Criteria For Choosing A First Shotgun

stubblejumper said:
The guys with the holographic sights didn't do much better.lol
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Oh I bet, I wouldn’t bother trying to shoot clays with a red dot or any other optical sight. Unless it was for ####s and giggles, they have their intended uses but I wouldn’t think clays would be one of them.

I mostly ground shoot grouse due to where we see them locally but when I do get a chance to wing shoot them in a lowland area I ignore the rifle sights on my 870 and just point the thing.
 
stubblejumper said:
To a point yes. But even if that little 14" pump gun fit me, I would not enjoy shooting 3" waterfowl loads in it while goose hunting. The 870 clone with a folding steel skeleton stock that another person showed up with, would be even more painful with heavy loads.
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So then you agree, everything beyond fit is personal preference?
 
I selected my first shotgun based on recommendation of my friend and the fact that he let me use his to some success prior to owning my own. He had a 20ga Wingmaster with fixed mod barrel, so when I saw a near mint version with a Rem Choke barrel for sale at the local gun shop I jumped on it.

I was 18 when I bought that wingmaster and I still carry it a few days each season after Ruffs, Blues and Chukar. To be honest I don’t think I’ve experienced upland hunting like I did the first few years with that gun and my friend and his Brittany. That dog worked birds with so much intelligence and experience combined with the well fitting 870 we were unstoppable. Felt like kings. I haven’t since put so many chukar and ruffed grouse in my vest as I did those years, but every bird I drop with the wingmaster takes me back to that beautiful Brittany.
 
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Like many here my first gun was a single shot .22 but closely followed by a single shot 16 gauge Iver Johnson with a bore like a sewer pipe. Next year I mowed lawns all summer for an elderly neighbour and wound up with his prized 16 gauge hammer double. I was the proudest 15 year old around, and the only one with a real double, long gone now but the fire started by that gun still burns brightly over 60 years later. Teen agers then in rural or semi rural areas were trusted on their own with a gun by 14 or 15, and at 16 you were trusted with a car on the highway. At 16 you could also join the army reserve and shoot machine guns and throw live hand grenades. These teenagers were light years more mature than most of the city kids I see now.
Many of our CGN members have come into the firearm world at a much later age, 20's and 30's and in many ways similar to the teenagers of years ago, trying to learn all about their new hobby and new toys, influenced now by TV and video games rather than the westerns and war movies of years ago. For some their interest will remain arrested at the bang bang shoot 'em up , lotsa noise, lotsa recoil stage but most will eventually learn the satisfaction of precision shooting with rifle or pistol or discover the challenges of hunting or consistently shooting flying targets. Then they begin to understand about real quality in firearms.
 
My first modern shotgun was an SXP Trap.

Didn't like the comb and the length was ridiculous.

Fast forward a couple years and the best skeet I shoot is with riot guns, including an old Wingmaster with an 18" barrel

I've come to enjoy fast point n click guns, and I do not feel that another foot of barrel compensates for bad technique. Best thing for a new shooter is a small bead on a gun that fits and a good coach.
 
Not my first shotgun but it was on sale and I couldn't resist at the price, bought a Mossberg 535 camo pump action 3 barrel combo. It was my first pump and after inspection (not yet shot) it is a tank with more barrels and options than I'll likely ever use. Buying that or the Remington 870 version of the same would cover you for ever conceivable shotgun requirement. For a bang around gun the Mossberg looks like it will be a good one. Apparently it will do all shell sized from 2-3/4 for trap and 3-1/2 for ducks with body armour. I'm not sure about the mini shells but meh. Short of this shotgun being a total lemon I see no reason to ever have to replace it.


for a semi I am using a Auto 5 light twelve and O/U a Akkar Churchill 28" orcap. Both are really nice shotguns and I would buy the same without hesitation again. I am very impressed with the Churchill O/U so far having shot a bunch of trap with it even two games in the rain. So basically you need to decide what shotgun you want first... a semi, pump or break action eventually you will have one or more of each.
 
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Modern Military design of any firearm is what seems to get my juices flowing, however there are a few exceptions. To clarify I have only ever had 3 wood stocked firearms.

I dont shoot clays with purpose just the occasional few here and there and never any birds, so how a shotgun fits and swings is mostly irrelevant to me.

When buying a shotgun, I usually like to follow the mentality of wanting something quick to deploy in a self defense position for 4 legged or otherwise predators, or for putting down mamed animals as a result of farming practices.

As a result I like to consider the following:
•Ease of storage/transport - First of all, it must be NR, and how easy is it to unload and lock and find a suitable space for it?
•Ease of deployment - how quickly can it be retrieved from where it was left, and made operationally ready to put the first round on target?
•Capacity/frequency - how many shots inbetween reloads, and how long do reloads take?
•Handling characteristics/compactness - how well suited is it to being deployed in confined spaces, be it thick bush, from a vehicle, or in a building?

With the above criteria in mind I have chosen and am in the reliability testing phase of my new Final Defense FD12 12ga Semi-auto Magfed Bullpup shotgun. Hopefully it continues to impress me as it has thus far.

Should I stray from this guideline, it's likely because I have found I enjoy the artistic nature of a different design. I am actually experiencing that right now with a nice AXOR o/u. Might have to pick one up!
 
Sell the tacticool shotties to the next fellow in line and he can buy an 26-30" interchangeable choke barrelled 870 express 3" (or similar) and have $ left over. Shotguns are pretty easy to modify. You can have both.
 
My experience has been that you can explain things to people, BUT, you can't understand it for them.

I've seen more people with 14" barreled shotguns who seem to think the correct position on station 1 is to point the muzzle at their toes or the concrete even though the 4 people ahead of them had their barrels pointed to where the clay was going to be. To be fair, some new shooters with 28' barrels do the same.

"....... so how a shotgun fits and swings is mostly irrelevant to me." might also be the oddest comment I've ever read on this forum. An ill fitting shotgun will usually tend to hurt the shooter a lot more than one with decent ergonomics, I would think that would be relevant to everybody who shoots!
 
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