Home defense shotguns

I have a 500 that I am in the process of building but I hate the feel of it. I put a hogue 12" LOP stock on it and it is not comfortable. I doubt I can sell it now since I had to mod it to fit the magpul SGA sling mount on it. All the stuff on my H&R will fit an 870 so I was thinking of getting an 870 and swapping all the furniture on it. I see the express can be bought brand new for around 300
 
For me these Mossberg 500 with the adjustable stocks (12 ga and 20 ga) are natural pointers.

I would NEVER buy an shotgun/rifle without adjustable stock.
For me the lovest setting (about 10 to 11" LOP) is just right.

I do not recommend "home gunsmitthing" since the "smithy" is just a "wanna be" and most likely will screw guns up. It only belongs to the factory to modify guns unless they are made modular.
 
I had a Blackhawk stock on it but the pistol grip doesn't work well with the tang safety. The mod of the stock was just filing a section down to fit over the magpul sling attachment to ensure a flush mount to the receiver.
 
Just wanna toss in my .02. The rough chambers on the 870 express is not BS. In the past 4 years I've bought 3 and had to return 2 of them them because they wouldn't extract rounds after firing. Sold the 3rd one after that started acting up too. Maybe the more expesivd versions are better. Not gonna take any more chances with Remington to find out. There are Smoother of guns out there for less money. Actually kind of thrilled with the Winchester SXP. Doesn't bother me that it's from Turkey.
 
Armscorp has been making 1911's since before WWII, so they're a legit company. Nothing wrong with Rock Islands (I own a Ruger SR 1911).

For the shotgun, I just got a cheap Chinese made 870 clone. H&R Pardner Pump imported by the same company that owns Remington. It's got a short (18.5") barrel and open choke. Worthless beyond about 30 feet, but HD/SD means close range.

Full disclosure, my HD/SD go to is a handgun, not a shotgun. Don't want to start a fight but. . .
 
On the web there are many companies with the armscorp armscor etc name variants. Most of them governement weapons companies. For example Southafrica armscor.
Armscor Rock Island is definitively Phillipine.

Over here we see not that much Remington shotguns due to problems. They were for at least the last ten years known for their sticky extraction and "can just shoot high priced ammo".
The 870 problems may not be due to a rough chamber but to their rotating bolt design. At least the whole batch of 887 were faulty. I got one and returned, then the replacement same problem till the bolt got filed a bit on a certain spot and from then the gun worked flawlessly.
Seems Remington has not yet got back on track.

Mossbergs have an tendency of shell stop and shell interupter bars problems so they are not loading a round to the lifter (rack slide and no round pops out or a round falls then to the bottom if it happens a round comes out. Annoying for hunting and dangerous for defense). My 12 ga Moss 500 had that problem but Mossberg sent me spare parts and from then the problems is solved.
My 20 ga Mossy 500 did not have that problem so I guess Mossberg fixed that problem.
 
Been shooting a Mossberg 500 for quite a few years. It was a very well used (abused) security company riot gun when I bought it.

Never had any issue whatsoever with the shell stops.

The only issue I've had is when the ejector screw backed out after about 15 years of use, and I started getting failure to ejects.

A screwdriver and loctite solved that.
 
I haven't seen mention of it so I'll throw it out there.....The Mossberg Maverick 88. Almost identical to the Mossberg 500 with the exceptions of safety location, stock material, and price. It is assembled in Eagles Pass, Texas. Some components are made in Mexico. It is available in youth, field, and HD configurations.
 
Have a Maverick 88 security. Open choke.

It is one of those guns you can not hit a darn bird from 15 meters with #5 birdshot. So much it spreads.
Considered the gun is from about the 2000's and a few years old and has the tipical Mossberg Problem of Shell stop/cartridge Retention bars not loading reliably.

The only Thing that gun is usefull for is: security up Close.

I just tell'ya my experience. Even my new Mossberg 500 12 ga had that Shell stop Problem.
 
Last edited:
I've not heard of or experienced any shell stop/cartridge retainer bar problems with my 20 gauge Maverick or the M500. The multipurpose or field models come with a mod choke tube which can be swapped out with whatever choke you prefer. The security model is a fixed cylinder bore.
 
I have a Remington 870 Tactical with Surefire rail light setup........ bad.....!! It is the Surefire handguard activated light..... 870 best shotgun outhere
 
Shot an wild dog with the Mossberg 500 Special Purpose 20 ga.

It was a max 3 meter shot with this round:

attachment.php


It is the cal 31.1 (.311" round balls) Buckshot round with 6 of such buckshots. Total it gives 270 grains of lead being each 45 grains. It is a light load (very soft recoil) but on the edge to not burn properly the powder.

This hunting experience showed me of the devastating effects of this type #1 Buckshot round. 2 Buckshots entered the eye Region very Close up and one entered the rib Zone. So 3 of 6 round balls I could find the others must be soewhere in the animal as well since they did not entered the house walls where the animal was resting.
Most impressive was the immediate blood loss. Within max 2 Minutes I guess all the blood of the dog was pumped out.
That is why for an home defense shotgun&ammo Combo you are looking for multiple big holes in order the blood can pour out as quick as possible.
Virtually the dog did not even have a Chance to get up (let's say fight back) and that was an "one shot one kill" and an "immediate stop the threath" shot.
The animal was mid size.

Applied this to defensive purposes against "2 legged critters" this round will stop the threath immediately. 6 of .311" round balls will definetelly get the famous "Job done".
 
Winchester Model 1200 Pump-Action Shotgun we had them in Vietnam and have owned two for home defense. Bought a case of low recoil 00 buck.
 
Dear kostner,

Tell me about your experience in Vietnam. Why would a soldier take to war a shotgun?
I can see the shotgun as "trench gun" but for over 50 meters I don't believe the shotgun as weapon would be not of any use in Vietnam (useless).

I have shot buckshot from an 887 Rem and that factory 00 buck had, even with an modified choke, a way to much spread over 40 meters. In wooden Areas like Vietnam I don't know how the 52 grain 33 cal buckshot would perform penetrating leaf and branches. If an 40 grain 22 LR is deviated easily by branches then an 00 round ball must not be a very big improvement.

Interested in hear some experiences Winchester 1200 vs AK-47.
 
It might surprise you to know that shotguns have served in many wars from US war of independence to Viet Nam and beyond. There are a number of specialty rounds used from flechettes to explosive rounds.
 
I understand flechettes have been dismissed by the Military due to uselessness.

At the era of the Vietnam war I believe Technology wasn't that far in order to have other than regular Buckshot and slugs as shotgun rounds.
I believe they did not have rocket type shotgun ammo able to penetrate a tank or "mini atomic bombs" launched from an shotgun.
As I understand specialty rounds only appeared only in the last decade for shotguns.

Explosive rounds like an shotgun based Hand grenade indeed would make sense but I doubt they had them in the 'Nam era.

In the Independence war yes the shotgun was on par with muskets since a shotgun is anyways a modern musket. At that time I understand you were lucky to hit a human size target beyond 100 Yards (100 Yards you supposed to hit nothing at all hence the "Firing Line").
 
Actually the muskets were not accurate beyond 50 yards and most less than that. The Kentucky rifle was used by snipers in the war for independence and it was used beyond 100 yards accurately.

In Viet Nam even the tanks had flechette rounds and they were great jungle anti personnel rounds. There were rifle grenades that were used with shotguns too but the shotguns had both incendiary and high explosive rounds as well.
I did a quick search and you can see some of the different rounds discussed here: http://www.angelfire.com/art/enchanter/Shotguns.html
 
The Vietnam war involved combat in a variety of situations and types of terrain: mountains (e.g. Black Virgin); jungles; cities and towns; and swamps, i.e. the Rung Sat Special Zone southeast of Saigon. During my year in Vietnam (stationed in Saigon but traveling regularly) I usually wore civilian clothing. I always carried a Colt Detective Special .38 wearing civilian clothing. When traveling in civilian clothing I also had a Winchester Model 1897 12 ga. shotgun with a short barrel. We had both slugs and buckshot (but I don't remember the size of the buckshot.) When traveling or operating in uniform (such as a night ambush in the RSSZ) I carried a Colt 1911 .45 ACP and an M-16. I never fired a hostile shot (fortunately.) However, I heard shots and explosions, as well as aircraft firing, regularly. I observed combat operations from a helicopter a couple of times and a small plane once. I never saw a combat operation using flechettes and never heard anything about their effectiveness. I wish I had not lost a couple of friends.
 
Last edited:
The British dud extensive studies of weapon effectiveness during the Malayan insurgency. They found that in those jungle environments the shotgun had the highest hit probability of all long weapons used, including he submachine gun.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top