Buying my first shotgun

[mikey357]

As a 'first shotgun', I wouldn't worry about the tactical goodies (that fever will naturally catch on as you progress). Get the $289 Mossberg 500 18"/28" combo deal at Big 5, then go to Wal Mart and buy $100 worth of inexpensive shells. This will give you a long barrel for skeet/birds and a short barrel for those pesky 2-legged varmints.

*personally, I dislike sights on shotguns, with the exception of a dedicated slug barreled gun; there is a reason we call them shotguns.

I don't think the big 5 combo has the 28" barrel with removable choke tubes. If the barrel choke is fixed modified, it may be tough to learn to shoot skeet with that.

[BigDogatPlay]

^^^Correct^^^

The combo usually found at Big 5 is a fixed modified choke on the 28 inch barrel. I've seen posts here that indicate that the same Mossberg Combo at Turner's does have choke tube capability on the long barrel for just a couple bucks more than the Big 5 gun.

Might be worth checking out.

[rojocorsa]

I will put it this way, for general purposes a pump gun is fine. Just rack it like you got a pair and things will be fine.

However, for skeet, yeah...get something else.

[alfred1222]

I will put it this way, for general purposes a pump gun is fine. Just rack it like you got a pair and things will be fine.

However, for skeet, yeah...get something else.

I agree. a pump shotgun, especially an 870, is a good place to start for your first shotgun, but if youre thinking about shooting skeet or trap, go with something else

[mikey357]

^^^Correct^^^

The combo usually found at Big 5 is a fixed modified choke on the 28 inch barrel. I've seen posts here that indicate that the same Mossberg Combo at Turner's does have choke tube capability on the long barrel for just a couple bucks more than the Big 5 gun.

Might be worth checking out.

Is there even a Turner's here in Norcal? I always thought that was a Socal outfit. If there is, I want to know. Someone I know is looking at the big 5 combo and I steered him off because of the lack of choke tubes.

[PlumDrumnGun]

I bought an 870 Express HD magnum - it is awesome, but it came with the smooth bore barrel which is good only for slugs and buckshot - now I wish I had another barrel that accepts chokes in order to shoot skeet. The gun itself IMHO is better than the Mossies simply because of the safety location.

[BigDogatPlay]

Is there even a Turner's here in Norcal? I always thought that was a Socal outfit. If there is, I want to know. Someone I know is looking at the big 5 combo and I steered him off because of the lack of choke tubes.

Turner's is strictly SoCal. The OP is SoCal and mentioned he'd been looking at the 870 he wanted in a Turner's ad.

[mikey357]

Turner's is strictly SoCal. The OP is SoCal and mentioned he'd been looking at the 870 he wanted in a Turner's ad.

Thats what I thought....Big 5 will order for you if you give them the model numbers.

[ivanimal]

There is only one 870 and they all have the exact same internal parts except for one or two small parts. So there is not functional difference between the models. The price difference is only due to the finish and furniture.

So no, what you are reading and hearing is not true. No have I been reading that nor hearing that except on a few occasions and this from clueless people who know little to nothing about these weapons.

Lighten up Francis.

No need to be rude.

[Brandon04GT]

Yeah i'm not planning on using it for skeet....mainly just for home defense/owning a shotgun purposes.

Do you guys think $529 is too much for a Mossy 590A1 considering i'm in LA?

[Richard Erichsen]

If there is a shotgun worse than the 870, I don't know what it is. Pump shotguns in general are not very useful. Not good for trap,skeet, sporting clays or hunting. Gost rings are only useful for shooting slugs. Save your money buy a decent semi-auto ( Bereeta 390, Browning, Benelli or FN). Have a nice day.

Wow, that was quite a statement. All mass produced products of 'any' kind have problems due to the nature of production designed to reduce costs for the company and end unit prices for the customer. This all came about because a large percentage of the buying public favored price reduction over fit and finish. $400+ shotguns don't sell nearly as well as $200 shotguns and in the end, the customer (or the majority of them) are always right. This isn't a Remington unique problem either. Pick a brand or model and to varying degrees, it's a problem of a mismatch between (some) buyers expectations and what they are actually willing to spend. It doesn't matter if it's foreign either, Benelli, FN, etc.

Particularly rough examples still shoot, though may require a longer break-in period to smooth out. What a shotgun feels like out of the box and how it feels after 400-500 shells can sometimes be a dramatic transformation. Granted, not everyone who buys the bargain shotgun ever fires 500 shells through it to find out. A worked over gunsmith fitted shotgun is getting the lavish attention to detail that the factory just can't afford to do for what they are able to sell most of these guns for. Rough chambers can be smoothed with abrasives, hand tools and ingenuity, slides do fine even just hand cycling enough times. Complaints about "trigger slap" and long creepy pre-travel and/or heavy trigger pull are all par for the course with most of these shotguns that will partially improve with use or can be more reworked and polished by a qualified gunsmith for little money and an hour or two of their time.

There are high end sporting shotguns with tighter tolerances costing many thousands of dollars. They tend to have design features that demand a lot more machine time, more frequent replacement of tooling to operate the production line within those tighter specs and suffer more down time as a result, holding up the line. There will be more frequent and thorough QC with attendant increases in reject rates for parts/assemblies that are out of spec, some can be reworked and rectified, some will have to be discarded. You'll pay the premium price for these shotguns and that kind of attention to quality just doesn't come cheap. Alternatively a gunsmith can use the production shotgun as their starting point and focus their attention on what the customer wants for their specific application, whether that be on what makes for tighter patterns with specific shells, smoothing out operation (less break-in to do the same thing), adding features not found on the factory gun or just tightening up some of the slop the factory left behind.

It's best not to generalize on models or companies without also pointing out we have the kinds of shotgun models and pricing because the public demanded it. Regarding the final comment that pumps are somehow useless, I emphatically disagree. More birds, more small furry critters and larger game, more clays and more badguys have been taken with pump shotguns than probably any other type combined. Pumps are more cost effective and more flexible in the types of loads that can be used reliably. Additionally, a mid-range pump may have a slight edge against modern, high dollar semi-autos in the number of failures to fire, feed or extract and almost certainly easier to repair.

Such gross generalities as pumps being somehow obsolete is plainly false as sales volume categorized by type continue to show. Low end pumps may not command the prices, but they are and will likely remain the bulk of the units shipped for some time to come.

R

[hcbr]

you're good to go on the 870, if you're gonna go skeet shooting, I'd recommend a different longer barrel if you're gonna get yours with a short one. just fyi, but otherwise, you're fine with purchasing that one, or the police or whichever 870. You'll be amazed of all the other accessories and aftermarket parts for the 870 too

[whipkiller]

If there is a shotgun worse than the 870, I don't know what it is. Pump shotguns in general are not very useful. Not good for trap,skeet, sporting clays or hunting. Gost rings are only useful for shooting slugs. Save your money buy a decent semi-auto ( Bereeta 390, Browning, Benelli or FN). Have a nice day.

Darn, and here I was thinking I really enjoyed shooting mine, busting clays with the long barrel and peppering paper bad guys & blowing up watermelons with the short one.

I guess I should just throw it away and go buy me a "Bereeta". So glad I found out now.

[BigFatGuy]

I'm openly laughing at everyone who says a pump is no good at skeet.

Like the OP, I'm left handed. The remington safety is not "lefty safe", as I've bumped it myself.

My 590 (basically a 500 with a bayonet mount) has served me well so far, loves playing at skeet, and is rather lefty-friendly.

The one thing I had to learn lefty-wise was to extend my trigger finger along the receiver when tilting the gun to load the magazine rather then wrapping it around the grip for support. The action release can be bumped with your trigger finger if you do that.

[sonnyt650]

Big 5 markets them as "Security" models, not sure what Turner's calls them. You can spend the money you'll save on ammo.

Bought one of those as my first ever shotgun, and did spend the change on ammo. Though mechanically loud when racking it, the action seems to be pretty smooth compared to some of the other firearms I've owned so the quality inspectors did their job with mine. The only upgrade I'll be doing in the near term is a recoil pad where 25 target loads later I knew I wanted something that way.

Being a lefty myself the safety is no different than several rifles I've owned. Knowing that mechanical failure is a real possibility I won't rely on that anyway since racking takes maybe a second. I guess it could be bumped on accidentally, but that part isn't buttery smooth so I'm not worried about it.