Home Defense Shotgun... ???

[esskay]

In particular because you are thinking of this for home defense, don't forget to leave some room in your budget for training, practice, and a weapon mounted light. The shotgun is a special type of weapon system and it will behoove you to get some training on how to properly employ it to protect you & your family. This will also include spending some time and $$ on choosing appropriate defensive ammo for your situation and understanding how it will pattern in your gun.

That being said, let's take a step back... Especially given your very young children (and that there are 3 of them! congrats pops! ), I would also encourage you to consider that you may wish to go with a weapon that you can effectively employ one-handed in a home defense situation. I love my 870, but pump shotguns are not good one-handed!

[Rob454]

SAIGA12

Great gun but IMO not the best for HD. besides its about 2x what either the 500 or 870 cost.

[5milamila]

If you can pony up the extra cash, I love my semi-auto Benelli M2 plus it makes for a good sporting shotgun also so it's not just sitting there collecting dust.

[absc280]

www.turners.com[/url] also has good sales. The weekly ad runs from Friday to following Thursday each week. New ad is usually up by Thursday afternoon.
FTR, Maverick is made in USA by Mossberg (some parts are interchangeable) and often goes on sale for under $200. A lot of people like it.
Good luck.[/QUOTE]

I really like mine. I changed the recoil pad and can shoot 50+ rounds now without bruising

[DaveFJ80]

What about the Benelli Nova for $349? How does that compare?

I used to have a Benelli SuperNova tactical. Basically the same size/length as the regular Nova with 18.5" barrel, but with a pistol grip stalk. However, I recently sold it and picked up a Mossberg Maverick for less than half the price, and I really like that much better for my HD purposes. While the Benelli is an awesome gun (much better shooter than any Mossberg 500/590 or Remmington 870 IMO), it's not as pratical for for HD purposes... at least for me. Here are my reasons.

- The main gripe is the length of the Benelli compared to the Mossberg/Maverick (or even 870 for that matter). You can buy shorter LOP stocks or even pistol-only grips, which is what I have on the Mav, and it's much easier to hold and control in a "close combat" area (like your house, hallways, room, etc). I can easily shoot a PGO shotgun as accurate as my Benelli within 20 yards, and I've trained with both quite a bit.

- More accessories & factory parts are available for the Mossberg/Mav and Remmington shotguns, and they're much cheaper than the Benelli add-ons & parts.

- As lame as this sounds, the slide racking on a Mossberg sounds more like what you hear in the movies (the sound of what a shotgun sounds like, so that's what most people are familiar with). When you rack the slide on the Benelli, it almost has a more plastic or hollow sound to it. The Mossberg sound is more of a metal on metal sound, thus it sounds like what you hear on TV. The 870 kind of sounds like a Benelli IMO, but not nearly as much. But again, as lame as this is, more people are familiar with the Mossberg slide racking sound and 'might' be more prone to leaving the scene if you use this as a deterance.

- Mav is much cheaper ($199 vs. $499) so if the gun gets confiscated, you don't feel like you're SOL. Plus if it spends 95% of it's time hiding in the shelf, you don't feel like you've spent too much money on something that never gets used.... although I never felt this way, some people may.



Word of advice for anyone who buys a Maverick 88 or a Big 5 Mossberg combo. They're exactly the same gun.... same barrels, same stock, same trigger assembly, same elevator, same firing blocks.... just different safety locations and the Mav88 receiver isn't tapped on the top for a picatanny rail. They also both come with a 1-piece forend. In order to change this out, you'll need to buy a new action slide forend tube, new slide nut, and the new forend grip. You can find all of this for $50 brand new, and it'll give a much more solid feeling to the shotgun, and still keep the total cost at or below $250.

[ruddogg]

In particular because you are thinking of this for home defense, don't forget to leave some room in your budget for training, practice, and a weapon mounted light. The shotgun is a special type of weapon system and it will behoove you to get some training on how to properly employ it to protect you & your family. This will also include spending some time and $$ on choosing appropriate defensive ammo for your situation and understanding how it will pattern in your gun.

That being said, let's take a step back... Especially given your very young children (and that there are 3 of them! congrats pops! ), I would also encourage you to consider that you may wish to go with a weapon that you can effectively employ one-handed in a home defense situation. I love my 870, but pump shotguns are not good one-handed!

thanks... that's why I have my Sig P226 .40... for 1 handed... I'm in the VERY beginning stages of research, I know a lil more about handguns... but 0 on shotguns. Thanks all for the advice! I will check out the Big 5 sales... go handle some & try them out....

[mif_slim]

Great gun but IMO not the best for HD. besides its about 2x what either the 500 or 870 cost.

Actually about half of the 500/870...but the hype got it to be 2x more.

[esskay]

thanks... that's why I have my Sig P226 .40... for 1 handed... I'm in the VERY beginning stages of research, I know a lil more about handguns... but 0 on shotguns. Thanks all for the advice! I will check out the Big 5 sales... go handle some & try them out....

Cool, for your P226 a setup like this would be ideal:


Surefire makes these pressure switches for the Sig too, and it allows you to easily activate your X300 light with one hand, and either righty or lefty, exactly the same way. Link:

http://www.surefire.com/DG-Remote-Tailcap-Switch-X-Series

And good idea to assess & prepare options -- you might employ the Sig if you need to grab kids & move. If you barricade & hold, long gun would be better.

[supermario]

I don't know where you live becus I'm using
My cell phone but Martin B Retting in culver city has a lot of
Pump and semi auto shotguns on the floor, so you can just
Browse through them and handle one shotgun after
Another without asking for a salesperson
To hand it to you! Like old day gun shops! That way
You can look at all the different types of shotguns.
Plus they have a wide selection, various mossbergs and
Remingtons and a good variety of semi auto
Shotguns as well, decent prices too!

[resident-shooter]

Mossberg 590 = 8+1 shell capacity. That was really the feature that made me forget both Mossberg 500 and Rem 870. +side saddle takes 6 shells. 9+6 = 15 shells !!!

[windrider]

Remington 870, cant go wrong with Americas favorite shotgun.

[usctrojan]

Great gun but IMO not the best for HD. besides its about 2x what either the 500 or 870 cost.

I think that requires a bullet button. Much agreed bad HD setup.

[usctrojan]

Remington 870, cant go wrong with Americas favorite shotgun.

My 870 is an old CHP gun. I took it out after over 15 years of sitting. The gun was bone dry. I took it to the range and it still fired as reliable as the day it was purchased... I then lubed it up and allowed it to work smoothly. I have done about 600 hundred rounds since with out a single cleaning. Bottom line... I trust my 870. (yes I will clean it!)

[Skidmark]

Such a great topic for a sticky.

[ruddogg]

I don't know where you live becus I'm using
My cell phone but Martin B Retting in culver city has a lot of
Pump and semi auto shotguns on the floor, so you can just
Browse through them and handle one shotgun after
Another without asking for a salesperson
To hand it to you! Like old day gun shops! That way
You can look at all the different types of shotguns.
Plus they have a wide selection, various mossbergs and
Remingtons and a good variety of semi auto
Shotguns as well, decent prices too!

I'm in Irvine, so Culver City is a lil far... hard for me to get out of Irvine with 3 lil ones... but if I make it out there, I'll be sure to check it out!