Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me make an informed decision. Here are the facts: Although to date I've only shot handguns, I'm currently looking for a home defense shotgun, to be used exclusively for that purpose. I've got a serious shoulder injury that is somewhat dormant, but would definitely flare up and incapacitate me with standard 12 GA pump gun recoil.
It seems to me that my choices are either going with an autoloader 12 GA (Mossberg 930) or moving down to a 20 GA pump gun (500, 870, etc.). I realize that recoil is somewhat subjective, but I'm just looking for broad-brush opinions on which option (or some other option unknown to me) has the lesser possibility of re-injuring me while preserving HD effectiveness. You should also know that my home is pretty small, so there may be little difference between 12 and 20 at the distance I would need to use the weapon, probably 20 feet at the most.
It seems to me that my choices are either going with an autoloader 12 GA (Mossberg 930) or moving down to a 20 GA pump gun (500, 870, etc.). I realize that recoil is somewhat subjective, but I'm just looking for broad-brush opinions on which option (or some other option unknown to me) has the lesser possibility of re-injuring me while preserving HD effectiveness. You should also know that my home is pretty small, so there may be little difference between 12 and 20 at the distance I would need to use the weapon, probably 20 feet at the most.