Which shotgun to buy??

The Fetid mind of TC Rider | 08/14/03 | TC Rider

[TC Rider]

Here's the deal. I've decided to upgrade the family shotgun. Currently I have an old Remington Model 11 which is actually a duck gun. I've got a number of potent handguns.

What I would like to do, is get a shotgun that can be used for home defense and also take to a 3 gun match. It seems most people are using the automatic Benellis, etc for 3 gun, but at 700+, they are out of my budget range.

The gun show is this weekend, I've got a budget of about $500, what would you buy?

Right now, I'm leaning towards a Mossberg 590 A1™, features ghost sights, 20" barrel, 9 shot capacity, heavy-wall barrel, metal trigger guard, speed feed stock and safety button.

FWIW, when I compete, it's not to be the top shooter. Primarily I'm testing myself, if I lose points to those with automatics, so be it.

[harpseal]

The speed feed stock holds four extra on each side. so one actualy has 17 rounds of buck before one had to go to the pistol or the bayonet.

[FLAMING DEATH]

I have a 1300 Defender with twin pistol grips. It has always been a reliable and reasonably accurate gun.

I don't recommend twin pistol grips, as three shots without a buttstock turn your appendages to hamburger. But it does make the gun handy to stow away almost anywhere.

Just for giggles, I shot skeet with it in this configuration. Surprisingly, I was able to hit five of the first seven clays. Feeling returned to my extremities about four days later, and I was able to grasp and lift small objects within a week.

[PoorMuttly]

...O.K.

But I should get points for trying.

[Quilla]

I'll shoot my favorite 20 ga. Citori if I'm planning on 150 shots. At just six pounds with an English stock it never leaves a mark and I can carry it around all day. And I understand perfectly your sentiment about scratches - many guns are pure works of art.

I'm looking forward to dove season this year in lower Alabama. For the first time that I can remember, we can start hunting at daylight rather than noon. Mmmmm, I can taste them now.

[joesnuffy]

The Mossberg or Rem 870 ... I have the REmmy Marine version with a surefire light #4 & 00 Buck and slugs

Talk to Lee Hadaway the gun wrench behind Scattergun Technologies The Go To Guy of Combat Shotguns imo

[joesnuffy]

Remington 870 Marine 12g....slicker than snot and I aint lyin'

[FLAMING DEATH]

(as Homer Simpson)

mmmmmmmmmmmm.....Marine....

[Double Tap]

Probably the best choice of the whole thread.

[harpseal]

I figure I will never actually have to get to the bayonette with 17 rounds of buckshot, ten rounds of .45, six rounds of .357, and 16 rounds of 9mm and thats just by the bed. Any one or two who could absorb that much I am not sure I really want to take on with a bayonet so I may just go to the gun caninet for the .416 Rigby even though it hurts my shoulder in my old age.

[newguy357]

I would also not rule out the Winchester 1200 or 1300. They are as reliable as any but don't have that solid feel of the 870

I am very happy with the Winchester 1300. My experience is that it is much more rugged and solid than the Remington 870. Maybe I'm wrong

[CholeraJoe]

I hunt with Remingtons but my home defense gun is an Ithaca 37 with a pistol grip.

[coder2]

Asked hubby about this --- he said to go with the Remington 870 -- the old reliable..

On a side-note, he wants to know how much you want for the model 11... LOL

[xm177e2]

Are the Benelli M4 Super 90s out for civilians yet?

[archy]

If you're getting a Mossberg, the M590A1 with the metal trigger guard and thumb safety button is the way to go; the barrel's of a heavier thickness than on the cheaper guns, too. I think you know enough to have developed some good instincts about what you're doing, so if they telly you the mooseburger is the gun for you, go for it.

But your question was The gun show is this weekend, I've got a budget of about $500, what would you buy?

I'd buy some ammunition, and maybe a spare barrel for the Remington, product of the genius of John Browning, and go with that. Nothing wrong with the Remington Model 11 copy of Browning's Auto-5.

Over the years, some very serious users found them to be just the ticket in their line of work. Even if you get the Mossie, don't neglect the semiauto.

-archy-/-

[yarddog]

I have a Winchester 1200 defender. It is a good gun and I like it. I would have preferred an 870 but the Winchester was a much better buy and like I said, it is just as reliable as any. The Mossbergs are good guns too but they have had some quality control problems in the past. It is a good design tho.

I doubt if there has ever been a more durable shotgun than the 870. I taught skeet at a University for two years. The students could supply their own guns but the University had three 870's for those who didn't have their own. The department chair told me they were nearly 20 years old and I did some rough figuring and they must have had several hundred thousand rounds through them.

The only problem was one gun would occassionally let a round slip by the magazine shell stop. Probably just a new spring was needed.

[yarddog]

Agree with your last post.

I bet you are familiar with the plastic safety buttons on the Mossbergs. Just about all of them will break eventually. I haven't seen one up close in about 10 years so assume they have corrected the problem by now.

[OKSooner]

Go to the gun show and find an old Ithaca riot gun for about $300. It's a lot like the 870, except it seems to point and handle just slightly so much better, and it has that full choke in a short barrel. You can use it for a dove gun too, or waterfowl in a pinch. A lot of folks like that tight shot pattern instead of a scattergun.

(Just don't tell anyone else, okay?)

[yarddog]

The Ithaca model 37 is a great one. I like the fact that it ejects out the bottom.

John Browning designed the gun. (Originally the Remington model 17) and he only put one action bar on it. I too like dual action bars but if John Browning thought one was enough, who am I too disagree.

[Vinnie]

I figure I will never actually have to get to the bayonette with 17 rounds of buckshot, ten rounds of .45, six rounds of .357, and 16 rounds of 9mm and thats just by the bed.

LOL.. decisions, decisions.