Not sure how I got dragged into this. But I agree with shootall, personal prefrence is part of these posts, costs are a concern.
Makes and models work better for some than others. Some people like one brand or model over another. (don't take this the wrong way Swampman) Swamp man is true to Remington and all of the companies owned by them. While the Remington Model 11, Remington 11-48, Browning A5, Savage 720, and the Franchi AL48 are all the same guns and actions and parts are almost interchangale with out slight modifications Swampamn will tell you that the Remington guns are made to higher tolerances than the others. May be true may not but that is his opinion and he can voice it here. He will tell you that the Savage / Stevens stuff is not made as well. I think there is no difference between the brownings, Stevens, and Remingtons, other than features.
Some like features on some guns that others do not think about.
My Father does not like the Ithaca 37, and the Browning BPS because they eat and poop out of the same hole.
The same hole is not a problem, the falling shells that land in your lap in a duck boat is what bothers him. The fact that the side ejecting shells either hit others in the blind or off the wall and into him are not a concern to him.
I have owned both and either was not a factor to me.
up until a few years ago I would not own an 870, I thought the wrist on them was too thin and girly. Nothing wrong with the gun just a personal prefrence. I stuck an M4 collapsing stock on it and did not have to deal with the thin wrist. Again something that most people would not have noticed, ever. (sorry If i just made you look)
Had an uncle that tortured his Mossberg 500- called it "Rusty butt" and would use it to probe along the creek bed to make sure he did not fall into deep water in his waders. He owned several shotguns but the clunky Rusty butt went duck hunting.
Dad has an 835 that goes on rainy days and his A5 or Red label stays home.
I bought a Benelli Nova so I would not screw up any of my wood and blued guns duck hunting in the salt flats. I wanted as much plastic as I could get.
Shotguns are like pickup trucks. All work for the intended purpose, you can modify most to make it more to your liking or for the job at hand, some cost more that others but generally from the econo import to the Cadilac pickups are pickups. Defense shotguns are defence shotguns. You can make any scatter gun do as a home defense gun. The questions are what do you want to add to the basic body to make it meet your needs. And budget is almost everything.
The $75 Steven 520 I have that was cut to 18" is a little butt heavy but would work to the $1200 Benelli M2 tacktical that I can not afford, but want, to the 870 I have that has an extended mag, pistol grip and side saddle for an extra 6 rounds that replaced my 1897 Winchester Riot model as the three gun, gun. My thinking is, if in the middle of the night something goes bang I am not going to have any spare shells in my boxers and have some spare ammo already on the gun is a good idea. But the post was not about a Home defense gun but a hunker down gun. In that case all the 12ga scatter guns would be out of the safe and loaded, along with the handgun and the spare mags.
As far as the shotgun goes I really do not care who made it, I care about a few features and reliability. The Rem Model 11 riot model I have, basically a Browning A5 but you need to push on the bolt release to load the gun. To me not a good thing for a scatter gun in trying to top off the mag. The Winchester 1897 to me is the perfect home defense gun. Short, easy to load with two huge ports. Smooth action and a short stroke as a pump. The down sides are it only holds 5 and is the fastest pump gun I have ever owned. I got the 870 to slow me down. I have shot the 97 dry a few times becasue the 5 rounds goes fast and dumping 2 or three rounds at a target because it did not fall fast enough is why I went to the 870. Had the shop had a Mossberg cheap it would have been a mossberg.
But almost any pump or semi auto can be easily turned into a home gun with a short barrel. WIth shotgun like the 870, Nova, 1100 that I have simply buying a 18-20 inch barrel would do it along with pulling out the plug.
With some of the old guns I have 520, Reminton 11, Rem M10, S&W 3000, Beretta 301A, riot barrels may be available and taking them to the local gun smith to have them cut down is an option. All I can say about cutting them down is they will require a larger front post or they will shoot high You may want to slick up the recoil pad as well so it is smooth and comes up to your shoulder quickly and easily.
12, 16 or 20ga are all choices. Bird shot, Buck, and slugs are all options, depending on the layout of the house and the yardage.
If you have up to 100 yards around the house then slugs are an option.
If you are in a complex bird shot may be what you want so it does not carry through walls and you do not have to worry about wounding a neighbor or family member when shooting in or into a hall way.
