choice of shotguns

[Treeman72]

Just looking for some informed opinions. For an "assault rifle " in New York, the choices are few. I like my Mossbergs, so what do I get? The 7 shot tactical 590 or the 930? Money is tight, so the question is whether the semiautomatic is worth it. Opinions?

[tman]

The best defensive shotgun ever made is the Remington 870,with an 18" barrell, rifled sight, full magazine, with choke tubes.

[Grizz]

or, for a couple C-notes you can get the chicom copy of the 870. shoots just as well. the target will never know the difference. I put an A4 stock on mine. it has EXCELLENT post front and peeper rear sights.

OTOH, the 930 can be cycled single-handed, which could be a life saver if the bear has the other one.....

I have come to REALLY LIKE the pistol grip and would not want to relinquish it... it's my house gun and is never far away when I am home.

Grizz

[Ysabel Kid]

There are several advantages of a pump versus a semi-auto shotgun for self defense. The pump, as you note, is usually a lot less expensive. There are fewer things to go wrong during the "excitement" of a defensive-use situation. Finally, there probably isn't a more threatening sound short of firing a shot than a pump shotgun being racked. That alone has scared off many would-be ner-do-wells!

[jeepnik]

I have pumps, semiautos, OU's and SxS'. They all fill different niches. Push comes to shove, I pick a pump. Likely my lefty 870. But I like Mossys because of the safety location.

[Ji in Hawaii]

I'll always be odd man out as I've owned both a Mossy 500, a Remington 870 but I prefer my Winchester 1300 aka Defender.

[RIHMFIRE]

Remington 870 with extended mag...& 00B

[AJMD429]

An eight-shot Mossberg (7 in tube) is nothing to sneeze at. One is usually in the bedroom 'just in case'.

[madman4570]

Keep what you got and if you already don't have a short(legally short)barrel for it---------------spend $40 and pick up a good used barrel and have one become one.
Save your money--------------------------Pump just fine!
Least for me!

[alnitak]

For HD/SD, go with the Mossberg 590 pump. If you were running 3-gun, then the 930.

[Grizz]

http://www.gunblast.com/Mossberg-930SPX.htm

I like what Jeff says about it.

and I like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h20DECxN8bg

I have two pumpers but am always looking for a 'deal' on this 'lil buddy

[mod71alaska]

I like the Rem 870 for all the reasons mentioned above, plus its additional versatility....you very easily can interchange the barrels from self defense purposes to hunting waterfowl and upland game. I have owned an 870 Wingmaster since my early days in Alaska and had a mag-na-ported 18 inch sighted barrel for bear protection (that would be home defense in the lower 48) and additional 26", 28" and 30" barrels in different chokes for bird hunting. Now there are the newer interchangeable choke barrels available for the 870. Today there also are different 870 stock materials and metal finishes to bring down the cost from the walnut stocked, deeply blued Wingmaster, such as the 870 Express and black polymer stocks. Mechanically they still are 870s.

I mentioned this above in passing, but I would highly recommend Mag-na-porting any 18" 12 ga. home defense shotgun barrel for rapid, close range accurate firing.

I am sure there are other very fine HD shotguns out there to consider. My experience is with the Remington 870 and I highly recommend it.

Victor

PS: If you like your Mossberg shotgun just get a short barrel with rifle sights for it (if they are available) and you should be set for little additional money. Your 12 ga. 00 buck isn't going to know the difference between an 870 and a Mossberg coming out the barrel and neither is an intruder on the receiving end. Your family will be safe, and you'll have some new problems to deal with. Your first and only words at that point should be: "I want to be represented by a lawyer and have nothing to say until I am." I hope your HD choice gives you peace of mind, and that you never have to call a lawyer.

[rock-steady]

The only thing better than a Remington 870 12 gauge is.....two Remington 870's.

(and a few hundred shells for each)

[Blaine]

Just get a nice MossRemSter pump, and be safe and happy Short Barrel with sights, at least five shots....

[Poohgyrr]

A good auto can be sweet, and pumps should need less maintenance and have done well forever. I simply settled on an 870.

[Treeman72]

A really nice 590 with 8 round capacity and nice sights runs $550 where I live. I have never even seen a 930 for sale. Either they sell fast or the distributors cannot get them. Is that a fair price for a 590?

[1894c]

i have used and carried a Remington 870 Police Magnum for a very long time. another choice to throw in the mix is the Beneli Nova Tactical Shotgun (or the Super-Nova variant). i have shot another LEO's and it's a good weapon, it's a mixture of high-tech polymer and steel, similar to my service Glocks (23 & 27) and my Ruger LCR-357, actually i'm thinking about getting one... :)

SIDENOTE: boy have i have totally bought into this plastic and steel when it comes to guns,
oh well, just shows i'm living proof of a paradigm shift...

1339051245.jpg

[Neil Casper]

Of the two models you mention I would pick the 590 with the extended mag tube. A virtually indestructable shot gun.

I have two Remington 1100s set up for shot gun games, but an 18.5" Remington 870 HD in the bedroom (You can count on a pump every time).

[Nath]

I'll always be odd man out as I've owned both a Mossy 500, a Remington 870 but I prefer my Winchester 1300 aka Defender.

Thems real cheap nowadays and the fastest actioned pumps out there.....miss mine.
Good choice.

N.

[2ndovc]

I bought a Mossberg 930 SPX about a year ago. That thing flat out Rocks! I've run about 500 rounds of various loads through it so far w/o a single malfunction. I had a Mossberg 590 but loaned it to a friend when he was living in a rough neighborhood. He's since moved and I still haven't gotten it back!

I also had an S&W 916 (870 knock off) that was a great gun but the Ice Queen got that one.

I took all but two shells off the sling though. All that weight really affects your aim.
I can be a little slow some times.

jb

[Grizz]

Good info on the 930. It looks to me a lot like a 500 with a gas block to drive the action arms. I don't see how it could get any simpler or more reliable than that.

[Streetstar]

I'll always be odd man out as I've owned both a Mossy 500, a Remington 870 but I prefer my Winchester 1300 aka Defender.

I like the Defender as well.

I have A couple of Remington's and they both have to have an extended magazine to take it seven or eight rounds capacity, but the Winchester have a full-length tube, which was nice as it looked a little less bolted together and was more streamlined.

I have the Remington's because I could not find a Winchester when I was in the market, but now with easy availability of older guns on gun broker it is easier than ever before to get what you really want.

That said, I recently bought a gun for my safe room (tornado shelter ) and it was another 870. It cost 320 for the basic gun, 45 for the extended magazine tube, and 30 for the sidesaddle shell holder, bringing the total to around $400 complete
I am not partial to Mossberg, but I did note that Mossberg has some firearms that already have the seamless extended magazine tube for around this price range as well

[2ndovc]

Good info on the 930. It looks to me a lot like a 500 with a gas block to drive the action arms. I don't see how it could get any simpler or more reliable than that.

Only problem I have is that I grew up with pump guns ( Model 97s and Model 12s) I actually have to remind myself to stop trying to pump the fore end and just pull the trigger!

jb

[Griff]

After the introduction of the Remington 870, and BEFORE the free-market killin' legislation of "Buy-America" and "low-bid" mandated by Fedeeral & State law makers, Remington 870s were bought by thousands of federal, state & local law enforcement agencies.

While Mossberg has made good inroads into the reliability the 870 is known for, it still has some way to go. As a former specification writer/buyer, working directly with armorers, for more than one agency, performance based requirements will show the 870 has no peer in the pump line-up. Until the lawyers got involved challenging the "need" for performance requirements, few agencies had to settle for 2nd or 3rd "best"!

Frankly, given what I know as to why some departments/agencies have Mossberg & Winchester pumps, recommending one of them is foolish when based on police or military use.

When Remington developed their "870Express" gun to compete in those "low-bid" environments; yep, their fit & finish suffered, not their reliability. But, I'll still trust my life to the 41 year old Wingmaster with its 30+ yo skeet barrel over ANY 500 or 13/1400 wannabe. Strong opinion? Yes, but based on many more millioms of rounds than I could EVER hope to fire in several life-times!

But hey! What do I know? My son's droolin' over a Mossberg 930! My next pump? You figure it out!

[alnitak]

Treeman, you can always convert one of your existing Mossberg for a lot less than a new gun:

http://www.brownells.com/magazines/shot ... 25124.aspx

[L_Kilkenny]

I also toss my hat into the 1300 first, 870 second. But I might add if you go the 1300 defender route you are stuck with the barrel that came with it, if you go for a standard 1300 (i.e. non-defender) shorter barrels are hard to come by. Other aftermarket accessories are rare as hen's teeth for both 1300's. As for pump vs. auto: I've never had the pocket book for a good auto so I'm livin in pump world but............. short strokin a pump under stress ain't hard to do and will jam it up but good. Then it's nothin more than a mighty fine club. Under stress an auto MAY prove more reliable.

LK

[Treeman72]

Bought a 1300 ranger at wal-mart 11 years ago for $260. Would love to go back in time and get the full tube defender. The speedpump system is pretty nice.

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Been attached to the Mossy 500 for many years and see no reason to upgrade.
If I had to go out and buy new that would be different. When up north there in the US of A I see Mossy 500's for $135 area. They are ugly and used but alrady have an 18" barrel and real bumped and bruised wood. But they function. Not real hard to mount a peep on the frame and a blade on the barrel. Even go that glow stuff if you must.
Sight a 200 lumen light on the barrel to center pattern at 15 yards and center the light on target. Pretty fast especially for my wife.
And as stated before.. That sound of a pump being actuated is more than a brain cares to hear in a strange enviorment. Even down here in LLama land a Mossy 500 is waiting on the bed frame with a 200 lumen light centered to pattern.
Mike in Peru

[flyfisher66048]

I've got a pair of Remington's, (one 870 and one 1100) that were worked over by scattergun technologies to be exactly the same. They have ghost ring sights with tritium in the front sight, screw in chokes, lengthen forcing cones, paint jobs, etc. I used to be on the national shooting team as a junior skeet shooter, and I've been to shooting schools learning to run shotguns in the self defense mode. Yea, I've put a few rounds through a shotgun in my life. After shooting both of these guns, I will say a reliable semi-auto is better than a pump for self defense. They are easier to shoot faster from a variety of positions such as prone, or weak side.

A long way of saying get the semi-auto mossberg.