FR Gun Club

A friend recently got a larger than expected royalty check from his publisher, and in passing asked me if I had any suggestions about the kind of shotgun he should consider buying as his first. Me...an opinion about shotguns?

Deciding on a first shotgun is a straightforward process. And the first step is the same as any other firearm purchase. A liberal once asked me if I thought I had enough guns, and to his supreme annoyance I responded “enough for what?” That’s not a joke, it’s the first issue when choosing a firearm…what exactly are you going to be using it for? If you’re going to leave it under your bed as a home defense insurance policy that means one set of priorities, but if you plan on shooting skeet with it once a month, or using it to hunt deer and turkeys, that’s probably another. You may think that you’d like to do both things with it and that’s perfectly reasonable, but you should be aware that multitasking will come with some compromises. But before I get to that, there are a few things you should know about all shotguns.

If you read gun magazines it’s hard to find a reviewer who has too many bad things to say about any type of gun. That’s because the manufacturers give them the guns to review for free, and they’d like to remain in their good graces. Such is life in the media business under a capitalist system. But no one is paying me, or has ever offered to give me a gun for free, so I’m going to tell you exactly what I think. But if Browning, Perazzi, Krieghoff or one of the English gun makers would like to step up at a later time and “persuade” me to say otherwise, I’ll be more than happy to entertain the discussion.

Also, I’m normally happy to engage in debate with people who don’t agree with me, but in this case I know that passion for a specific firearm manufacturer can run pretty high. So if all you want to do is tell me that I shouldn’t be recommending this or that and should instead be suggesting something you think is better, why don’t you go start your own blog instead? I’m sorry but I’m not really all that interested. I’ll spell out my reasons for thinking the way I do, and if you think I’m a fool then so be it. But I hope you all can recognize that there is more than one way to skin a cat, and I’m describing only one way.

The gauge of a shotgun is defined as “the number of lead balls you would need in that diameter in order to have one pound of lead”. So a 12 gauge gun, by far the most common, is the largest bore, and the .410 is the smallest. There are 10 gauge guns out there too, and even guns that sport custom “super large” bores, but none of these should be considered as a first shotgun. There are a number of common gauges produced by quality manufacturers, but when just starting out I don’t think you need to worry about all that. All you really need to worry about is your size and your strength. In my opinion, if you’re a man of more or less normal size then you should almost certainly buy a 12 gauge as your first gun. In fact when it comes to the fairer sex, I would only recommend a smaller gauge for particularly petite women. As an example, my wife is tiny. She’s a pretty little Hungarian brunette who is 5’1” and weighs about 105 lbs. when dripping wet, and she can still shoot my 12 gauge semi just fine. The only issue is that it’s a little heavy for her so if she shoots it all day her arms are tired afterward. So I did recently break down and get her a 20 gauge gun so she can shoot it a little more.

Some people think starting with a smaller gauge is always a good idea but I disagree. Shotguns are designed to throw a spray of pellets, and the smaller the bore the smaller the pattern. So with a 20 gauge gun it’s harder to hit what you’re shooting than with a 12 gauge, no matter how skilled you are. A 28 gauge is also harder than a 20, and a 410 harder than a 28, and so on. Making it easy to hit what you point your first gun at is a good first concern if you ask me. So for anyone who weighs more than say, 130 lbs or so, I’d strongly recommend a 12 gauge as a first gun. If you’re under that then consider a 20 gauge, but remember that you’re starting with a small disadvantage.

As I told my friend, I’m a value for the dollar guy. I don’t think anyone should ever spend a nickel more than they have to when buying a gun. There are manufacturers out there who will build you a custom fitted shotgun to your body measurements and artistic specification and it will run you $75,000. To consider something like that for a first gun is stupid, even if you have the money. Even to think about one of the higher end factory guns seems a little silly to me when you’re still new at shooting. If you consider a Perazzi, or a Krieghoff, or even one of the nicer Beretta’s or Browning’s, you could easily drop $10,000. That makes no sense to me.

The design of gun you buy will affect the price. There are single shot shotguns out there for about $100, but there are many things you can’t do with them (including all the clay shooting sports) so I’d stay away from them if you can afford to. Pump guns are generally the cheapest repeating shotguns out there and can be had brand new from reputable manufacturers for as little as $250. Next are semi-automatic guns, and then the double barrel guns which are the most expensive in comparison. That isn’t to say they are pricey in dollar terms. I commonly shoot a Mossberg Over/Under Double barrel that I paid $400 bucks for. It’s a solid gun that I’ve put 10,000 rounds through without a hiccup. And just this morning I shot with a friend who was shooting a pump gun that cost twice that. In some ways, you’ll get what you pay for. You just want to make sure you’re not paying for features you don’t really want or need.

In my opinion, the two biggest issues for a home defense shotgun are a short barrel, and a low price. Statistically, it’s unlikely you’ll ever fire a shot in your own home. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep a gun in your home if you feel the need, but it does mean that if you do, you probably won’t be using it all that much. If it were me, I wouldn’t want to have a several thousand dollar investment collecting dust under my bed. As for the short barrel, you don’t realize how small your house really is until you’re trying to swing a shotgun in your living room with a 32 inch competition barrel. In close quarters small is always a help.

If you’re buying a gun for home defense alone I’d recommend a Mossberg pump gun. Mossberg doesn’t make a pretty gun, but they have legendary reliability, and the click-clack of the pump is often more than enough itself to drive the average intruder away. Remington also makes a pump gun with first rate reliability but a slightly higher price. For my money, Mossberg will do everything you need. The US Army loves the Mossberg 500. And if there is one thing the army knows, its how best to go about shooting people. You’re unlikely to use a shotgun for just this purpose, but if you think you will, then I can’t say enough about the Mossberg.

A single shotgun used for multiple purposes is a tricky business. In fact hunting alone could turn out to be more than one purpose because there’s a big difference between hunting pheasant and hunting deer. Lots of people have just one gun to do all of the above and for use to defend their homes, but there are a number of issues to consider.

The people I know who try to use one gun for everything usually end up buying a semi-automatic shotgun. A pump gun is cheaper than a semi, but the semi will give you a second shot just a bit more effortlessly. In that way its better suited to wing shooting where you should be concentrating on your target instead of worrying about short-stroking your pump. A pump can do it, but for the difference in price I think most people find it’s worth it to go with a semi.

When it comes to a semi automatic gun, I’m one of those people who is of a very strong opinion. I can only recommend one design… the recoil actuated semi-automatic shotgun designed by Benelli. There are a great many semi’s out there that use a gas actuated piston to reset the action after each shot. That design, produced by a half dozen manufacturers from Remington and Beretta, to Browning and others, has historically shown wonderful reliability when produced by a manufacturer with a good reputation. But as good as that design may be, it’s a bear to clean and it must be cleaned well in order to remain in good working order.

The Benelli design on the other hand has only 4 moving parts which drop out of the receiver frame without the use of tools. That design is so reliable that I know several guys who own them and have never cleaned theirs. But if they ever decide to, those few parts make it an easy task. It’s a lighting fast system that can handle any size of load, and makes a great all around design for a first shotgun. When the US Marines are issued shotguns, they are Remington or Mossberg pumps. When they buy their own shotguns they buy Benelli semi’s.

Of course brilliance doesn’t come cheap. The top of the line Benelli Semi-Automatic is not inexpensive, but I have a great way around that. A few years back a Turkish company hijacked the Benelli design, and starting building what probably amounted to illegal copies of it. When Benelli heard about it, they didn’t take them to international court; they bought them, and started offering the Turkish gun as a low priced model.

The Stoeger model 2000 has the same fantastically fast and reliable Benelli recoil action, but at a fraction of the Benelli price. It’s not as pretty and slick as the Italian styling of the new Benelli SBE, but it does look exactly like some older Benelli models, and is not unattractive. And in spite of it’s more traditional look, it has the same high performance works under the hood, and it shoots that way. The Stoeger 2000 will typically run you about ½ the price of the Benelli and offer the same functionality. You can find them here for as little as $450 or so. It’s a great buy, maybe the best in the shotgun industry. As a combination hunting and home defense gun I highly recommend it.

Its only weakness is that Benelli has yet to find a manufacturer for the “rifled slug barrel” they’ve been promising for a few years now. A rifled barrel will let you shoot slugs with a shotgun out to about 100 yards with dead shot accuracy. But since Benelli hasn’t gotten their act together, if you go with a Stoeger, then you’ll be forced to shoot slugs through your smoothbore giving you a best case accuracy of about 75 yards.

I’ve never fired a shotgun in a home defense situation. If I exclude the high fence pheasant hunt I do with my friends every year then in the last 7 hunting seasons I’ve fired my shotgun at animals exactly twice. Even if I include it, I’ve probably only fired the gun 35 or 40 times. When hunting you don’t exactly burn through cases of ammo, there’s really no need. But last year on the skeet field at my club, I think I went through about 4,500 rounds of ammo, plus whatever my friends and other guests shot. And that’s the issue that defines the clay shooting sports; there is a lot of actual shooting going on. It’s high volume, over and over and over again. So the gun you select for that purpose should keep that in mind as a first concern.

If you try shooting that kind of volume through a pump gun or a gas driven semi, you’ll spend as much time cleaning that gun as you do shooting it. Even a Benelli or Stoeger Semi will require some careful attention after a while when it’s used that heavily. And while I personally have always felt that cleaning my guns was a zen like experience, sometimes you just have other places to be. So if you want a gun that cleans up quickly and easily, then there are really no bones about it, you want a double barrel gun.

The over under is the slightly more popular double barrel design these days, But in fact the finest grade guns available are almost all side by sides. I think the thing that makes them popular is that with an over under gun you can only see one barrel when you mount it to your shoulder, so it takes less time to get used to the view. In my house we have both. And they can both be used to great effect. No one will ever look down on your for showing up with one or the other. The gun I shoot most often is a Mossberg Silver Reserve Over Under, and my wife’s gun is a Stevens 311 Side by Side.

Double barrel guns cost more than pump guns or semi-automatics. But these days there are imports which are simple, reliable and inexpensive. My Mossberg was made in Turkey (Are you noticing a pattern here”) and Remington imports an over under from Russia which they sell under the Spartan label that I’ve heard people speak well of. Both are sturdy Boxlock designs with shell extractors instead of ejectors. An extractor is a simple device which lifts the shell from the chamber when the gun is opened, but you have to reach down there and remove them yourself. Ejectors are spring loaded mechanical devices that automatically kick the shells free for you. If you’re buying an inexpensive import, I’d stay away from a gun with ejectors since they can sometimes be subject to failure on inexpensive guns. I wouldn’t recommend them unless you’re prepared to pay up.

The triggers on double barrel guns also have several options. Many side by side guns have 2 triggers, one for each barrel. This takes some getting used to, but it works perfectly well. If you decide to go with a double trigger gun I’d recommend getting one that has a straight “English style stock”. It makes it slightly easier to adjust your finger for the second trigger. The Steven’s 311 my wife shoots came with double triggers and a pistol grip stock standard, but I replaced it with a straight style stock as a project.

As for the single triggers typical on over under guns, some are what’s called “mechanical” and others are designed to reset on recoil. Mechanical triggers are supposed to be stiffer and therefore less appealing, but I’ve found them to be more reliable in all circumstances so I still prefer them. You aren’t aiming a shotgun, you’re pointing it, so a stiff trigger isn’t so much of a hindrance in my mind. And if you have a gun with recoil triggers and for some reason the first shell doesn’t fire, the second one won’t be able to. With mechanical triggers at least you’ll get off one.

There are many types of guns out there and many many opinions on them. I like the cheap imported guns and have found them to be of excellent quality generally, but there are a lot of guys out there who would never consider them. Fair enough… more left for you and me. Also, I love buying shotguns online because it makes the firearms market more efficient and MUCH cheaper. These online gun auction sites:

should all be checked out when you decide to purchase one and it will save you a bunch of money. They can refer you to a “transfer agent” in your area, and it’s perfectly legal for you to buy them online if you meet all other laws and requirements that apply to you with regard to firearms purchases.

With that said though a shotgun still needs to fit you well. So I would highly recommend that before you buy anything, you go to a local firearms dealer and try them on. Stocks for factory guns all come in slightly differing lengths and sometimes come with space holders whcih can be added or removed to change the fit. And that fit is of paramount importance.

so go to a local store... pick one up, hold it, mount it, see how it feels tracking an invisible pheasant through the air. It’s really one of the most important aspects of a shotgun purchase. We aren't all built alike, and what suits me perfectly might not work for you. And in the meantime I’ve also had my local dealers agree to match prices that I showed them from the internet, so it might wind up saving you a trip as well.

The shotgun sports are my principle hobby so naturally I have alot more to say, but unfortnately I lack the time to say it. If you have any other questions, please leave them on the blog and I’ll answer them as soon as I can. After all, it's not exactly tough to get me to offer an opinion on shotguns.

It was written for a beginner, and I’ve learned from experience that trying to explain the concept of pattern density to a beginner is largely a waste of time. You’re right, but there’s time for the shooter to learn the ins and outs of chokes and barrel lengths later.

I teach chokes first day to beginners with a pattern board.
I have them benchrest shot at the pattern board with different chokes.
Otherwise it is way too abstract for beginners.

“racking (sp?) a pump shotgun will drive an intruder away.”

I’d rather be chambered and ready than to do the TV/movie drama of not even being prepared.”

Here in my Appalachian valley it’s common practice to rack and shoot one round high as our first warning.

Thanks for not getting upset with my abrupt attitude.

No problem... I can tell the difference between an enemy and and ally. If you had come back saying that anyone who recommends a tool for killing is evil then I'd have opened up on you (verbally that is). But the things I don't know are far more numerous that the things that I do. I'm not an expert on everything, and I'm always open to learning from others.

Besides, I live in New Jersey where you can catch an intruder in the act of sodomizing your 5 year old daughter and the only reaction you are allowed by law is to pick up the phone and dial 911. You can be charged with assault even if you grab his wrist to try and pull him off.

Not that I would let that stop me of course, but I guess I'm being worn down by the police state mentality.

Hey archy...good to “see” you...

I like the “JIC” idea. Evidently, the Mossbergs understand the “Rainy Decade” train of thought...

I’ve fired pistol-stocked shotguns (no shoulder stock) and found the experience, well, decidely NOT pleasent. I’d rather add a folder to it, which still keeps the length down and would still allow it to ride in the case.

Though about getting a Benelli M2 semiauto as well, but finances are tight at the mo, so it’ll have to wait.

At the end of the day though, either with or without the stock, pump, bolt, or semiauto, the 12gauge is still one hell of a boomstick, and I’ll ALWAYS have a couple on hand.

Always. By any means necessary.

found the experience, well, decidely NOT pleasent.

'sissy' 8^}

I bought 10 rds of 3 in 00 mag and I shot 2, mrs g shot one...the other 7 have been in the spare ammo box for 7 + years...dang near tore my wrist off ...

“...sissy...”

Haha!!! I’ve just been called a Recoil Wuss...

Had an old lever Marlin Guide Gun in .45-70, shortened to the legal limit; we used to take that up to the range and run a box of ammo through and get our blood tattoos... It was fun, but I got sick of the ache afterwards. Thing was nasty, but fun in a twisted way.

Actually, kinda miss that old girl...now that I think of it.

I hear ya, back in the day, I always sought out the kickinist, muzzleflashinist [even a word ???] sob and LOVED it...

first pistol in my hand was a .44 mag, first longgun was a 12...

anymore, I only occassionally seek out self punishment...

ps...unless you absolutely must do so...NEVER fire a .357 mag in a CLOSED vehicle...unless you really like the sound of bells for several days...lololol...

cue Archy & Edith..."Those were the days..."

I have read and heard this many times, i.e., the sound from racking (sp?) a pump shotgun will drive an intruder away.

Just the sught of one usually does the trick. I don't know about you, but by the time I need a round in the chamber, it's already there.

I used to keep it loaded and locked, but figured the spring would ultimately get fatigued.

Two in the mag and a side-saddle...good to go, even if you don't have time to grab a couple three rounds from the box that should already be at hand.

Great post...most of that can be learned by doing it wrong the first time. If you’re fortunate enough to live. The only thing I would add is that you may be dealing with more than one perp, and developing tunnel vision for one can open you up for the other(s).

I just have a pet peeve with the portrayal of firearms in the media through Holly-wiered. They show people being knocked off their feet, by handgun rounds....and utter bullshit such as Emilio Estevez flying through the air firing pistols akimbo and not missing a single bad guy.

I've got a friend who trains hostage rescue team shooters and about five years ago, he started us in basic CQB training. We revert to basic marksmanship once in a while, but mostly shoot as a group and run scenario drills....some defensive, some aggressive. Most people who ever start this type of very practical shooting will quickly realize just how poorly prepared they really are. I know we did! If not for my friend encouraging us, we would have just put our firearms up and stayed with sticks and stones!

As for multiple targets (perps), holographic sights (and "dot" sights for that matter) are the best thing ever made. They permit the shooter to keep both eyes open and be much more aware of what's going on in the peripheral....which is IMPORTANT.

As for multiple targets (perps), holographic sights (and "dot" sights for that matter) are the best thing ever made.

Gonna set up a CAR with an Eotech. Hadn't thought about one on a shotgun. Hmmm...

I don’t think you could go far wrong with an Eotech on top of a CAR. I’ve got a C-More on mine, but I’ve used Eotech and AimPoint and like them both a lot. There’s a huge advantage in being able to SEE the sight PLUS what’s around it...in low light! :-) I’ve got friends who use them on shotguns. I still think it’s an advantage.

"It's stupid tactics and shows how little the author knows. It will get you killed."

If you face a threat don't tip anyone off. Racking a slide will only give your position away. Get away if possible. If not stay silent and deadly.

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