The Good, the Bad, and the ugly...

T

The Barron

New member
New to shotguns. I need to know the pro's and con's of the following three guns:

Mossberg 12ga 590 with speed stock
Remington 870 Synthetic Combo
Benelli Nova Synthetic 12 ga w/ 4 round adapter

I will be using these for light hunting, mostly home protection, and trap/skeet. I want this to be a "fun to use" gun, not too much of a heavy shooting gun. Not somthing diffucult and unforgiving. I have checked out all these guns, and the second I decide on one, someone on here convinces me why to get the other one!!! I have read all the archives on these, and I know they all are great choices, I just need the final word on why one and not the others. Personal experience is something I can only get from members of TFL.

What I know:
Moss has plastic trigger gaurd (doesn't bother me)
Moss has many accessories
Moss has ghost ring sights

Rem comes with rifled and smooth bore barrel

Benelli - don't know much.

All are around the same price $250-$350 (depending on options)
Thanks in advance for the posts.
 
The Rem 870 is probably one of the best beloved shotguns of all time. Some people I highly respect swear by them. I had an 870 Express and it was great but I eventually traded it as I like autoloaders better myself. You will not go wrong with an 870, imho.

HTH
 
Where have you found this 4 round extension?

I was just wondering, because I can only find the two rounder....

um, how much more final can you get on what we think? These choices have been discussed so much. ;)

There will be 870 advocates who will tell you of the reliability and longevity of the 870. Many of us will tell you to go find a used 870 to combat Big Green's new PC policies. Other will tell you to find a Marine Magnum or Police model to circumvent the new policies. Even more people will tell you of the plethora of parts for the 870.

Then, there will be the Mossy advocates who will tell you that the 590 is the only shotgun to pass the most recent test for military shotguns. They'll tell you how cool it is to have a bayonet lug, how the safety is in an ambidextrous and advantageous position, and that they've had no problems with the Mossy at all.

There's only a few people here with the Nova (myself included), so you'll probably not get much info on that part. What I'd say is:
- I like the magazine cut-off button (makes slug/shot selection drills a breeze)
- the slide is very smooth, albeit very noisy with the rattling
- is a little long for me, and there's not too much I can do about it
- It runs the gamut from 2 3/4" to 3 1/2" shells, so feeding through the ejection port is really easy.
- unloading is very easy because all you do is push on the feed latch. no partial racking of the slide necessary.
- not much in the dept of accessories except the 2 rd extension, recoil reducer, and 4 rd side saddle

Once you've kind of made up your mind, others will propose the 1300, because it's slide is so smooth, or the Ithaca M37 because it's got that monolithic, beefy reciever.

Once you know you want to get a pump, others will chime in with, "Get an M1, 1100, Browning Gold, Super X2, or 11-87"

Let's not forget about the smattering of Scattergun and Vang replies as well.

that's pretty much how all these threads turn out... :D
 
They're all good guns, get the one that FEELS best.

I like 8709s, but would consider myself well armed with a Nova or 500, BPS, 1200 etc...
 
You got me...

Ok, you got me. I agree, these topics are more than old and over. But, I guess I was just hopeing for that one peice of info that pushes me over the top that I have not read in past forums. I have read every post on every forum from here to kingdom come. I know a lot about them. But, anyway, thanks for the posts.

The way it stands now, is the Benelli seems to be #1, with the Moss 590 in a close 2nd.

Unless anyone has any earth shattering news why I should not get the Nova, speak now, cause I am sure no one here wants to answer anymore posts like this. ;) :D
 
Since you asked....
I would go with the 870. Out of the three you listed, it is the easiest to customize to taste. The Nova is fine but what you get, you get.
All my 870's were bought used and modified to fit me. I can not imagine a better deal than that.
Mike
 
I've listed most of my con's, but let me review the Nova once more:

synthetic stock is nice, but makes the gun a little noisier because the stock acts like a drum. It doesn't deaden sound as well as wood. The pistol grip is pretty meaty, so if you prefer something thinner, you're stuck. The stock is integrated into the receiver, so if you need to shorten it, you're kinda screwed. I've seen some shorter benelli recoil pads, but I'm not sure if they're for the 20 ga Nova. The length of the reciever is a bit on the long side. So while your length of pull may not vary, the distance to the slide may be longer than you're used to. I'm really glad for the generous cuts and notches benelli has put into the slide. You're not gonna slip off of it. The length of the 18.5" Nova is about as long as my 20" 870. The Nova is set up for slings, just provide QD's and you're good to go. The Ghost ring sights are pretty beefy, and have metal on the sides to keep the sights from being bent or damaged. Benelli barrels are expensive, so if you want a longer barrel, you're better off getting another nova. I usually find Nova's on sale for the same price as a new barrel. Locally, HD Nova's ran for sub $300 prices, with the longer barrel Nova's being cheaper (I want to say $269-289). The barrels are also prety thin, so if you want to get it Vang'ed, you'd have to send it off another company that does vang's work.

If you can live with all these, then the Nova's a good choice for you.
 
I have the Mossberg 590 model 50668, ghost ring sights + speed feed stock. The ambidextrous safety is great, as is the extra four rounds held in a speed feed. Extra weight from four rounds in the butt of the shotgun also helps offset recoil, and balances the gun nicely when full of 8+1.

If you can afford it, get a 590A1 (metal trigger group) gun with the Marine finish, as used by the US Coast Guard.
 
If It's Not Too Late...

You may find the SG's with ghost ring sights a little challenging for skeet/trap (because of the sights). AND you get TWO barrells with the 870 combo. HMMM. I like the 870, but I havn't owned the other two. Let us know what you decide and how you like it.
 
I went through the same process a couple months ago, with the same contenders....and I bought the Nova, 'cause it fit right. It all comes down to feel....
 
I don't own a benelli nova, but i'd be leery of the one piece reciever/stock confiduration of the nova, because it means that you basically can't shorten the stock if it's overlong (like about 97 persent of all american longarms are)

I have a mossberg 500 that i use for my surface to surface shotgun, and in it's stock configuration, it hat a 14 1/2" LOP.

it's at 13 and a half now, but still doesn't fit properly. If i had it to do over again, i'd have bought either an 870 with a wood stock, a defender or a 500 bantam.

the mossberg sights are probably the best factory ghost ring sights on the market, IMHO, since they're simple and well guarded.

a normal 500 is about 150 cheaper than a 590, but doesn't have the "swab through" magazine tube. no real loss, if you get the 500 "persuader" 8 shot with a 20 inch tube. after chopping the stock to normal human length, it's the same length as an unmodified 18.5 inch tube mossberg anyway.

really, any of the big three(mossberg, remington,winchester) shotguns is as good as any other, so i'd go with which one you can find cheapest.
all three shotguns can be had with factory ghost ring sights, as well.

I'm going to reserve judgement on the nova untill such time as i can handle one.
 
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