I like guns and excuses to buy them. As far as hunting goes, I'm relatively short experienced. I'm a huge fan of versatile hunting arms, ie 30 caliber rifles and 12ga shotguns. Also a fan of having the best tool for the game involved, and using that to justify a new gun.
There's one potential aquisition that has me in a dilemna. While I would use a 12ga with various chokes and various sizes of shot for a wide variety of game, my wife can't stand the recoil. She loves her 8mm Mauser, but a 12ga Moss 590 hits her harder than she likes. I personally feel they're comparable, but maybe I'm just numb.
My main goal is to try to get her to like the idea of hunting, and shotgun recoil thus far turns her off. I try to explain that a 20ga would be lower recoil than a 12, but having fired a 20ga single shot without a pad and not liking it, a technical explanation of how a 20ga pump would be less would probably fall on deaf ears.
So with recoil reduction being the primary motivation, I'm considering getting her a 28ga Rem 870. The problem - $$$. The 870 Express in 28ga is discontinued, and the Wingmaster is priced too high. So I'm facing the prospect of having to get a 28ga now or never. The only other option would be a Charles Daly autoloader, which I wouldn't be a fan of.
The plot thickens further. Neither of us is interested in hunting every type of animal out there. Only the ones where both the hunt and the meat are agreeable. I have been hoping to get a 10ga BPS for waterfowl, but have realized that I should try eating some first.
So the simple question with the long introduction is what animals would one hunt in western PA that a 28ga shotgun would be good for? If they are animals we'd be interested in eating, I think I may see about getting the wife a 28ga Rem 870. If not, the 28ga shotguns prey can run free from me, and others can pick up the last 28ga Remington 870s.
