According to my wife, the answer is "Both, thanks." Glad I could help y'all with this vexing question.
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My wife voiced a desire for a HD long gun, so I gathered up a 12ga Rem 870 18" bbl, 12.5" LOP with a nice recoil pad, & her Rossi 92 .44mag 20" bbl. At the range, I rented both an AR15 M4-ish in 5.56mm and a super-short Mossberg set up for Aguila Minishells.
Shot the bitty Mossberg 12ga with the its-not-a-shoulder-stock and a spacer to feed the Aguila minishells. Nopity-nope. About as reliable as a drunken courier rolling down Bourbon Street. One in three jams. It wasn't my wife. I can run a pump vigorously and I experienced the same. My Rem 870, with no mods for the minishells, was more reliable (1/5 jams) but still not acceptable. I might trust the minishells in a coach gun, but not a pump.
The Rem 870 12ga with full-power buck was a bit much for her, recoil-wise, but also her favorite. Not a surprise. Reduced recoil buck would likely get it within the ballpark. Thing was, she really liked the Rem 870. She just learned to wing shoot and even though the 870 is heavier than her preferred hunting shotgun, she has a high confidence level with shotguns and being able to hit with them. And an 870 12ga with an 18" bbl and no other doo-dads is pretty handy. In any case, I have a standard-length synthetic forearm on order from ebay (to reduce the reach to the forearm for her) and I dropped the cash on one of those AR-15-style hydraulic recoil-reducing stocks/buffer tubes (parts from Kyntec and Mesa Tactical). I have used the Knoxx stocks and they work for me. But she intends to shoot the shotgun like a wingshooter, with her cheek on the stock and head pushed forward. Hey, play like you practice. A Knoxx-derived stock would likely slap her silly doing that, though.
She liked my 240gr/1000fps LSWC loads out of the Rossi Win92 clone. Not so much the fill-power 180gr JHPs. But what she liked least was the levering action. It bunged her knuckles when she worked it in a hurry.
Last, she tried the rented AR-15. She liked it a lot, not quite as much as the Rem 870, though. Recoil was light, but muzzle blast was vicious inddors and it did not point as well/quickly as the Rem 870 for her.
In the end, I asked what she liked best. That would be the Rem 870 12ga. But she was quick to add that she wanted BOTH an 870 and an AR15. I think I'll manage.
I must admit I did not predict the 870 coming out on top. I think what tipped the scales was that she has a lot of fun in sporting clays and is pretty sure she can put the buckshot or slug through a goblin's boiler room if she can hit a tiny, fast-moving clay target. For my part, I think it is a fine way to go and I don't have to re-train her to shoot a shotgun like a carbine.
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My wife voiced a desire for a HD long gun, so I gathered up a 12ga Rem 870 18" bbl, 12.5" LOP with a nice recoil pad, & her Rossi 92 .44mag 20" bbl. At the range, I rented both an AR15 M4-ish in 5.56mm and a super-short Mossberg set up for Aguila Minishells.
Shot the bitty Mossberg 12ga with the its-not-a-shoulder-stock and a spacer to feed the Aguila minishells. Nopity-nope. About as reliable as a drunken courier rolling down Bourbon Street. One in three jams. It wasn't my wife. I can run a pump vigorously and I experienced the same. My Rem 870, with no mods for the minishells, was more reliable (1/5 jams) but still not acceptable. I might trust the minishells in a coach gun, but not a pump.
The Rem 870 12ga with full-power buck was a bit much for her, recoil-wise, but also her favorite. Not a surprise. Reduced recoil buck would likely get it within the ballpark. Thing was, she really liked the Rem 870. She just learned to wing shoot and even though the 870 is heavier than her preferred hunting shotgun, she has a high confidence level with shotguns and being able to hit with them. And an 870 12ga with an 18" bbl and no other doo-dads is pretty handy. In any case, I have a standard-length synthetic forearm on order from ebay (to reduce the reach to the forearm for her) and I dropped the cash on one of those AR-15-style hydraulic recoil-reducing stocks/buffer tubes (parts from Kyntec and Mesa Tactical). I have used the Knoxx stocks and they work for me. But she intends to shoot the shotgun like a wingshooter, with her cheek on the stock and head pushed forward. Hey, play like you practice. A Knoxx-derived stock would likely slap her silly doing that, though.
She liked my 240gr/1000fps LSWC loads out of the Rossi Win92 clone. Not so much the fill-power 180gr JHPs. But what she liked least was the levering action. It bunged her knuckles when she worked it in a hurry.
Last, she tried the rented AR-15. She liked it a lot, not quite as much as the Rem 870, though. Recoil was light, but muzzle blast was vicious inddors and it did not point as well/quickly as the Rem 870 for her.
In the end, I asked what she liked best. That would be the Rem 870 12ga. But she was quick to add that she wanted BOTH an 870 and an AR15. I think I'll manage.
I must admit I did not predict the 870 coming out on top. I think what tipped the scales was that she has a lot of fun in sporting clays and is pretty sure she can put the buckshot or slug through a goblin's boiler room if she can hit a tiny, fast-moving clay target. For my part, I think it is a fine way to go and I don't have to re-train her to shoot a shotgun like a carbine.
