My error for not stating that, upfront.
It’s primarily for 1) home defense, 2) riot control, 3) target (paper), 4) and “whatever angrily comes my way” (after reading several nasty articles about rioters etc).
If the whole system goes south you might need to shoot ducks, geese, and rabbits for food...
What you don't need... Fancy engravings, vent ribs, night sights, or even three inch capability. {2-3/4 inch shells are quite lethal}
No experience with the new Beretta, but generally an auto is less reliable than a pump. But even pumps are never 100% fool-proof. About the only one I ever saw that never gave trouble in rough use was an inexpensive {oddly enough} model 1200 Winchester.
Get the Saiga 12, a few 10 round magazines, and 500 rounds of #4 buckshot - should be able to put that together for $1000.
saiga 12
The unique thing about the saiga is that it does not have a tube magazine. Being a box magazine, you get two big advantages. The first is that you can change magazines...much faster reloads. The second advantage is that magazine capacity is totally independent of barrel length.
In a doomsday scenario, or all out civil war...there will not be any enforcement of the stupid firearm laws we’ve accumulated over the last hundred years. Short barreled shotguns will NOT get you arrested in an all out civil war. So it would be very advantageous to have a shotgun at home that could very easily be shortened via hacksaw without disrupting the magazine capacity in the event of an all out civil war.
The saiga 12 is just such a shotgun.
Based on your criteria, the 11-87 Police model is the way to go for you..or if you could consider a pump, get one of those remington 870 marine magnums.
It is set up to use 23/4 or 3 inch magnum shells, takes 8 rounds, is finished to retard corrosion of you are shooting it in the rain and most of them now seem to have ghost ring sights. This is good if you plan to use slugs and expect to hit anything with them past 40 yards distance.
I also like the saiga 12 someone mentioned, and you can trick it out to look and handle just like a Kalashnikov. Check out www.warriortalk.com for a subforum on the saiga shotguns.