One of the departments I used to work for issued the 500ATP in 12ga for a trunk gun, and we found them to be very reliable. Good choice, just make sure you and your wife shoot it enough to feel comfortable with it. I have several “war stories” from my 20+ year police career where just the sound of the action being worked was enough to defuse a dangerous situation.
Nothing like the “rack rack” sound to get the attention of a bad guy.
Yup but you can get the EXACT same sound from cycling the action on a semiauto shottie as well. My Benelli sounds exactly like that. Problem is that these days there are fewer and fewer bad guys who will be so impressed with the sound alone and scamper off into the darkness whence they slithered in the first place. With so many gang-bangers enlisting for combat duty as a sort of OJT and then taking those real world skills back to the 'Hood... and then there's the younger generation (middle school) having just ZERO level of fear about anything -- I know I'm just finishing my 16th year teaching in an inner city high school -- I'm not so sure about any sort of audible warning if I catch a bad guy inside my house. Less if it's on the street here in FL. Of course, I won't be toting a shottie on the street unless it's a BUG OUT SHTF scenario and then all bets are off anyway.