Sidearms & Scatterguns Shotgun Opinions

[45.308]

On an impulse buy sort of, I was thinking of a semi auto shotgun for around the house, fun time and against critters, I picked up Mossberg 930 SPX blackwater. I updated with a wolf spring and GGG follower. I put a Bushnell TRS 25 on it that cowitness with the factory irons. Its a fun blast to shoot with 9 rounds of buck. I have gone a couple hundred rounds down range at a time with no cleaning using L8 to 3", not a single stoppage but it does not like Rio slugs though but feeds everything else.

Sold quite a few Mossberg 930 with no major complaints or attempted returns from customers that I remember. No more than Berretta or Benelli.

 

[flyfisher117]

My supernova decided to start ejecting live rounds out the bottom instead of feeding. This was about 800 rounds of 3 1/2" BB & BBB goose loads. I had that trigger group apart about 50 times getting the detent tuned in so the lifter would drop.
Now it wears a 12 round mag and gets beaten at 3 gun. Don't trust it in the dirt as a field gun anymore.

So pump gun? 870. Can't recommend a Benelli pump after my experience.

My Super Nova duck gun has ran flawlessly. I honestly dont have a round count estimate. To many weekends of sitting down with a few cases of shells and blasting. With my cousin who also has the super nova.

My Nova tactical has also been fine. Bought it used and abused. Slowly feeding it a straight diet of slugs and some buck shot.

On the other hand I have personally been in the field with 4 separate 870s that have failed and locked up tight in the field. Only 870 I would buy is an old wing master.

 

[TonyTheTiger]

After a little more port work I'm convinced more than ever that the 1301 kicks ass. Loading 8 rounds and shooting 2 in the 3 second range is so much easier with this design than with almost any other gun mentioned in this thread.

 

[Maser]

Mossberg 500!

Pumps are best due to how well they cycle all varieties of shells whereas an auto is finicky with cycling.

 

[Hound Dog]

Oh, and Mossberg is a "go" with respect to pumps primarily because of the dual extractors and reliability. They just work.

We have a bunch of Mossberg 500's around the farm. I know they are not a refined weapon but for the price I don't think they can be beat. We keep one on every tractor for snakes, hogs, and coyotes. I have a couple 500's that basically live on an open cab tractor in the hay field and have seen them with so much dust, grass, and dirt on them you would not believe. At the end of the day they get unloaded and tossed in the floor board of the truck until the next day. I tear them down once every other month or so to clean the dirt out of them, but have never had one fail to feed or fire yet. For a 300 dollar shotgun I don't think you can beat them. I do have and like a Benelli that I like for hunting turkey and hogs though. The Benelli doesn't get abused like the mossberg's do.

 

[MtnCreek]

If you can find them, the old school Beretta 1201 models are amazingly fast shooting.
You just need to run "manly" ammo in them.
Also, keep your thumb out of the breach...

I've read that about being picky with ammo, but has not been my experience. I bought some police trade ins a few yrs back. The two I kept will cycyle 1.25oz AA's w/o issue. The one I gave to a friend supposable shoots birdshot well too, but I don't think he's shot it enough to know for sure. Recoil (even with birdshot) is pretty rough, or I'm a bit of a puss after shooting mostly gas op autos for so long.

We have a bunch of Mossberg 500's around the farm. I know they are not a refined weapon but for the price I don't think they can be beat. We keep one on every tractor for snakes, hogs, and coyotes. I have a couple 500's that basically live on an open cab tractor in the hay field and have seen them with so much dust, grass, and dirt on them you would not believe. At the end of the day they get unloaded and tossed in the floor board of the truck until the next day. I tear them down once every other month or so to clean the dirt out of them, but have never had one fail to feed or fire yet. For a 300 dollar shotgun I don't think you can beat them. I do have and like a Benelli that I like for hunting turkey and hogs though. The Benelli doesn't get abused like the mossberg's do.

The old 500's were good shotguns. A couple yrs ago I received an old 500 20ga that lived in my uncles barn for 20+yrs. Cleaned it up and really like it. It's as smooth as an old wingmaster. Was in chinamart a while back and looked at a new 500 in .410. Either the barrel was crooked or the beads were. Something was off.

 

[W54/XM-388]

I've read that about being picky with ammo, but has not been my experience. I bought some police trade ins a few yrs back. The two I kept will cycyle 1.25oz AA's w/o issue. The one I gave to a friend supposable shoots birdshot well too, but I don't think he's shot it enough to know for sure. Recoil (even with birdshot) is pretty rough, or I'm a bit of a puss after shooting mostly gas op autos for so long.

We were getting them more for the "social work" type usage idea, so we were running the higher energy larger ball stuff, that never had any issues for us. We did try some really weak birdshot and it wouldn't cycle properly.

The Main advantage we liked was the cycling speed.

 

[MtnCreek]

@W54/XM-388 That's what I bought them for too. I think I paid around $300/ea for them with the idea that they'd be just right for vehicle carry and not a big loss if stolen.

The birdshot was just to get some cheap trigger time to function check. I wonder if two different people could have different results shooting birdshot in the same gun. Maybe the gun recoils more in my hands than yours; that might allow the action to cycle for me, but not you.

 

[mgrs]

So that way you can short stroke it right after you brag about its impeccable reliability.

Preach it. Almost always happens the fist time(s) people who have not manipulated the gun under pressure are on the clock. If it’s a newer 870 express, they are lucky if it is even extracting by the end of the stage.