10-14-2016, 10:24 AM
I have a Remington 1100 with 18" barrel and extended mag. 12 gauge. I can't remember now what my second leading choice was (if it was Mossberg or something else) but after a lot of online reading it seemed to come down to personal preference with no serious problems in either gun (whatever the other one was).
Going to 20 gauge wouldn't get you any more rounds -- at least not in the usual in-line shotgun magazine, because 20 gauge is the same length, just narrower. I don't think 12 gauge recoil is that distracting and being semi-auto, some of the power is absorbed by the action to chamber the next round anyway.
When looking for ammo you'll notice you can get low recoil shells. Don't buy em unless you just want a few for giggles. I'm sure they're fine in a pump but my experience in the 1100 is that they fail to eject about 1 time in 10 whereas I have yet to have a regular shell fail to eject.
And yeah, personally I don't leave a round in the chamber of my 1100 because I'm too chicken. It has a safety button but the standard trigger is pretty light. There is a very loud CHK-CHK sound of chambering the first round (which is done by pulling back the action, like on a rifle) that would definitely be heard for what it is.
I recall reading a big report that suggested #1 buckshot was the best for home defense -- best mix of number of balls in the shell while still having a big enough ball to do reliable damage but nobody ever carries it that I've seen (probably could find it online). I just put in alternating #00 and slugs. (The only indoor range near me only lets us fire slugs anyway.) My opinion is shotgun > rifle for most practical situations, unless you live in Montana or something and "home defense" includes your 40 acre property.
And my justification on semi-auto rather than pump was the fear of "under pumping": that in a stressful situation you might work the pump action but fail to bring it all the way back and thus fail to chamber the next round, which is apparently a thing. With semi-auto you trade that for the usual semi-auto problems of dud shells or jamming on ejection but other than low recoil shells I've not had any problems.
Barely related footnote:
If you're also thinking about rifles, I would look for something other than an AR-15. I like to point out to people that in most (or maybe all) states, you cannot legally hunt deer with an AR-15. The media acts like the AR-15 is a super powered death machine but the round is considered too small to be a humane hunting weapon for deer. If I ever get around to rifle shopping I'm going to look for .308 or 7.62 (5.56 is almost the same as a .223, which is to say, just barely bigger caliber than a .22. The military's decision to use 5.56 is, I think, based more on wanting a lot of volume of fire and easier logistics rather than killing power per shot. I'm sure it's cheaper to shoot at the range, though, which may be part of why they're so popular with home buyers. But there are a lot of bigger calibers that are very popular hunting rounds and easy to find.)
Going to 20 gauge wouldn't get you any more rounds -- at least not in the usual in-line shotgun magazine, because 20 gauge is the same length, just narrower. I don't think 12 gauge recoil is that distracting and being semi-auto, some of the power is absorbed by the action to chamber the next round anyway.
When looking for ammo you'll notice you can get low recoil shells. Don't buy em unless you just want a few for giggles. I'm sure they're fine in a pump but my experience in the 1100 is that they fail to eject about 1 time in 10 whereas I have yet to have a regular shell fail to eject.
And yeah, personally I don't leave a round in the chamber of my 1100 because I'm too chicken. It has a safety button but the standard trigger is pretty light. There is a very loud CHK-CHK sound of chambering the first round (which is done by pulling back the action, like on a rifle) that would definitely be heard for what it is.
I recall reading a big report that suggested #1 buckshot was the best for home defense -- best mix of number of balls in the shell while still having a big enough ball to do reliable damage but nobody ever carries it that I've seen (probably could find it online). I just put in alternating #00 and slugs. (The only indoor range near me only lets us fire slugs anyway.) My opinion is shotgun > rifle for most practical situations, unless you live in Montana or something and "home defense" includes your 40 acre property.
And my justification on semi-auto rather than pump was the fear of "under pumping": that in a stressful situation you might work the pump action but fail to bring it all the way back and thus fail to chamber the next round, which is apparently a thing. With semi-auto you trade that for the usual semi-auto problems of dud shells or jamming on ejection but other than low recoil shells I've not had any problems.
Barely related footnote:
If you're also thinking about rifles, I would look for something other than an AR-15. I like to point out to people that in most (or maybe all) states, you cannot legally hunt deer with an AR-15. The media acts like the AR-15 is a super powered death machine but the round is considered too small to be a humane hunting weapon for deer. If I ever get around to rifle shopping I'm going to look for .308 or 7.62 (5.56 is almost the same as a .223, which is to say, just barely bigger caliber than a .22. The military's decision to use 5.56 is, I think, based more on wanting a lot of volume of fire and easier logistics rather than killing power per shot. I'm sure it's cheaper to shoot at the range, though, which may be part of why they're so popular with home buyers. But there are a lot of bigger calibers that are very popular hunting rounds and easy to find.)