Photo of the day: Shotguns!

mossberg 410, mossberg 930 SPX, winchester 1300

For some reason, people think I don’t like shotguns. Nothing could be further from the truth, I LOVE shotguns. I just don’t think a shotgun is the best first choice for the average person for home defense, despite the fact that it’s really really difficult to find instances where it took more than 2 rounds of 00 buck to stop someone. This photo has my three favorite shotguns of all time.

  • Top: Mossberg 500 .410: I have a real soft spot for the .410, and I think that it’s actually really undervalued as a shotgun round. My little 500 holds 4+1 rounds of 3 inch magnums, which even the smallest person can shoot all day without having an issue. If I was going on a long walk in the wild of South Dakota, this would likely be the first gun I’d grab.
  • Winchester 1300 12 gauge: Winchester doesn’t make this gun anymore, and that’s too bad. It’s the best Remington 870 that isn’t an 870. I’ve flogged this gun in classes and 3-gun matches, and it’s never choked or gone wrong in any way.
  • Mossberg 930 SPX with bigass mag tube: Shelley and I have both run this gun in 3-gun matches, and there’s a video of me dumping that 10 round mag for shits and giggles. The only downside to this gun is that there’s no on-board round storage.

5 Comments

  1. Mossbergs huh?

    I have been to three shotgun classes. Have yet to go to one where all the Mossbergs that started, finished.

    The last class I watched two brand new 930JMs entirely break within the first 300 rounds of 00/slugs. I have yet to see a Benelli fail except for screws working themselves out due to no locktite or no lube (same issues as every other shotgun).

    Anecdote and all… but still…

    1. And… Agreed. I’ve had enough shotgun training to know they are poor at self-defense – against people. You DO have to aim them, and the thing they excel at is versatility, but in a defense scenario that isn’t all that useful.

      They are extremely useful as a do-it-all survival gun, a large wilderness defense gun, and breaching a door/gate/whatever but that is of limited practical use for most of us.

      Keep in the house self defense gun – not so much.

  2. Mossberg 500 in .410 is a fun little gun; I have the shortest barrel offered and a pistol grip on mine. As stated, you can shoot it all day long. Also have a 500 20gauge, I could shoot this all day too; it also has a the shortest barrel and the Hogue Tamer grip on it.

  3. The Turkish made SXP is not a bad successor to the 1300. Both need some loctite on the ejector screw and have issues with the extractor not fitting certain rims. The slide arm design on the SXP took a page from the Benelli Nova and is one piece, no welds to break. Most Mossberg’s come across as needing another hour or two of work in the factory before being shipped. But when you can sell all you can make, is there any reason to do this and will your customers really use their Mossberg that hard, ever?

  4. Ain’t gonna drink the 870 Kool Aid. Mossberg all the way. I’ve seen entirely too many Remingtons crap the bed, everything from magazines spitting rounds back into the action with the bolt closed, jamming the gun up hard, to the action bars on the slide breaking – both at once. Plus, new Remingtons are crap.

    My old Mossberg 590 has yet to have a single failure, but it’s been shot so much it’s “worn in” and feels like a custom-tuned shotgun.

Comments are closed.