Shotgun suggestions

[03Lightningrocks]

For a person just starting to hunt I would recommend they not drop big money on a shot gun. Hunt a season or two with the old trusty Mossberg Pump to see how you feel about hunting and gun choice.

[BSHII]

I also second the Mossberg 500/590. Those and the Remington 870 are the kings of the pump action market. I’ve had a Mossberg 590 with adjustable ghost ring sights and bayonet lug for over a decade, and still love it. (Usually, you have to get the heavier-barreled 590A1 for those features.) The bayonet lug is mostly just a fun doodad, but the ghost ring sights are fantastic to the point that I wonder why one would ever have a shotgun without them.

Some Remington fans will decry the aluminum receiver on the Mossberg as opposed to the steel in the Remington. That is one of the few substantial differences between the two—Mossberg started basing the action on the 870 after Remington’s patent expired. The aluminum receiver is lighter, and the Mossberg still has a steel-on-steel lockup where it counts. Everything that is actually under pressure during discharge is steel.

[puma guy]

The Mossberg 88 Maverick combo with an 18" and 28" VR barrel w/ interchangeable choke tubes can be found for $225 at Bud's and other online sellers. One vendor had them at $169 for Black Friday. A small investment for a solid shotgun for a first venture in shotgunning.

[crazy2medic]

Ithaca model 37 pump has no equal! But they are bit pricey!

[The Annoyed Man]

As I have recently gotten into guns, I have also recently become interested in hunting. I have never been hunting before, and I don't have a truck. So, I will be starting with small game (squirrels, rabies, etc).

What kind of shotgun(s) do you recommend for a novice hunter?

My pistol is a Ruger and I love it. My brother had a Remington shotgun and he likes it, but I would like to hear y'all's thoughts as well. Thanks.

Not sure why you would hunt for rabies.

Well, some people just aren’t that picky. Don’t be a racist.

My advice (worth no more than anyone else’s).... start with a pump action, and go from there. Now, having said that, MY first shotgun was an over/under... but I don’t always do things in a logical manner. I wanted a gun for bird and clays, and I’m left handed, and I just happened to run into this used Stoeger Condor Competition 12 gauge over/under at my local gun store. It was selling for a little over $400 and it fit me perfectly, so I bought it.

I now own a Mossberg 590A1 pump action for home defense, but I got one with a 20” barrel and an 8 round mag tube. (NOTE: gun writers are lying when they say it takes 9 rounds in the tube. Mossberg says the gun has a 9 round capacity - meaning 8 in the tube and 1 in the chamber. You can’t fit a 9th 2-3/4” shell into the mag tube.) The gun is a little more front-heavy than I’d like due to the extra length and heavy duty barrel walls, but it is dead nuts reliable, and it will also shoot slugs fairly accurately out to surprising distances for a shotgun. But, the magazine tube probably makes it illegal for hunting in many states.

Benelli Super Black Eagle II semiauto.... Have one. Not my favorite shotgun because it’s inertial operating system is not reliable with 2-3/4” birdshot. I am thinking about acquiring a Mossberg 930, and selling the Benelli. But, I am also considering the possibility that maybe a semiauto shotgun is just more trouble than it’s worth. The jury is still out on that for me.

I owned a number of handguns and rifles for a while before coming to shotguns later on. But If I were starting over, and a shotgun were going to be my first long gun purchase, I’d go for a pump action combo that comes with a 18” home defense, and a 26” or so hunting barrel, from either Remington or Mossberg - with a heavy bias toward Mossberg. My bias toward Mossberg is due to a loss of more recent general loss of confidence in the Remington brand. The Mossberg 500 and 590 are almost the same gun...the 590 being basically a 500 that has been upgraded, and the 590A1 a 590 that has been upgraded to military specs, like the thicker barrel walls, etc. As a left handed shooter, I prefer the ambidexterity of the Mossberg 590/590A1’s safety location on the tang. I believe that the 930 semiauto also places the safety in the same position.

Another brand well worth considering is Stoeger. Stoeger is part of the same parent company as Benelli, and their shotguns have a lot of similarly to Benellis, but at a budget price. For instance, they make a semiauto model that is very similar to a Benelli Super Black Eagle II, that is half or less of the price. They make an inertia-driven tactical shotgun very much like the Benelli M4, but again, at about half of the price or less. My Stoeger over/under is a very nice shotgun, with good wood and extra features like ported barrels and adjustable buttstock, that sells brand new for half of what similar models from other manufacturers would sell for. Their pump actions are just as nice and well priced.

But something like this would be a great place to start: https://www.mossberg.com/product/500-co ... ity-54169/.

[Deltaboy]

Get a used 870 or a new Mossberg 500.

[C-dub]

I bought my daughter an ATI Kofs 20ga. O/U last year. They have a few different models of 20 & 12 gauge. I found the one I got her in a local shop for under $500. It has the extractors, not ejectors, but that's okay.

A friend of mine that has Perazzi's once told me that the big difference between O/U shotguns is the durability. For a shotgun like the one I got my daughter, taking it out to shoot a few times a year or even once a month is just fine. The more expensive ones are those that can hold up to 100's or even 1,000's of rounds a week or month.

[equin]

I really like my pump action Mossberg Maverick 88 (the budget version of a Mossberg 500). But I like even more my two Winchester Model 12s (a 1930 16 gauge and a mid-50’s 12 gauge) I got used in the past year or so. The Winchesters are built like tanks, have buttery-smooth actions and can be taken down easily for storage.

16 gauge shells are a bit more expensive and have much less selection than 12 or 20 gauge. But the 16 gauge Model 12 is as light as the Model 12 20-gauge. Despite being very well built, though, the Model 12 hasn’t been made since the mid-60’s, so parts may be harder to find and there is very little aftermarket support for them, especially when compared to the Remington 870 and Mossberg 500. A similarly well-built pump, though, can be found in the Ithaca Model 37, which is still being made today, but they’re more expensive.

[TexanVeteran]

Thank all of you for the suggestions. I bought my first shotgun today. I got a Mossberg Maverick 88 20 gauge pump action. As I'm just starting out, I thought this would be perfect for squirrels and rabbits, can and maybe even the late waterfowl season if I decide to go there.

Y'all's suggestions definitely helped, but I also didn't want to spend a ton of money just in case I find I don't enjoy, but I think I'm going to.

There's a place I can go to next Thursday for sure, and possible this Sunday, so we'll see.

Thanks again everyone.

[03Lightningrocks]

Nice choice. I went from the 12 gage to the 20 several years ago for dove hunting. I love it.

[Pawpaw]

20 gauge might be a bit light in the pants for waterfowl, but it will do well for everything else you've mentioned in this thread.

I grew up using a 20 gauge bolt action (I still have it). I hunted rabbits, squirrels, quail and everything else alongside my older relatives and their 12 gauges without giving up anything to their bigger guns.

[03Lightningrocks]

20 gauge might be a bit light in the pants for waterfowl, but it will do well for everything else you've mentioned in this thread.

I grew up using a 20 gauge bolt action (I still have it). I hunted rabbits, squirrels, quail and everything else alongside my older relatives and their 12 gauges without giving up anything to their bigger guns.

I have not duck hunted in years. I agree completely. Heck, I had trouble hitting them with my 12

[C-dub]

20 gauge might be a bit light in the pants for waterfowl, but it will do well for everything else you've mentioned in this thread.

I grew up using a 20 gauge bolt action (I still have it). I hunted rabbits, squirrels, quail and everything else alongside my older relatives and their 12 gauges without giving up anything to their bigger guns.

I have not duck hunted in years. I agree completely. Heck, I had trouble hitting them with my 12

Might not have been a 12/20 issue.

[03Lightningrocks]