Looking for first shotgun

[olhunter]

Go to a range that rents shotguns, tell them your limitations and ask if there's someone there that can help you try them out.

A regular ol shotgun is not exactly heavy, but not light either.

You have to have the strength to maintain control of the gun and recoil and a pistol grip might help. Or not. You really need to try some out and see what you can handle.

What do you plan on practicing for? Home defense? Hunting? Just goofing around?

I would say a 20ga autoloader would be the best bet for you just because of the recoil, but you should really try one out.

[thatryan]

Go to a range that rents shotguns, tell them your limitations and ask if there's someone there that can help you try them out.

A regular ol shotgun is not exactly heavy, but not light either.

You have to have the strength to maintain control of the gun and recoil and a pistol grip might help. Or not. You really need to try some out and see what you can handle.

What do you plan on practicing for? Home defense? Hunting? Just goofing around?

I would say a 20ga autoloader would be the best bet for you just because of the recoil, but you should really try one out.

Good idea on renting some, did not know you could do that. Will try and find somewhere local to Concord area, with cool people.

[anti]

With physical limitations, it would be worth considering a short barreled (18") side by side. Not a lot of moving parts or complicated manual of arms, yet still awesomely effective as a HD weapon.

The lack of moving parts might actually be a downfall considering his condition, though. They tend to have more recoil and with a barrel that short it's going to be immense... even a person without his condition wouldn't be comfortable shooting it for long, if at all. :]

Sounds like a middle-weight, gas-operated autoloader would work best for him.

[thatryan]

Sounds like a middle-weight, gas-operated autoloader would work best for him.

Recommendation?

[JagerDog]

I do like ar style pistol grip for self defense apps if the the safety in in the right place (ie trigger guard). Manageable with one hand. Stock can be shouldered or tucked under arm. I'd think a semi auto with pistol grip would suit op's application well. 20g would be effective but very limited choices in that configuration .

[anti]

Recommendation?

Not sure if I missed it, but what's your budget and main purpose for the shotgun? If money isn't an issue, I'd without a doubt go for a VersaMax or a Beretta A300.

I have an 11-87 Special Purpose /w 26" barrel and it handles everything I feed it, from birdshot to buckshot. It's a bit on the heavy side at around 8.5 lbs but I got a fair price on it so I couldn't pass it up. Just know that a lot of 11-87's with barrels under 26" may not reliably cycle lighter loads without some boring out of the gas holes.

[bigbearbear]

If you want to consider a pump action shotgun, the Armscor/Rock Island Armory M5 might be of interest. The action is so smooth that you can turn the gun up, hit the slide release the and pump will slide back and cycle the action.

At the end of the video the guy had a 9 year old fire off a buckshot and the kid pumped the shotgun easily

See this video: