I feel silly responding to a shotgun question because I'm not really a "shotgun guy", but maybe some of my perspectives might be useful to you. First off, remember that this is your first shotgun...not necessarily your last shotgun or your only shotgun. I think that for you to get a feel for the various types of shotgunning, the only reasonable choice is a pump gun (Rem870, Moss500/590) with a few assorted interchangeable barrels. Get a 26/28-inch barrel for traditional hunting purposes (waterfowl/upland), a shorter slug barrel (either rifled for sabots, or smoothbore for rifled slugs), maybe a short smoothbore for specialty use like turkeys, maybe a 14-inch barrel just for gits'n'shiggles...a 12-gauge pump gun with a few barrels and choke tubes is arguably the most versatile firearm you can own. You can buy a gun with one barrel and add more barrels later, or you can pick up one of combos that comes with several barrels from the factory. These guns are far less expensive than any of the decent semiauto choices, and once you decide which types of shooting you like and which you don't, you can always sell and upgrade...or, for that matter, just keep the pump gun as a backup for hunting, etc. and also get the ultimate toy you are lusting after.
Other good pump guns are the Ithaca37 and the Fabarms, but I'd stick with either the Rem or the Mossberg simply because getting more barrels and other accessories for these two is far easier. Either way, a pump shotgun is the traditional shotgun in many people's minds, and learning to operate one smoothly and effectively is easy...and is also one of the basic skills that any all-around shooter should have. And they make it easy and relatively inexpensive for you to try different sighting systems: simple front bead, dual bead, aperture/ghost-ring, red dot, scope, etc. As you have seen throughout this thread, there are varying opinions regarding sights, and trying them all is the only way you will know what you like and what works best for you for various purposes.
If/when you go with a semiauto, you have a choice of either gas-operated or recoil/inertial operated. Most of the guns being suggested in this thread for you are gas-operated; they are more common, very reliable, tend to have a wee bit less recoil due to their operating mechanism...and are, IMHO, a relative PITA to clean. Any time your gun has a port in the barrel through which hot gases are squirting here and there to operate pistons or other mechanisms...you are complicating the cleaning of the gun.
I personally much prefer the recoil or inertial operating systems. Their mechanisms don't mitigate recoil as much as the gas guns...although I think this benefit of gas guns is a little bit exaggerated by many people...so they stay much cleaner through extended shooting sessions. To me this is a big deal, a major advantage; but I don't shoot any competitions at all, so maybe those fractions of a second of increased speed that a gas gun grants you are lost on me. Most of my shotgun shooting is at-home behind-the-barn casual fun kind of stuff, competing only against myself. And to me, a side benefit of shotguns in general is that they help you grow accustomed and immune to recoil; I am first and foremost a rifle shooter, I like the larger bores, and a bunch of rifle-style shotgun use with slugs is a cheap way to stay on-the-ball with your .375 or other big-game rifle.
Don't forget all the other cool toys in the shotgun world; one of my all-time favourites is a double barrel, either SxS or O/U, fitted with sights or an optic and using slugs. It's one of those gun types that just makes me smile everytime I pull the trigger...but it's not the ideal first choice. You want your first shotgun to be versatile and to teach you how to become proficient with shotguns in general. Good luck; there's lots of fun ahead.
Other good pump guns are the Ithaca37 and the Fabarms, but I'd stick with either the Rem or the Mossberg simply because getting more barrels and other accessories for these two is far easier. Either way, a pump shotgun is the traditional shotgun in many people's minds, and learning to operate one smoothly and effectively is easy...and is also one of the basic skills that any all-around shooter should have. And they make it easy and relatively inexpensive for you to try different sighting systems: simple front bead, dual bead, aperture/ghost-ring, red dot, scope, etc. As you have seen throughout this thread, there are varying opinions regarding sights, and trying them all is the only way you will know what you like and what works best for you for various purposes.
If/when you go with a semiauto, you have a choice of either gas-operated or recoil/inertial operated. Most of the guns being suggested in this thread for you are gas-operated; they are more common, very reliable, tend to have a wee bit less recoil due to their operating mechanism...and are, IMHO, a relative PITA to clean. Any time your gun has a port in the barrel through which hot gases are squirting here and there to operate pistons or other mechanisms...you are complicating the cleaning of the gun.
I personally much prefer the recoil or inertial operating systems. Their mechanisms don't mitigate recoil as much as the gas guns...although I think this benefit of gas guns is a little bit exaggerated by many people...so they stay much cleaner through extended shooting sessions. To me this is a big deal, a major advantage; but I don't shoot any competitions at all, so maybe those fractions of a second of increased speed that a gas gun grants you are lost on me. Most of my shotgun shooting is at-home behind-the-barn casual fun kind of stuff, competing only against myself. And to me, a side benefit of shotguns in general is that they help you grow accustomed and immune to recoil; I am first and foremost a rifle shooter, I like the larger bores, and a bunch of rifle-style shotgun use with slugs is a cheap way to stay on-the-ball with your .375 or other big-game rifle.
Don't forget all the other cool toys in the shotgun world; one of my all-time favourites is a double barrel, either SxS or O/U, fitted with sights or an optic and using slugs. It's one of those gun types that just makes me smile everytime I pull the trigger...but it's not the ideal first choice. You want your first shotgun to be versatile and to teach you how to become proficient with shotguns in general. Good luck; there's lots of fun ahead.
