Mossberg 500 Combo

[Spess]

I am fixing to get a Mossberg 500 combo in 20 guage for a great price. It comes with the standard 26" barrel and a 18.5" barrel. My question is, what good is the 18.5" barrel? What can I use it for besides home defense? I would like to use it for slugs, as I cant stand the kick from my 12 guage auto, and keep the other barrel for birds. Will it perform?

[Ramrod]

The short barrel will work fine for slugs, home defense, and close range birds < 25 yards or so with #7 1/2 or #8 birdshot. One thing though. With slugs, I can't feel alot of difference in kick between the 20 in a lightweight pump and a 12 in a good gas operated auto.

[Spess]

Slugs out of my Browning A500R Auto are enough to make anyone think twice. That is possibly because I have the stock cut down to 12.5"to 12.75". I shot about 1' high and 1' to the right because it kicked so hard. After abought 4or five shots, I had to call it quites because of the flinch factor. It was no fun at all. With this same gun, I am absolutely deadly with all bird shot loads that I use including 3" magnum turkey loads(these pack a wollop but don't shoot them much. It is a heavy gun, so the stock issue is the only thing that comes to mind when trying to explaine the extreme recoil with slugs on this gun.

[gwhilikerz]

I see where Stoeger press has come out with a book on how to tame the recoil in slug guns. It might be worth a look if not too expensive.