Reliable Semi Auto for Home Defense and Hard Hunting

ANY shotgun, loaded or not, induces a significant amount of compliance.
I've stopped 2 burglars with a club that looked amazingly like a very old Remington Model 11, but had no ammo nearby when I grabbed it. The burglar's demeanor changed immediately upon presentation of the weapon.

On the other side, I responded to an alarm at 2 AM at my work, only to go into a classified area and have the SWAT team (who had arrived early through an unlocked door) meet me in an area with a 12 GA that honestly had about a 4' diameter barrel 2 feet from my face. I don't know what brand or load, but it really was a puckering-factor.

If you know how use and present to a shotgun, the brand is immaterial. Cheap, expensive birdshot, salt or slug or empty-like-a-club, the bad guy isn't going to check to see if you've got an ugly-black-beat-up-shotgun vs. a $100,000 Holland and Holland.
 
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People used to tell me they just wanted something cheap, it was "just" for their wife. I would always tell them -
The odds you will ever actually need to use a gun are probably a million to one. The odds you will actually need to shoot it are then probably another 100,000 to one. But, if it doesn't go bang then, you're dead. Regardless of the odds, if you can't afford to lose, don't bet.
 
I'm sorry, but in most cases price denotes fit, finish, and features. Some of the cheapest firearms out there are some of the most reliable......Let's get past the price tag and look at what matters.
 
Fit and finish matter to me............inferior parts, shoddy workmanship and other cost-cutting measures that can result in the gun not working can do for a range toy where a FTF is no big deal, A gun I am using to trust my life with, however, needs to work EVERY time.
 
Reliable autoloader? Easy peasy. Find an old Browning Auto-5. You will never have a problem with it in any kind of weather. If it goes bang, it cycles. Not as pretty as a Benelli, not as classy as a Beretta, but they are dead-nuts reliable.
 
I have seen just as many failures with the old Auto 5s as with other designs and I do attribute most to operator error.
 
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