Talking my girlfriend out of a Mossberg and into an 870 . . .

As stated yer already a winner to have her engaging in firearms use at all so ...Yeah!

What I haven't seen here by the myriad of posts is things to AVOID with a shotty for her??
The gun needs yo be light enough to handle and operate but enough to soak up some recoil.
I would say this means an aluminum receiver gun....870 is out.

I would also focus a LOT on the stock and barrel configuration as it needs to ergonomically work well for her and soak up recoil as well as the barrel needs to be long enough to tame the muzzle blast somewhat....no 12inchers fer sure!

If these areas aren't addressed I pretty much guarantee she will nEVER shoot a shotgun again. The gun needs to fit her and manage recoil well and be esily handled/operated or it will sour her on shotty's and prolly guns at large.

As for finish and looks....thats her call. The Mossy's offer a lot of choices in finish and configuration at good pricing and they are perfectly good guns and they are aluminum receivers...seems a logical choice to me.

Good luck and have fun goin down the rabbit hole of spousal shooting!! LOL
 
To the OP: Just let her get what she prefer it's the main thing. I bought a Mossber 535 for me and my wife in the possibility of her going skeet shooting. In my opinion it is indeed loose and feels cheap, but if it can bring her to the range it's worth it. Remember: Happy wife, happy life.
 
I was going to suggest the same stuff as you terez but then threw it all out the window since I figured it safe to assume she has shot a 12 gauge before, because TV-presspass has one and likely has access to others, I have a feeling her wanting a 12gauge is because she's handled one before... I may be wrong though.
 
Let her buy what she wants , either of them are good enough guns . I have always had Mossy 500's in my safe somewhere , the older Mossbergs and 870's were better guns than they are nowadays and the new manufacture guns feel cheaper but for a 300-400 ish dollar shotgun they are both pretty dam good . To the Op it sounds like you are more interested in tacticooling and rebuilding her shot gun while she probably just wants a gun to go out shooting with you. If she passed the safety courses she has enough of a head on her shoulders to choose a good starter gun on her own, hopefully she will want to buy more and get into the other good stuff that goes along with it. For now I would suggest letting her have a little bit of slack when it comes to her picking a gun. She will enjoy it far more if it is hers from the beginning, rather than just a gun you told her to buy and if it turns out to be a headache/uncomfortable , hard to build or a general POS well that will save a whole bunch of I told you so's from being regularly delivered in your direction .
 
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