Least amount of shotguns?

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Back before nontoxic shot a Browning OU 12 ga Trap: waterfowl, trap, wild pheasants. Remington Mod 17 20 ga (Ithaca '37) for upland over good dogs (grouse, woodcock, quail, chukkars).
Now: Mossberg 850: Turkey, waterfowl, pheasants, trap. CZ OU 20 ga all other upland game, sporting clays.
 
For years I didn't know my Savage 24DL couldn't do it all. Now I need an 870TB for trap, an 1100 for skeet, an Ithaca 100 for doves and a Savage 220 for deer. The other dozen or so in the safe are"backups".
 
One. With an 18" riot gun barrel and a 28" with choke tubes. I don't hunt anything with a shotgun anymore, but I will keep a long barrel just in case.

Sadly, if I ever fire a shotgun again it will probably be inside the house at an attacker.
 
One. A pump action 12 gauge. Only thing I ever use my shotgun for is informal clays. Works well enough that I’ve never been left wanting something different.
 
I started out with shotguns but moved on to rifles in my youth. I never could understand why a shotgun has to be so long. For the last 15 years the only one I've owned was a Mossberg Mariner with 18.5" barrel.

However, I have started shooting trap and purchased a Browning Superposed recently. Still hate the length of the gun but enjoy stooting trap.

So, make that 2 shotguns.
 
A 12-gauge pump with a short to short-ish barrel (18.5" to 22") would serve most if not all of my needs.


A longer barrel would be fine too; it is unquestionably more versatile especially if you hunt. But I don't.
 
Mossberg with long and short barrels and 2 stocks,I’m going to ad a rifled slug barrel .Thats 1
Single shot 12 .#2. Both shoot magnum shells
Bolt action 410 for woodcock.#3
Old Stevens 16 gadget double.#4
I use them all so 4 is enough for now.
 
I could live with two. A 12ga 3" for waterfowl and turkey and a 20ga O/U (read Beretta) for everything else. I have several others including 410 and 28ga, but the 20 ga Beretta gets 90% of the active duty.
 
1. A pump for the truck. (Mossberg 500)
2. A semi for dove (Beretta)
3. A semi for 3 gun type games. (I have a Stoeger now)
 
1. A scoped, dedicated 12 ga. slug gun with fully rifled barrel.
2. A scoped, dedicated 12 ga. turkey gun.
3. A 12 ga. O/U for sporting clays, 5 stand, and trap.
4. A 12 ga. pump for general use and occasional sporting clays.
I have more but there's the basic 4 I have that can cover all my shotgun usage. Years ago I used the same gun for both turkey & slugs by switching barrels but that got to be too much hassle after it got scoped. The 12 ga. pump with a fixed, modified choke was once upon a time, long ago, my primary shotgun for all 4 of those things listed above. Then I gradually came up with excuses to purchase more specialized shotguns instead of trying to do it all with just one. Of course, back when one gun had to do it all my finances were not exactly conducive to such luxuries.
 
I generally agree with those guys that said if they really had to they could get by with one 12 ga and a couple extra barrels.
Give me an 3" 12 ga 870 with a couple of barrels and I'd get by and still be able to do any thing I would need to do with a shotgun........... but I wouldn't be happy about it......:mad:

I'd be a little less upset but still not really happy with:

3" 12 gauge 870 with a few barrels, screw in chokes, slug
12 gauge trap gun
20 ga o/u upland game
 
FL-NC said:
For the SHOOTING activities that you actually do- what is the least amount of shotguns you could do them all with? "Heirlooms", "vintage collections", and other safe queens don't count unless you want them to. For me, that number is 3 : 12 gauge magnum auto for most hunting activities (turkey, dove, waterfowl) 12 gauge 870 as a back-up to the auto, and also a 20" slug barrel for HD and deer when and where I can't use a rifle, and a 20 gauge O/U for quail. Similar threads in handguns and rifles.
Click to expand...
Hmmm.
Trap.... Browning BT-99
Upland .....Winchester model 59 or a 16 gauge flintlock fowler.
So...3.
 
Mossberg 590 pg cruiser
Mossberg 500 w 28” barrel
Single shot 16
Single shot 20
So that’s 4 I mean I’d rather have my double barrel too but... I could get buy with the above. I could defend the Home and hunt ducks with the 500. I like to hunt rabbits so I need the twenty and the sixteen also. I only have the 590 for two legged pests in the event they ignore the locked door.
 
Arkansas Paul said:
I'm not really a shotgunner, so my opinion may not even count.
Click to expand...

Same here.

I currently own only one shotgun. It's a double trigger Stoeger Uplander 12 gauge with 26" barrels that I probably haven't fired since 2003 or 2004. I'm pretty sure I've only put two boxes of shells through it. I've certainly "blasted" away with snap caps more than firing live ammo in that lonely little Stoeger.

So, in my answer to the thread. One.
 
I use my trusty 870P for defense work and that's really all I use shotguns for, don't hunt currently and when I did I used rifles.
 
It could be done with one.......but why in the hell would you want to limit yourself?

I have multiple gauges in multiple platforms. My standard dove/quail guns are a matched pair of Citoris in 12 and 20 gauge. I prefer the 20, but the 12 often proves necessary in high wind or when they are flying just a little further out.
Granddads Brownings Humpback is a boat load of fun to shoot, and my go to when, for some reason, I'm not hitting with the Citoris.
Have SxS of questionable lineage in both chamberings as well.....just cause everyone needs a SXS double.

Some other heirloom autoloaders only get used when the gunless arrive for a hunt.

Then there is the 870 (The Gauge) slug gun with an extended tube. Make me smile everytime I pull the trigger. Defense gun, fun gun, hog gun, my sweetheart.

Then there is also the inherited Winchester model 42 pump in .410. For when I'm shooting well and seek to up the challenge. The first shotgun I ever fired. Still remember shooting trap with Grandaddy out behind the house with it. He hit most.....I mostly wasted shells.

let's not even start on the .28 gauge
 
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I get by with one that being 6.5lb 12ga with 28" barrels 2&3/4" chambers choked 1/4-1/2. The key is ammo selection. For example for round of skeet I use European 3/4oz load #8 or #9 @1200fps. This assures that finely checkered wood butt does not kick my shoulder silly. The HD load is 2&1/4" six pellets of SG at 1200fps. Reliability is assured by two barrel two trigger system.
 
FWIW, SxS and O/Us are substantially shorter than pumps and SAs with the same barrel lengths.
12 ga shells can be had with recoil on par with 20 ga shells.
 
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