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There doesn't seem to be a lot of love here for side by side, double barrel shotguns but I have a couple of coach guns (exposed hammers, double triggers, shorter barrels) that fit my needs for a home gun perfectly.
Not a lot of love!!!??? o_O

Stoeger side-by-side 12 gauge. Sorry for the crappy pic. One day I'll take a better one, once WFH ends and my kitchen table no longer serves as my home office...

Stoeger coach gun.jpg
 
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A bit late to the conversation, but I'll throw in my 2 cents. For basic home defense, a Remington 870 or Mossberg 500 are hard to beat. Price is reasonable. Relatively light weight. Get a shorter barrel to make maneuvering through the house easier. Add a side-saddle to hold extra ammo.

If recoil isn't an issue, go 12 gauge, there will be more ammo options. 20 gauge if recoil is an issue. Can also get low recoiling 12 gauge ammo as well, so that's an option too. Kind of hard to go wrong, either way.

I'd steer clear of semi-auto shotguns unless he really plans to work with it and maintain it. A pump is not maintenance free, but it will stay reliable, even dirty, longer than a semi-auto will.
 
A shotgun is a very poor home defense/combat weapon. Even less so in the hands of an unskilled operator.

A pump shotgun is less reliable than an auto gun, due to the human driving it. If you are dead set on a shotgun, the beretta 1301 cannot be beat.

I say this as someone who has been shooting shotguns for 30 years, carried one in combat and probably has more money in shotguns than most people have in their morgage.

Shotguns are for birds and clays...the end.

A good friend would steer them towards and AR pistol and teach them to shoot. Not only is it infinitely easier to put quick accurate shots on target than a shotgun or pistol, you will have less overpenetration issues, more capacity and less things to worry about under stress.

Even better would be a pistol and an AR.

Then again libs and other non gun folk who spent their lives voting against the 2a And not supporting the 2a should be forced to go unarmed IMO. They reap what they sow.
 
A shotgun is a very poor home defense/combat weapon. Even less so in the hands of an unskilled operator.

A pump shotgun is less reliable than an auto gun, due to the human driving it. If you are dead set on a shotgun, the beretta 1301 cannot be beat.

I say this as someone who has been shooting shotguns for 30 years, carried one in combat and probably has more money in shotguns than most people have in their morgage.

Shotguns are for birds and clays...the end.

A good friend would steer them towards and AR pistol and teach them to shoot. Not only is it infinitely easier to put quick accurate shots on target than a shotgun or pistol, you will have less overpenetration issues, more capacity and less things to worry about under stress.

Even better would be a pistol and an AR.

Then again libs and other non gun folk who spent their lives voting against the 2a And not supporting the 2a should be forced to go unarmed IMO. They reap what they sow.

I agree with just about everything in this post.
 
Pump shotguns work perfectly well for home defense, as long as you are sure who is on the receiving end of the buckshot.
They have for over a century, and almost certainly always will. The classics never die, and there is a reason for it.
 
Pump shotguns work perfectly well for home defense, as long as you are sure who is on the receiving end of the buckshot.
They have for over a century, and almost certainly always will. The classics never die, and there is a reason for it.
Define work perfectly?

Buckshot at distances inside a house have the spread of a closed fist. With massive recoil, low capacity, slow follow up shots in a package that (over18" legally) is very unwieldy. Its also much slower to operate and harder under stress compared to an AR or a pistol.

They have never been a good option they were a last resort/ poor option due to widespread ignorance and lack of knowledge on ballistics.

Most people just simply don't know what they are talking about compounded with instead of staying silent and learning something, would rather just repeat urban legends and institutional ignorance. Its a bad combination and only hurts newer shooters by feeding them the same lies and BS they were fed.
 
Depends on many factors but a "budget" shotgun is a Maverick 88 (mossberg). But I would go with a mossberg 500/590 or a Remington 870. Light, sling, and maybe a side saddle if you train with that. I like to install XS big Dots on all fighting/defensive shotguns and a 12" LOP stock. If it's for a smaller framed person, could go with a 20 gauge.
 

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