do everything shotgun ,need your advice

goosethegunnut

goosethegunnut

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lanark county, ON
well it seems im on the market for a 12 gauge now, my budget is 600$, the ones i have been thinking about are the browning bps, mossberg 930, remington 870, or the remington 11-87. Im not biased to any brand so thats not a issue for me, I just need a do all shotgun with preferably a synthetic stock, light weight and the ability to get extra barrels and goodies. The game i will mostly end up chasing with it will be coyotes and waterfowl mixed with a deer or two in there. I have no problem buying used there is a gun show at the end of april i plan to attend im trying to make a decision before i go. Any input or info on the guns i mentioned, good bad or indiferent would be greatly appreciated. :D R:d:
 
1) Get a used 870 Wingmaster with a 28" barrel and buy a set of synthetics for it now. Buy the rifled barrel and scope later.
2) Get a new Browning BPS Stalker with a 3" chambered 28" barrel. Buy a rifled deer barrel and scope later.
3) Buy a new Remington 870 Express Combo with 28" and 20" rifled barrel.
 
The BPS is a great shotgun...probably the most over-looked shotguns available. They are an all steel gun with aluminium trigger housing and are slightly heavier than the competition. I find they handle and swing like the old Winchester Model 12 shotgun...which is a long way of saying they swing very naturally! The action is actually very simple and so is stripping the action for a good cleaning...the problem most people encounter is when they go to re-assemble the shell stops and trigger group! It is a handfull the first couple times you do it but afterwards it isn't really any worse than any other gun.
 
The BPS is also a bottom eject which is nice either on the trap field or in a blind. Much nicer for your neighbors not to have hulls flying by their noses.
 
goosethegunnut said:
what are the benifits of a bps? i have heard they are very well built but the action looks quite complicated? and what are they like for weight
Click to expand...

The boys listed the benifits. But if you are looking for extra barrels and goodies you best have real deep pockets. The 870 is the way to go if goodies and barrels are in your future.
 
I like my 870. I've used a 11-87 and the mossberg 930. I liked both of them, but the mossberg has a ported barrel good for recoil management. My life long friend has a 930 and swears buy it. Even though he split the bolt once.

True story, we are sitting in the blind and get a huge flock of snows coming are way, which has happened only once in the 4 years we have hunted that area. He wanted to try remington hyper steels when they had come first come out. I call in the geese and say take'em when they get in range. His gun barks and makes an abnormally load boom. The action locks to the rear. I unloaded my 3 rounds and I look over and he slams the bolt forward and fires one more shot and I swear the shell casing was out of the gun immediately before the shot left the barrel. This had us both worried. After pulling it apart we find out the bolt had broke in three pieces. once down the middle and a small pie chunk of the one side. If I'm lying I'm dying. I have no idea how the gun functioned or how we didn't have to pick shrapnel from our bodies. He ended up getting a new bolt and has used the gun for 3 more seasons. He gave me the rest of his hyper steels. 3 boxed worth. I gave him 3 boxes of kents. I have used his gun a couple times since just shooting skeet and I like it. He will not use hyper steels. lol
 
Mossberg's accessory barrels are typically a bit cheaper than Remington's (Mossberg even makes some barrels to fit the Remington 870.) The Remington 870 Express can be had at a good price with an extra barrel, rifled. Cabela's sells the Mossberg 500 with a 28" barrel and a smoothbore 18.5" for about $320 and the model 535 (3.5" chamber) with a 28" barrel and a rifled barrel, 24" for well under $400, too. A Maverick 88 with a 28" barrel is well under $300 and Mossberg accessory barrels for the 500 fit that one, too.

There are other inexpensive options from Stevens and H&R and probably others. You have plenty of choices.
 
For pumps I'm not a fan of either the Ithaca 37 nor the BPS BECAUSE of their bottom loading system.
They are well built guns however, and many like them.
I much prefer n older Wingmaster or model12.

Cat
 
you could easily pick up three shotguns for 600 used. Rifled barrel with scope(Winchester 1300) will do the deer and the yotes.
an old 28/30" (Ithica or old Remington) barreled shotgun for ducks.
 
A BPS is an excellent shotgun. I have several. If you want a light one, though, you need to get an upland special model, as the standard BPS are not a real light weight gun. That said, they will take a day long of shooting and not beat your shoulder up either, just not the thing for carrying across the prairie 20 miles a day...they are best bought with the barrel you want as extra barrels are not cheap. Mossberg guns have an excellent assortment of extra barrels real reasonably priced though, and I have a 835 that is the best patterning shotgun I have owned to date.
 
Look at the winchester sxp as well, 500$ 3-1/2" with 3 chokes. Great gun, light, really good recoil pad out of the box. I find it kicks quite a bit less than my moss 500. But if you want extra barrels options for slugs or something, barrels are pretty scarce for the winchesters, but then thats what we got rifles for anyway!
 
I like my 870 because of it's adaptability. It is easy to set up for any sport,
be it hunting or clays and I have all the choke tubes needed from breacher
to rifled. There's just such a big aftermarket for 870's that it makes them
hard to ignore. ;)

Ready for 3 gun & bear busting as well as deer and small game w/18" barrel.
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The beasty set up for clays and birds with 24" Carlson's barrel.
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I don't think the BPS qualifies in the 'light weight' category. And both Remingtons have steel receivers. The Moss 930 has an aluminum receiver, so it's probably the lightest of your listed choices. It can also do everything, as it has a rifled barrel option. But I think no matter what you get your $600 budget isn't enough. But really, any of your choices will do the job, there's not a bad gun in that bunch. When it comes down to it, you'll have to decide which one feels best in YOUR hands, not ours.
 
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