Now don't go doing that Matt! You're gonna confuse the issue even more!!
The Nova was in fact on my short list of rifle/ghost ring sighted guns I was looking at. The core of the problem is I think, that I'm a shotgun junky
. I'm not going to be happy until I try them all!
My list of rifle sighted guns was as follows:
- Benelli Nova Special Purpose with either Ghost Rings or convential rifle sights
- Winchester Camp Defender with conventional rifle sights
- Mossberg 590 with Ghost Rings
- Possibly add sights to my existing Rem 870
Now, keep in mind I don't
need another pump gun, I really just want one. I have the 870 HD with a 18" barrel and screw in full choke, I have a cylinder bore Mossy 500 with 20" and full mag tube, I have a Winchester 1897 with 28" tube and full choke, plus a 10 gauge double, and a couple other oddities. Realistically, the 870 or the Mossy will do whatever I
need a pump to do but I am real interested in trying out rifle sights just for curiousities sake if nothing else.
Now, I have $400 right now for a shotgun purchase and am actually looking at moving the Mossberg 500 to get something more in lines with what I want (my dad gave it to me, set up how he liked it). Now, after fully admitting I'm a shotgun junkie, I have to say I doubt I'll be truely happy until I've tried everything I'm looking at. With that in mind here's what I'm starting to think about:
- Keep my 870, put my Side saddle back on it and possibly a tritium bead and keep it for my house gun.
- Pick up a 590A1 with my $400 but maybe with a stock bead like the issue guns. I've wanted a 590 for years now and have just kept putting it off as I've always had other pump guns. There may well be better guns out there but until I get a chance to really work one over I won't be happy. Plus, I collect US military rifles from WW I up to present so having an "as issue" 590A1 appeals to me from a collectors standpoint to, even if I don't use it for any "serious" purpose.
- When I roll the Mossberg 500, pick up a Winchester Camp Defender. With it's 22" barrel, rifle sights, full length mag and screw in choke it'd make a great general purpose camp gun for me. For the limited amount and type of hunting I do these days it'd probably do fine double duty for that too, with a plug in it. Although it'd be conventional sights it does have a bit longer sight radius at least due to the extra 4" of barrel over a riot gun.
- Hold off on a Nova for now. I really like the Nova a lot but haven't got to handle the riot version yet and since it's the newest thing on my list I can wait to try one a bit.
So basically, I'd keep the 870 as a house gun; the Winchester as a field/camp gun; and the 590 partially just for collectors sake and as a high cap SHTF kinda gun
. I'd still have an excuse to get the Nova down the road as I'd still
need a gun to try out a Ghost ring set up too
.
Dunno, just a plan at this point but I'm liking the sound of it. It really only involves adding one total gun to the collection (buy a 590 but swap out the Mossy for a Winchester) and lets me shoot the Mossy, Winchester and Remington to side by side for comparison purposes too. Eventually add a Nova to that lineup and I have a pretty formidable array of shotguns
.
The other bonus of this scheme is that it's so convoluted that my wife can't figure out what the heck I'm doing
.
[Edited by General Tso on 03-18-2001 at 09:12 PM]