Shotgun good for both sport and home defense?

[realtordoug]

Any opinions on a shotgun that would be good for both home defense and sporting clays (skeet,trap,clays,etc)? The shorter barrels are good for HD, but are they also useable for sport shooting? Wouldn't want to buy a HD shotgun that (hopefully) would never be used. Thanks for your input!

 

[ZombiesAhead]

99% of shotguns _could_ claim both purposes - you need to consider where on the spectrum of "sport" (what type?) and "home defense" you are willing to sit.

I would suggest a pump action for hands-down reliability but many sporting guns are semi or double barrel for faster follow up shots.

A tighter choke is good for "sporting" birdshot but my "defense" shotgun uses no choke at all.

In terms of barrel length, I have used my 20" "defense" gun for shooting clays and found this to be the least restrictive aspect of the "defense" gun - I was more bothered by the pump-action, less so by the lack of choke, and least of all by the barrel length.

Luckily, shotguns are the perfect do-anything gun. Get a 20"-24" pump action 12 gauge with a relatively open choke and a front bead sight and call it a day.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Everyone needs a pumpgun. Pick a US made one and exercise it regularly.

Both 870s and 500s can come in combo packs with a short, HD style barrel and a longer one with interchangeable chokes. Use the long one for sport and the short one for homeowner's insurance.

 

[Virginian]

What Dave said. Get 2 barrels and do anything.

 

[foghornl]

Absolutely.....Buy one of the major makers "Combo Packs" with 2 barrels and have at....

With that combo pack, it takes (usually) less than a minute to go from Wood-n-Water use to HomeLand Security...maybe a bit more if you need to remove the "Magazine Capacity Reduction Adapter" AKA shell limit plug.

 

[Rmac58]

Yeah, I bought a Mossberg combo for that reason, have yet to fire it tho.
It's currently in the bedroom with the 18 1/2 inch barrel on it. The fella that sold it to me installed the proper choke for trap/skeet shooting on the 28 inch barrel, I don't hunt, so this works for me. No need to change out chokes.

 

[FLRon]

Would you know if Remington makes a 28" parkerized barrel to switch off on my 870P?

If not, would you have a regular barrel parkerized, or just leave it blued?

 

[VARifleman]

Yeah, they do. I had one on my 870 before I sold the thing. I'm sticking with my semi-autos...the pumps I've used, just didn't work right, nor did they feel right. I use an 1100, that I believe is about as old as I am.

This should be what you're looking for, but I'd call Midway to make sure as it doesn't say it's parked.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=886420&t=11082005

And realtordoug, I would hope you use your HD gun quite often at the range. They can be quite fun to shoot. Of course firing off a magazine of slugs for fun...bye bye 6 bucks in a few seconds.

 

[357wheelgunner]

There's no reason to only have one shotgun.

I have a Remington 870 Wingmaster for pretty things like hunting or trap shooting, and an 870 Police Magnum for ugly things like range abuse, bear/woods duty and home defense.

 

[realtordoug]

Thanks!

Great advice all around - thanks everyone. Recently joined a gun club for the nice outdoor pistol range, but they also have nice trap/skeet setups - time to spend more money I guess (have reloading equipment on order to try reducing expenses, but will probably just shoot more ).

 

[realtordoug]

Just saw a Mossberg 500 "3 in 1 - home def, hunting, cruiser" on Gallery of Guns (item 51482) for about $320. in my area. May just have to get one.

 

[FLRon]

Thank you VARifleman! Much appreciated.