[TaMoDee]

You're asking too much, IE: very big game (Elk) or deer if you live or hunt out West.

You need three guns:

Rem 700 BDL in .300 Win Mag (Elk and Mule Deer)
Rem 870 in 12ga (Birds)
Moss 500 in 12ga 18" BBL (Home Defense)(Put a light on it)

The cost of extra Rem BBl's will pay for the Moss 500.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Forget the Mossberg. Find a nice A-5.

[Bear_Slayer]

You're asking too much, IE: very big game (Elk) or deer if you live or hunt out West

I don't think so.

1) I'm not a sport hunter so I'm not looking at long shots at trophy animals.

2) I hunt for food. The deer in my area are numerous and tame. I've already taken a 3x3 buck at 50 yrds with 00buck and a tight choke. One pellet in each lung and and a third in the heart. Little blood lost the animal dropped.

3) For elk or deer at farther shots, A rifled barrel with ghost rings or scope would solve that.

4) Lastly, the 870 is easily modified and reliable for combat scenarios.

[org.whodat]

Now, just why do you think you need a 300 winchester to hunt elk and mule deer?? My old rusty 308 will put the down on any of the two.

[Max in Utah]

I would chose the Mossberg 500 over the Remington 870 for home defense, for one simple reason: it has a tang safety, rather than one in the trigger guard. This makes the Mossberg a split second quicker in going from 'Safe' to 'Fire', which could be a critical advantage in a defense situation.

The Remington is built better and would last much longer, I admit.

One suggestion: load a "snap cap" in the chamber, pull the trigger on it, and then load the magazine. With the weapon uncocked, you will not need to remember to press the slide release before pumping the action to chamber a live round.