anything bad about the 870 except the Express model doesn’t like that crappy Winchester Universal ammo.
Get a shorter barrel for home defense..
or a baseball bat
My preferences:
1. Winchester 1300 Defender — very simple and robust. Feeds Aguila and Centurion Mini-sheels without modification. (Mini-sheels are 1-7/8 or 2-inch shells that come in birdshot, buckshot, or slugs.)
2. Ithaca Model 37 — loads and ejects from the bottom and is perfect for left handed people.
3. Mossbeg 590 or Maverick 88 (both made by Mossberg).
4. Remington 870 — has a design flaw, its ejector. (Break one and the receiver will have to go back to Remington for replacement because it's riveted to the receiver wall.)
Another consideration are the controls for the bolt release latch (or button) and the safety position. Some guns have their bolt releases ahead of the trigger guard and some behind it. Some put the safety on the trigger guard or one, Mossberg 590, on the top rear of the receiver. Good, used pumps are preferable since they are well broken-in by previous users.
Very tame recoil, from what I have heard/read, compared to other shotguns, especially a pump.
Mossberg 500 20 gauge
I am apprehensive about using a shotgun for home defense, at least inside. Outside it is hunky-dory.
To start with, estimate the optimal range for using a shotgun in close quarters. Most would likely say 10-15 feet. Then get a 15 foot tape measure, figure out where you would most likely be standing when shooting, and look at the directions *where* you might shoot, that extend 10-15 feet in that direction. Likely there are several.
However, there are likely many other angles where you *could* shoot, but would be “sub-optimal” range.
Add into this the “no shoot” places, like walls the other side of which are occupied bedrooms. You then might include, “I would prefer not to shoot a shotgun in that direction”, if for example you would be firing in the direction of valuable heirloom antique furniture, major appliances, or a home propane storage tank.
For your consideration.
We opted for the Mossberg 500 tactical. We have a Beretta 391 but its not that great for room to room.
I’ve got an 870 Express Magnum 12 gauge and to me it’s too long to maneuver in close quarters. I think it has a 28” barrel?
My 870 Express Youth 20 gauge with 00 buckshot feels much more comfortable to me in close quarters. I can turn around in my hallway while still keeping the weapon in a firing position. I believe it’s barrel is 21”. Just my .02
Think simple. In a high stress situation simple is good. More important than the weapon itself is training. If you don’t train you wont perform when the time comes.
Kel-Tec KSG. 12 gauge, 12 to 14 round mag capacity, bull-pup design. Absolutely the best house gun in existence, IMHO.