Free Republic

As a tax payer, I have no reservations about contributing to more humiliation for our friends on the other side of the isle. Frankly, I was a bit worried that wouldn't have a senator kooky enough to sign on. I apologize for not giving them the benifit of the kooky doubt.

Personally, I hope they get a Senator. It would further entrench the kooks in the dem party and force sensible people to reevaluate who they vote for. We don't have much to lose here. A couple hours for debate followed by a vote which would make the USC/Oklahoma game look like a triple overtime thriller. We get to thrash them, then ridicule them. Plus, it keeps the DU believers providing fun reading until at least the 20th. I'm sure we can all use another two weeks of belly laughs.

Firearms are a great deal like golf clubs, different shots may call for different tools to be done well.
This is the main reason you're getting different recommendations, or even multiple suggestions from the same post. You've listed three different prospects for the weapon that I've seen: varmits, hunting and defense. No single firearm is going to do all these tasks as effectively as you might like. You list requirements that range from quite long to very short. While you might TRY to put with an iron, you won't be as effective.

Having said that, and going on the premise that you are interested in buying a single firearm, the most versitile firearm would be a 870 Remington. First a little background. Shotguns range from .410 (this is actually based on an actual measurement of the muzzle or barrel) to 12 gauge (ga is actually an old system of rating based on how many balls of the same size of the barrel it took to reach a lb, none of this means much but some history sometimes helps). The larger the ga, the larger the muzzle and the load is really enough for you to know. 12ga, is the largest, and therefore the more versitile.

The recoil you encounter, how hard the gun "kicks", is based more on the load you choose than the gauge. A low brass 12 will recoil less than a high brass 20. High vs low brass is just a simple way of saying how much powder is used. They are easily recognized by the amount of brass at the rear of the shell. The shells are also different in the projectile they use. A single projectile is known as a slug. A shotgun with a rifled barrel, lands and grooves cut into the barrel to provide spin, operates the same as a rifle, albeit with a larger projectile with limited range. A smooth bore is used for shot, or multiple projectiles fired at the same time. This greatly increases you chances of hitting a target, but at a much reduced range. Think of it like this, if you have a baseball and throw it at a target vs a hand full of small rocks.

In the end, if you have a 870 with both a rifled and smooth bore barrel (you can buy this very set up from your local gun shop) you have a large bore rifle and a shotgun. The range isn't great but acceptable at 100yds or so. Many a white tail has been taken with slug guns, and many would argue there is no better home defense weapon than a good "scattergun". Plus, in the end if you decide to increase your collection at a latter date, no sensible firearm owner would say you were mistaken in including a good 12ga in your armory.

I apologize if this has been dumbed down too much. But I find it's better to be too simple than not simple enough. Also forgive the length but you can discard any info that wasn't useful.