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If you're brand new to firearms, starting out with guns with heavy recoil and muzzle blast may seem the macho way to go but it's an open invitation to developing a flinch. It can happen to anyone and will destroy your accuracy and is difficult to eliminate. The Maverick or Mossberg are good...

Could be useful as a snake gun or even a small game getter for thick brush hunting, but you've likely reduced its effective range to about 10-15 yards by removing the choke. You'd certainly want to avoid any longer shots with it now, however. The availability of 3" shells with 5 00 or 000...

If it had been my dad's gun I'd keep it exactly as is. Take it out to shoot it a couple of times a year but otherwise keep it in a place of honor to remember him by. Then go to nearly any gun shop and you can find an old beater single shot for less than $100 to cut down. I cut down an old...

The term "light-gathering ability" is one that astronomers commonly use when talking about telescopes. The pupil of the human eye is about 8mm wide when fully dilated (in dim light) and the theoretical light gathering power for any telescope is the size of the objective (front) lens (in mm)...

Saturno makes an excellent point. In 1967 a local store had several crates of .303 Enfields packed in cosmoline that they were selling for $15 each. Being a poor teenager I managed to scrape up the money to buy one, cleaned it up, cut it down, refinished it, and had a deer rifle that I used...

IMO it's hard to beat a 20 gauge single shot with modified choke as a do-everything rambling around gun. Nice and light to carry all day and capable of taking down just about anything in North America with the right load. For most hunting situations one shot is all you ever need anyway...

I haven't been around recently due to health issues of my own, and am terribly saddened by this news. I am humbly proud that this great man made positive comments several times to posts I made and I avidly read his posts seeking to absorb some of his wisdom. RIP, Dave - gone too soon!

Women, kids, and even short-armed adult men often have a problem with gun sizing. The standard 28" barrel guns may be too front-heavy for them to hold comfortably but reducing the gun size and weight results in more recoil. The ideal gun for many of them would be a youth sized 20 gauge...

Look for one with a modified choke if you want versatility. Most of the used 12 gauge models will come with a full choke and that's fine for waterfowl and turkey hunting but patterns too tight for most upland game. Unfortunately it's very rare to find a used one with screw-in choke tubes.

I agree about the quality of the H&R/NEF models and if you find a decent Stevens single shot in the used rack I've had excellent luck with mine. All of the single shot guns out there are pretty light, and the Rossi models are probably the lightest of them all. That makes them easy to carry on...

I'm not a gunsmith, but, as said, getting everything aligned correctly is critical to getting the gun to shoot straight. Unless you know what you're doing or are willing to risk ruining the barrel, this sounds like a job for a professional.

It mostly depends on what you're going to use it for. Longer and heavier barrels give a smoother swing, which is great for shooting at game or targets that are visible long enough for you to follow their path before shooting. More weight also means less recoil so that's a plus for high volume...

I've fired lots of slugs out of a 20 gauge Mossberg bolt action that was made in the 1930's. I think it's a modified choke (a lot of the older 20's were) and it's pretty accurate.

I'd get either a Tamer, an H&R youth model, or a coach SxS in that order of preference. You'll likely be wearing fairly thick clothes so a full size stock might be too long and you'll almost never get more than one shot at a grouse (at least around here). A .410 will reliably kill grouse and...

A 20 gauge with IC or Modified choke would be more useful for most hunting, but if this one is calling to you, get it. Nothing like rambling through the woods with an old single shot to reduce hunting to its basics.

As others have said, familiarity and practice are far more important than the weapon. I've mostly used single shots for hunting for over 45 years so that's what I'd go for as HD. I've shot that gun and reloaded so many times I could do it in my sleep. Sure, a pump would give more firepower...

Those combo packages certainly are a great answer to the "one gun to do everything" question, but I see a serious problem. Now that you've got everything covered, what excuse are you going to use when you want to buy more guns? ;)

If you (and your wife) are very recoil sensitive and want to shoot clays, there is a .410 class. You may find breaking clays more difficult with a .410 but the recoil from the 2 1/2" shells with 1/2 oz of shot is very minimal.

The old "rule of 96" (96 ounces of gun for every 1 ounce of shot) still makes sense for comfortable shooting. Most single shots weigh in at around 6 to 6 1/2 lbs. (96 to 104 ounces) so if you push heavier loads through them you'll likely be sorry.

I also confess to a shell-sniffing addiction from the old paper days. Hope they make a comeback.